Now in its 11th year, the Hattori Foundation Rush Hour Recital Series again features an exciting line-up of current award-winners and its illustrious alumni of recipients from the Foundation's 27 year history of supporting exceptional musical talent.
Australian-Russian guitarist Andrey Lebedev burst on to the international music scene in 2014 when he was invited by guitar legend Julian Bream to perform a solo recital in London. His programme included the first performances of two new works commissioned by the Julian Bream Trust from Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Leo Brouwer. The following year, he worked with guitarist John Williams on a recital project of Australian chamber music which included the world premiere of ‘Gertrude Fragments’ by Brett Dean. In 2017 he was a prize-winner at the renowned ARD Music Competition and at the competition of the Guitar Foundation of America, the two pre-eminent awards in the field. He exhibits a ceaseless curiosity which has seen him in projects ranging from duos on Renaissance lute to Radiohead arrangements on electric guitar. He has just returned from a 22-date tour of Russia performing in trio with accordion and cello.
Lebedev started playing guitar at age seven in Adelaide, Australia inspired by his father singing Russian bard songs. He grew up playing classical guitar through the South Australian Youth Guitar Ensemble, jazz guitar in the SA Youth Superband, and rock music in scratch bands at school, but became enamored with classical music after receiving a Glenn Gould CD as a teenager.
A keen chamber musician, Andrey has established duo partnerships with mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean, violinist Emily Sun, and accordionist Iosif Purits. With each medium he is seeking to push the boundaries to encompass an ever-broadening spectrum of musical traditions and styles. As a duo with Lotte, they were selected as co-holders of the inaugural Musicians’ Company New Elizabethan Award. The Award included a showcase recital at the Wigmore Hall and seeks to celebrate music of the two Elizabethan eras.
In 2012, while a student of Timothy Kain at the Australian National University, he became the first Australian to win 1st prize in the Adelaide International Guitar Competition, the first guitarist to win the Australian Fine Music 'Young Performer of the Year Award', and the only guitarist in the 65-year history of the Sydney Eisteddfod to win the esteemed 'NSW Doctors Orchestra Instrumental Scholarship'. The following year, as a postgraduate scholar at the Royal Academy of Music under the guidance of Michael Lewin, he won 1st prize and special Bach prize at the 25th Gisborne International Music Competition. In 2016 he completed studies at the RAM, graduating with a Regency Award and the David Russell Guitar Prize.
He is a City Music Foundation Artist, and is grateful for the generous support he has received from the Hattori Foundation, Imogen Cooper Music Trust, ABRSM, Julian Bream Trust, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Australian Music Foundation, Tillett Trust, Tait Trust, and Musicians’ Company.
He is a two time Prize Winner of the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition (the most highly-sought annual guitar award), First Prize winner of the Adelaide International Guitar Competition, was the first classical guitarist to receive the Australian National Fine Music ‘Young Performer of the Year’ Award, and the only classical guitarist to win the Sydney Eisteddfod Instrumental Scholarship. He completed postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music under Michael Lewin where he graduated with a Regency Award for notable achievement, the Academy’s David Russell Guitar Prize, and Recital Diploma. He gained his BMus degree with first-class honours at the Australian National University in 2012 under Timothy Kain.
Andrey has been generously supported by the ABRSM, Julian Bream Trust, Hattori Foundation, Australian Music Foundation, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Tait Memorial Trust, South Australian Government through the Carclew Board, and the Hattori Foundation. He has been selected by the Tillett Trust, Countess of Munster Musical Trust and International Guitar Foundation for their ongoing ‘Young Artist’ schemes and became a City Music Foundation Artist in 2015.