Azamat Sydykov

Azamat Sydykov (born 1986 in Bishkek (Frunze), formerly USSR, now Kyrgyz Republic) is a Kyrgyz concert pianist. Azamat Sydykov was born in February 1986 into a musical family in Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic, a former Republic of the Soviet Union. His mother, Alymkan Sydykova, was the Dean of the Choral Conducting Department of the University of Culture and Arts; his father, Djumakadyr Kanimetov, is the Principal Conductor of the Kyrgyz National Opera and Ballet Theater. Sydykov’s formal musical education began at the age of 7 when he entered the National School of Music in Bishkek, where he studied with Svetlana Krivopalova. At age 14, he was accepted into the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory, where his teacher was Professor Anatoly Ryabov. In 2004, he entered the Moscow Conservatory where he studied under the tutelage of the great Russian pianist Nikolai Arnoldovich Petrov.

A member of the International Academy of Creative Endeavors (Moscow 2009), Mr. Sydykov has been the recipient of many awards and prizes including the first prize in five national music competitions in the Kyrgyz Republic; First Prize at the Musician of the 21st Century International Piano Competition in Kazakhstan; First Prize and the Grand Prize at the Euterpe International Piano Competition and the Euterpe Chamber Music Competition in Italy in 2009. He has been a fellow of the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation, the New Names Foundation, and the Nikolay Petrov International Philanthropic Foundation. Mr. Sydykov made his debut with the National Philharmonic of Russia under the baton of Vladimir Simkin in the Great Hall of the Moscow International House of Music together with the great Russian pianist, Andrei Gavrilov. In addition, he was the artistic director and organizer of the Musical Friendship Necklace International Festival, which was held for two years in the White Hall of the Saint Petersburg State Polytechnic University from 2009-2010, founded by the Meerim International Charity Foundation and attended by young artists from 15 countries. In 2010, Mr. Sydykov was the artistic director of concerts in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, dedicated to the 170th anniversary Tchaikovsky’s birth.

Azamat Sydykov has performed in Germany, Turkey, Finland, Iran, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ukraine, China, Italy, Spain and the United States, and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Great Hall of The Moscow Conservatory, the Great Hall of the Moscow International House of Music, Great Hall of the Kyrgyz National Philharmonic, the Palace of Nations in Geneva, and the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. His recordings with the Kyrgyz State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, Liszt's First Piano Concerto, and Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto were entered into the Golden Fund of the Kyrgyz National TV and Radio Broadcasting Corporation, an official archive of great moments in Kyrgyz performing arts. In 2012, he received an Honorary Diploma of the Kyrgyz Government from President Roza Otunbaeva.

The first President of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, played a special role in Azamat’s fate when he gave his full support to the young pianist after noticing his budding talent. Over twelve years, young Azamat accompanied the President during his state visits, and performed before many heads of state. When Azamat was fourteen, the President gave him the keys to a new apartment so that the boy and his mother could move there from the school dormitory; this provided Azamat with the perfect environment for making music. In subsequent years, Azamat and the President bound a warm friendship, meeting again in Moscow, where President Akayev lived following his presidency. Popular opinion concerning the former President of Kyrgyzstan notwithstanding, Mr. Sydykov continues to openly express his respect for and gratitude to President Akayev.

Since 2011, Sydykov has lived and studied in the United States, where he was discovered by Professor Pavlina Dokovska, Chair of the Piano Department at the Mannes College The New School for Music in New York City. Professor Dokovska, who described him as “a pianist of uncommon sensitivity, technical verve and refinement beyond his years,” invited him to study at the prestigious American school where he received a full scholarship to pursue the Professional Studies Diploma program. In early 2013, he was awarded the New School University’s Presidential Scholarship and Schoenberg Piano Stipend to pursue a Master of Music degree at Mannes.

For the last three years, Mr. Sydykov has performed at concerts and festivals throughout the United States. He was a regular participant in the Mannes yearlong festival concerts, which took place in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Neue Galerie, Union Hall, and the Center for Jewish History. He also made appearances at the Young Artists Forum Festival in Schenectady, New York; at the AYC Speakers Program’s classical music series festival at Rye, New York; the Carnegie Concert Series in Nyack, New York; the Golden Key Music Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City; and the October 2014 opening concert of the Clayton Piano Festival in North Carolina.

As a collaborative artist, he regularly works with artists from the Bolshoi Theater and the Metropolitan Opera as well as with highly respected voice teachers such as Professors Robert White, Arthur Levy and Monica Harte. In the summer of 2012, he was invited by the Nevada Opera Association to be a musical director of Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus” and also worked as a musical director with the Remarkable Theater Brigades Opera Shorts programs in Carnegie Hall.

Azamat Sydykov’s work as a cultural ambassador played a positive role during some difficult moments in Kyrgyzstan’s history: in 2010, he returned to Kyrgyzstan with American conductor Joel Spiegelman to give a series of charity concerts with the Kyrgyz State Academic Symphony Orchestra to support the families of victims massacred by then-President Kurmanbek Bakiev during the April 7, 2010 overthrow of Bakiev’s regime. In June 2010, soon after the spring revolution, there was a bloody inter-ethnic skirmish that resulted in hundreds of deaths. Mr. Sydykov requested support from the U.S. government for a project to organize a musical caravan of peace in the conflict-torn city of Osh. With this support, he traveled to Osh—again with the Kyrgyz State Academic Symphony Orchestra—where he enjoyed great success in organizing and performing a benefit concert that brought together people from the two conflicting ethnic groups.

Although steeped in the music and tradition of the great 19th century masters attained through his years of study at the historic Moscow Conservatory, his broad musical interests embrace modern works and those of lesser-known composers with equal commitment and artistry. Mr. Sydykov has performed and premiered works by such contemporary composers as Bern Herbolsheimer and Patrick Soluri, and lesser-known composers such as Vladimir Drozdoff. He is also playing a key role in promoting the classical music of Kyrgyzstan and the names of Kyrgyz composers such as Abdylas Maldybaesv, Kalyi Moldobasanov, Nasyr Davlesov, Muratbek Begaliev and Mkhail Burshtin, and is active in building cultural connections between Kyrgyzstan and the United States. In May 2014, Azamat Sydykov made history with his solo debut recital at Weill Hall in Carnegie Hall; in the first appearance by a Kyrgyzstan artist in Carnegie-Weill’s history, he performed world premieres of works by Kyrgyz composers. In October 2015, Azamat was again invited to perform at Carnegie at the behest of the Kyrgyz Republic.

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