Born in Moscow and brought up in Australia, Andrey Lebedev is currently living in London, where his studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Lewin have been supported by the ASRAM Award, Julian Bream Trust, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, ABRSM and the South Australian Government’s Carclew Board. He gained his BMus degree with first class honours at the Australian National University in 2012, in which year he became the only Australian to win first prize in the Adelaide International Guitar Competition, the first classical guitarist to receive the Australian National Fine Music ‘Young Performer of the Year’ Award, and the only classical guitarist to gain a Sydney Eisteddfod Instrumental Scholarship. After enrolling at the Academy in September 2013 he won first prize and the special Bach Prize in the 25th Gisborne International Music Competition open to all instrumentalists. In 2015 he was awarded his MA with distinction in addition to the Academy’s David Russell Guitar Prize and Recital Diploma. His extensive solo repertoire includes many important works from the late twentieth century, by such composers as Berio, Britten, Ginastera, Henze and Takemitsu, and he has given the world premieres of major compositions by Peter Sculthorpe and,under the auspices of the Julian Bream Trust, both Leo Brouwer and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. A lover of chamber music, Andrey performs regularly with flautists Brontë Hudnott and Alena Lugovkina, mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean and, in Australia, with the Llewellyn Guitar Quartet. Recently, he has appeared as soloist in Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with Orchestra Wellington in New Zealand. Among the prestigious venues where he has appeared are the City Recital Hall (Sydney), the Arts Centre (Melbourne), the International Guitar Festival (Adelaide), The Sage (Gateshead), St John’s, Smith Square, Wigmore Hall and Kings Place (London) and the World Expo (Shanghai). His forthcoming engagements include an evening concert at the Academy entirely of Australian composers, followed by UK recitals for the International Guitar Foundation, and solo recitals across Australia and for the Zagreb Music Institute in Croatia. Andrey is an artist with Arts Global and has been selected by the Tillett Trust, City of London Music Foundation, Countess of Munster Musical Trust and International Guitar Foundation for their ongoing ‘Young Artist’ schemes.
