Andrey Ponochevny

Andrey Ponochevny (Belarusian: Андрэй Паначэўны) is a prize-winning pianist born in Minsk, Belarus on December 31, 1976. He graduated at the Belarusian State Academy of Music in 2001, and soon afterward was awarded the Bronze Medal at the XIII Tchaikovsky competition. In addition to his success in Moscow, Mr. Ponochevny has won many top prizes, including First Prize at the “Tomassoni International Piano Competition in Cologne”, Germany (1996) and the First Prize at the “William Kapell International Piano Competition in Maryland”, USA (1998). His other competition accolades include top prizes in Prague, Warsaw (Chopin), Dublin (AXA), Moscow, Hong Kong, Riga (Latvia), Alexandria and New Orleans (Louisiana).

Since then, he has toured extensively in the United States (in 24 states). He has performed solo recitals at major venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City; Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection in Washington, DC; Preston Bradley Hall in Chicago and Cleveland Institute of Music.

Mr. Ponochevny has appeared with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Plano Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Rogue Valley Symphony, Illinois Symphony, Nashua Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Irving Symphony, East Texas Symphony, Wuhan Philharmonic, Tianjin Symphony, Xinjiang Philharmonic, Orchester der Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele and Belarusian State Symphony among others.

His concerts have been broadcast on WGBH Boston, WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago, WDR Cologne (Germany), Kultura Minsk (Belarus), SIRTVS Ljubljana (Slovenia), ROROR Bucharest (Romania), AUABC Adelaide (Australia), DKDR Copenhagen (Denmark).

In recent seasons, Mr. Ponochevny has been featured in Europe and Asia at major venues including the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Philharmonie in Cologne, City Hall in Hong Kong, Salle Alfred Cortot in Paris and the Forum in Ludwigsburg, Tianjin Opera and National Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw and Stadtkasino, Basel.

Andrey Ponochevny performed at several prestigious festivals such as Ruhr Klavier Festival and the Bonner Herbst, International Keyboard Institute and Festival (IKIF) in New York city, International Ludwigsburg Festival; Serie de los Nuevos Virtuosos in Puerto Rico, Bravissimo Festival in Guatemala city, Changchun International festival, China, Music in the Mountains, Durango, CO. He also holds several prestigious awards from China such as Outstanding Artist in China 2009 and 2011, Honorable professor of Jilin College of Arts and visiting professor at the Beihua University.

In his hometown Minsk (Belarus) he was awarded the title “Minskovite of the year 2002”.

Mr.Ponochevny graduated from Belarusian Academy of Music where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. He also holds his Artist Diploma from TCU, Fort Worth, where he studied with Dr. Tamas Ungar. He continued to refine his skills in the Artist Certificate Program at SMU in Dallas with renowned pianist Joaquin Achucarro.

In addition to his concert schedule, he also teaches piano at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas.

Record of piano prizes

Year	Competition	Prize	1st prize winner
1987	Riga International Music Competition	1st prize
1991	Concertino Prague, Radio Competition for Young Musicians	2nd prize	Anna Kravtchenko.
1996	Tomassoni International Piano Competition, Köln	1st prize
1998	William Kapell International Piano Competition, Maryland	1st prize
2002	Tchaikovsky International Competition, Moscow	3rd prize	Ayako Uehara.
2005	AXA International Piano Competition, Dublin	5th prize	Antti Siirala.
2005	Hong Kong International Piano Competition	4th prize	Ilya Rashkovsky.
2007	Louisiana International Piano Competition	2nd prize	Dizhou Zhao
2010	New Orleans International Piano Competition	2nd prize	Eduard Kunz