Alexander Vlassenkov
Lives in CT, United States
Alexander Vlassenkov was born in 1958 in Khabarovsk in Russia. When he was two, his family moved to Minsk in Belarus, where he remained until 1996. In 1986 he joined the Minsk College of Music, where he studied for 4 years. He then went on to graduate from the Belarussian Academy of Music in 1990 with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in teaching and performing classical guitar.
Since then, he has performed all over the former USSR, and worked in music schools, including the Pedagogical Institute from 1982 till 1992. He won prizes in both the USSR Jazz Festival in Appatity (1982), and the Republican Competition in the Belarussian town of Lida (1985). From 1990-1992 he performed in the State Belarussian Philharmonic as a guitar soloist. During this time he took part in many concerts and guitar festivals in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and in Western Europe, as both a soloist and in ensembles. In the summer 1994 he went on a concert tour in Germany. While in Germany, he participated in Nurtingen Guitar Festival and studied in master classes, with Leo Brouwer, Costas Cotsiolis and Sergio Assad. In the UK among his many concerts, he took part in the "Burnham Market Festival" (August 1995). From 1996-1999 he was "Musician in Residence" at Orwell Park School, a leading independent English School in Suffolk. He continued to give many concerts all over the UK at this time.
In 1998 Alexander was granted a scholarship to study postgraduate course with Robert Brightmore at the Guildhall school of Music & Drama in London. He graduated from Guildhall in 1999 with the PG Diploma in Music Performance, receiving the 1st prize in the school's guitar competition. Alexander moved to the U.S. in 2000, where he has continued to perform, and to teach guitar and general music at schools in Connecticut and Massachussets. Alex has composed, transcribed, and arranged a number of pieces for the classical guitar.
He has released three CD's to date, "Graphics" and "Take Five" in 1996, and "Reflections", in 2001. All three CD's include Alex's original compositions and arrangements for the classical guitar. |
