Alexei Lubimov

Aleksej Borisovitsj Ljoebimov (Russian: Алексей Борисович Любимов) (Moscow, 16 September 1944), is a Russian piano, harpsichord and fortepiano player.

Ljoebimov studied at the Conservatorium van Moskou with Heinrich Neuhaus (of whom he was one of the last students) and Lew Naumov. He became laureate in various competitions and built up a concert practice in his native country. From 1968 he gave the first performances in Soviet Russia of works by Arnold Schönberg and other contemporary Western composers including John Cage, Terry Riley, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez and György Ligeti. This was heavily criticized by Soviet authorities, with the result that he was not allowed to leave the Soviet Union for many years. He then concentrated on working with period instruments for early music. In Russia this was still in its infancy and Ljoebimov played a leading role in developing historical performance practice. He founded the Moskou Barokkwartet in 1976 and the Moskou Kameracademie (with Tatiana Grindenko). He also founded the Music Festival "Alternativa" for avant-garde music.

From 1987 it became possible for him to give recitals and concerts outside Russia and to perform with major orchestras. Ljoebimov performed at the Lincoln Center in New York in 1991 and 2010.