Anton Batagov

Anton Batagov (born 10 October 1965) is a Russian pianist and post-minimalist composer. "One of the most significant and unusual figures of Russian contemporary music", according to 'Newsweek's Russian edition in 1997, Batagov is an influential Russian composer and performer. A graduate of the Gnessin School and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and prize-winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition (1986) and other competitions, Batagov introduced music by John Cage, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich and Philip Glass to Russian audiences. From 1989 to 1996 Batagov was the artistic director of the festival of Alternativa, a festival of contemporary music. Batagov's work has been influential on the understanding of classical and new music in Russia.

In 1997 he stopped performing live for 12 years to focus on composition and studio recordings.

The style of Batagov's post-minimalist compositions is rooted in the harmonic and rhythmic patterns of Russian church bells and folk songs seamlessly mixed with the spirit of Buddhist philosophy and the dynamic pulse of early Soviet avant-garde. His discography includes over 50 albums. Batagov is the author of several movie soundtracks, and original music for major Russian TV channels.

In 2009 he returned to live performances. Since then, he has been performing a series of unique solo piano programs. His repertoire includes works by Bach, Pachelbel, Purcell and early English music, Mozart, Schubert, Debussy, as well as many other composers, and his own numerous piano compositions. He has performed at The Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatory and The Grand Hall of St.Petersburg Philharmonie, Moscow International House of Music and Zaryadye Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York), Jordan Hall (Boston), and Bing Concert Hall (Palo Alto, CA), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), The Berliner Philharmonie and Philharmonie de Paris, Musiikkitalo (Helsinki) and Reduta Hall (Bratislava), Teatro Regio (Parma, Italy) and Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona, Spain), and many other venues. The list of festivals he has participated in includes Diaghilev Festival (Perm, Russia), Ruhrtriennale (Essen, Germany), Next Wave and Bang on a Can (New York), Glass at 80 (University of North Carolina), Aarhus 2017 Festival (Aarhus, Denmark), and others.

Batagov is one of the key performers of piano works by Philip Glass. Batagov's recordings and live performances include The complete Etudes, Batagov's piano arrangements of scenes from Einstein on the Beach and Koyaanisqatsi, music from The Hours, Distant figure (a composition written by Philip Glass for and premiered by Anton Batagov), and other works.

Anton Batagov's compositions have been performed and recorded by outstanding Russian classical and rock musicians and orchestras. Numerous musicological articles and dissertations have been written about his music. The philosophy of Batagov's projects eliminates any boundaries between "performance" and "composition" by viewing all existing musical practices—from ancient rituals to rock and pop culture and advanced computer technologies—as inseparable elements of his own practice.