Andrei Pushkarev

The renowned classical percussionist and vibraphone virtuoso was born in Ukraine in 1974. Coming from a family of musicians, Pushkarev began his musical education at the age of five on the piano and in 1980 entered the Kiev Special Music School, where he began his formal percussion studies at the age of 14.

In 1992 Andrei Pushkarev entered the Tchaikovsky National Conservatory in Kiev, where he continued his professional development under Prof. Alexander Blinov. During his time there, Andrei started to create his own compositions for vibraphone solo. In 1995 he was awarded the first prize in the newly established “New Names of Ukraine” competition, performing his own musical compositions as solo vibraphonist.

Between 1995 -1999 Andrei played with numerous chamber ensembles throughout Ukraine as solo vibraphonist and in 1996, at the age of 22, Pushkarev won the competition for main timpanist at the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1999 Pushkarev joined the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica. With this orchestra, created by the world famous violinist Gidon Kremer in 1997, he has performed in numerous concerts and prestigious venues around the world, including Carnegie hall in New York, Albert hall in London, in the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, as well as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Pushkarev has continued to create arrangements for vibraphone and violin solo with and without chamber orchestra and was awarded the Prize from the “Pro Europe” foundation as solo vibraphonist in 2004. 

Throughout his career, Andrei Pushkarev has been called to perform in renowned theatres and festivals all over the world and has frequently collaborated with artists such as Gidon Kremer, Yo Yo Ma, Yury Bashmet, Martha Argerich, Julian Rachlin, Gabriela Montero, Michel Portal, Peter Sadlo, Katia Skanavi, Mario Brunello, Maxim Rysanov, Gabor Boldoszki and with conductors such as Yury Temirkanov, Voldemar Nelsson, and Roman Kofman.

Pushkarev furthermore has numerous recordings to his name, under labels such as Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammophon and ECM. As a solo timpanist he can be heard on the CD release “After Mozart” with the Kremerata Baltica, which received a Grammy Award in the U.S. in 2001 for “Best Small Ensemble Performance”, as well the German Echo Award in 2002.

Since 2009 he has regularly given master classes around the world and has served as a jury member in numerous international percussion competitions such as TROMP percussion competition (Holland, 2010) and International PAS Competition (Italy, 2011 and 2012).

Since 2013 Andrei Pushkarev is endorser and the official performer of “Majestic Percussion” and “Innovative Percussion”.