Andrei Gavrilov was born in Moscow in 1955. He won first prize in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition and in the same year made a triumphant international dèbut at the Salzburg Festival. He has subsequently enjoyed a distinguished international career which has included performances with many of the world's greatest orchestras.

Andrei Gavrilov made his London debut in 1976 with Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall. In 1978 he performed with the Berlin Philharmonic in a major European concert tour.

By 1980 he had performed in all the major cultural centres in the world.Andrei Gavrilov made a triumphant return to the British concert platform in 1984, after a politically enforced absence, giving recitals at the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall.

He successfully petitioned Mikhail Gorbachev for his freedom, and became the first Soviet artist to be granted permission to stay in the West without having to file for political asylum.Following his Carnegie Hall debut in 1985, Andrei Gavrilov was proclaimed as a major artist by New York Times' Donal Henahan.

He has since performed with orchestras in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Montreal, London, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam and Tokyo, with conductors including Abbado, Haitink, Muti, Ozawa, Svetlanov and Tennstedt.

Recent engagements include recitals in Warsaw, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Rome, Tallinn, Athens and Lisbon.Between 1976 and 1990, Andrei Gavrilov was an exclusive artist with EMI, winning several international prizes including a Gramophone award in 1979, Deutscher Schallplattenpreis in 1981, Grand Prix International du Disque de L'Academie Charles Crois in 1985 and 1986, and International Record Critics Award (IRCA) in 1985.

Among his other awards are the 1989 Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana (the jury of music critics proclaiming him as the greatest pianist in the world), and the Board of International Research of American Biographical Institute (ABI) "Man of the Year" commemorative medal, "Gold Record of Achievement" and "World Lifetime Achievement" awards, in recognition of his contribution to society.

In 1998 Andrei Gavrilov was selected as one of the pianists to be featured in Philips Music Group's Great Pianists of the Twentieth Century collection.In October 1990 Andrei Gavrilov signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, leading to acclaimed recordings of Chopin, Prokofiev, Schubert, Bach and Grieg.

During the 2001/2002 season Andrej Gavrilov performed in numerous European cities, as well as making appearances in Korea, China, Canada, and the USA.