Born in the Italian-Slovenian border town of Gorizia to parents who are piano teachers, Alexander Gadjiev has the natural ability to absorb and process different musical styles and languages and to reshape them to his own taste.
Gadjiev is the Cultural Ambassador of Gorizia and received the Prešeren Prize – the highest award for artists in Slovenia – from the President of Slovenia in 2023. In 2024, the first edition of Festival Prečkanja – Sconfinamenti took place in the cross-border cultural capital Gorizia-Nova Gorica, with Gadjiev as Programme Director, pianist, improviser, speaker and pedagogue. In 2025, the festival saw an expansion in cooperation with GO! 2025.
Among numerous earlier prizes, Gadjiev won First Prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition in 2021, as well as Second Prize and the Krystian Zimerman Special Prize for his interpretation of a Chopin sonata at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. At the age of 20, he won First Prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition where he also received the Audience Award, and at the age of 22 the First Prize at the Monte-Carlo Piano Masters.
From 2019 to 2021, Gadjiev was a BBC New Generation Artist, which gave him the opportunity to perform at renowned British festivals and concert halls such as the Wigmore Hall, and to collaborate with various orchestras. In the process, all his concerts were recorded and broadcast by the BBC. He was also the 2022 Winner of the Terence Judd-Hallé Award, which led to further engagements with The Hallé until 2023.
Residencies have taken Gadjiev to the Unione Musicale in Turin, as well as The Hallé and Wigmore Hall. In 2024, he made his début at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with Zubin Mehta – followed by an immediate re-invitation – and at the Vienna Musikverein with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra.
Originally taught by his father, Gadjiev studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Pavel Gililov, and at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin with Eldar Nebolsin, graduating in 2022.
Gadjiev regularly accepts invitations from Europe, Asia, the USA and Australia, including the Verbier Festival, MITO SettembreMusica in Turin, International Chopin Piano Festival in Duszniki, Festival de Piano Rafael Orozco in Córdoba, Ljubljana Festival, Bologna Festival, Settimane Musicali al Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Festival Animato and Salle Cortot in Paris, Salzburg Festival, Festival International de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron, Teatro La Fenice, Kioi Hall and Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara, Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Moscow Conservatory, Aldeburgh Festival, as well as concert halls in Salt Lake City, Istanbul, Barcelona, Rome and Milan.
As a soloist, Gadjiev has performed with orchestras such as the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, The Hallé, George Enescu Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, SWR Symphonieorchester, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, FOK-Prague Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra etc.
In 2018, Gadjiev’s début album Literary Fantasies with works by Liszt and Schumann was released on Acousense Classics, and in 2021 the live recording of his performance at the Sydney International Piano Competition was released on DECCA. His critically acclaimed album on CAvi-music in 2022 features compositions by Alexander and Nikolai Tcherepnin as well as Prokofiev. His latest solo album for Outhere Music, Legends, was released in August 2025.
