“Boldachev’s music is as boundless
as his traveling.”
HARPCOLUMN
Founder of World Harp Day and the Zurich Harp Festival, Swiss-Russian artist Alexander Boldachev captivates audiences worldwide with his virtuosityand innovative approach to the harp. Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Mr. Boldachev began his musical journey at the age of five, studying the harp,piano, and music composition. His education took him from St. Petersburg to the Czech Republic, France, and finally to Switzerland, where he graduated from the Zurich University of Arts in performance, education,composition, improvisation, and conducting.
Mr. Boldachev has performed in over 45 countries across five continents and artistic collaborations span various fields, including ballet, theater, and visual arts. He has composed for theatrical productions and films, and his performances often blend classical and popular genres. As anofficial Salvi Harps artist, Mr. Boldachev represents both classical and modern electro-acoustic instruments. In 2018, he performed his own composition on the Delta Electric Harp at the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony alongside Robbie Williams and Aida Garifullina. He has appeared at festivals such as Burning Man, Musical Olympus, New Names, Mozart+, Davos and Gstaad in Switzerland, the Big Russian Ball in Rome, and the SKIF Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival. He has performed in fashion shows for Dolce & Gabbana and Burberry, on the BraVo International Music Awards, and collaborated extensively with the Bolshoi Theatre as arranger and harp soloist.
Orchestral highlights include the London Philharmonic, Bayerische Philharmonie, Ankara Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Swiss Orchestra, Sinfonica de Santos, Banat Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Romania, and the National Philharmonic of Russia.
Mr. Boldachev's extensive discography reflects his boundary-pushing creativity, with evocative titles such as The Harp as an Orchestra, HarpTime Meditation (2015), Celebration (2016), Musical Adventure (2017), From Russia with Harp (2021) and Harp Stories (2022). Frédéric (2020) offers a fresh take on Chopin’s piano works arranged for harp and his Pop Meets Classical series (2023, 2024) blends popular and classical genres.
Alexander has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Aoyama Music Award in Japan, Britain's Brilliant Prodigies award, the Pro Europa award in Austria, and the Akademia Award in Los Angeles. He is a Fellow of the international foundations Vontobel in Switzerland and Banque Populaire in France, as well as the foundations of Spivakov and Temirkanov for thedevelopment of young musicians, the Rotary Club and Houses of Music that gave a start tohis career. He is also a Laureate of the Prix Walo television award in Switzerland.
As an educator, Mr. Boldachev serves as a Guest Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, MilanoConservatory, and artist-in-residence at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He also teaches at Zakhar Bron Private School of Music in Zurich and conducts regular summer academies at SwissHarp Academy and Billorgues Academy in France. He has led workshops at numerous prestigious institutions, including the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música in Argentina, Toronto’s Royal Conservatory and the Vancouver Academy of Music in Canada, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, The Prague Conservatory, The Luca Marenzio Music Conservatory and Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia in Italy, Haute École de Musique deGenève and Haute École de Musique de Lausanne in Switzerland, The Juilliard School, and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, to name just a few.
Beyond his musical achievements, Alexander is deeply committed to humanitarian efforts and often performs at charity events with organizations like Cocreate Humanity, Gift of Life, and Naked Heart. An outspoken anti-war advocate, he founded LYUDẎ: Cultural Solidarity in Zurichto aid refugees and coordinate global charity actions. During the first year of the war in Ukraine, he held fundraising concerts in various countries, aiming to make the harp a symbol of peace, culture, and heritage, which was also his goal in founding the Zurich Harp Festival and World Harp Day.
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