About Alexander Melnikov: Alexander Melnikov has had a life-long interest in historically-informed performance practice. His major influences in this field include Andreas Staier and Alexei Lubimov. Melnikov performs regularly with distinguished period ensembles and artists including the Freiburger Barockorchester, Musica Aeterna and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. He has also long been associated with the works of Shostakovich, and his landmark recording of the Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues was cited as one of the most import recordings of the twentieth century. About the program: “I believe the Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues to be the single-most important piano works of the last century,” Melnikov once told Cynthia. Inspired by Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier and a secret love affair, Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues contain some of his most tender, noble, and transcendental writing.