San Francisco, Minnesota, Houston, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Seattle and Washington D.C. He also appeared with the symphonies of Montreal and Toronto. He worked with various notable conductors, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mikko Franck, Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Gianandrea Noseda, Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Klaus Tennstedt. Toradze was famous for his praying before he performed. When asked by classical radio host Bruce Duffie what advice he could give to aspiring concert pianists, Toradze replied, "Don't forget to pray to God before each performance and don't forget to give your soul enough air. Believe in the right purpose of art and believe in being human". Recordings Toradze, who specialized in Russian composers such as Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky, recorded for the Philips and Angel/EMI record labels. Amongst his most notable recordings is his 1998 Prokofiev's five piano concertos with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra for the Philips record label. From this set, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 was named by International Piano Quarterly as "historically the best on record" from among over seventy recordings. Other recordings, for Angel/EMI, include Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Prokofiev's Seventh Piano Sonata, Stravinsky's Three Scenes from Petrushka, and Ravel's Miroirs and Gaspard de la nuit. Personal life and death From 1990 to 2002, Toradze was married to pianist Susan Blake, with whom he had two sons, Alex and David. On April 23, 2022, Toradze suffered acute heart failure during a performance with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA in Vancouver, Washington. He died less than three weeks later on May 11, 2022, in South Bend, Indiana, aged 69. See also List of Georgians References External links Toradze Piano Studio David Dubal interview with Alexander Toradze, WNCN-FM, November 3, 1985 1952 births 2022 deaths Classical pianists from Georgia (country) American male classical pianists American classical pianists Musicians from Tbilisi Moscow Conservatory alumni Soviet classical pianists 20th-century classical pianists Soviet defectors to the United States Indiana University faculty American people of Georgian (country) descent 20th-century American pianists Prize-winners of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition 21st-century classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists