The Georgian pianist, *Alexander Korsantia*, began music studies at the age of five with his mother, Sventlana Korsantia, a professor of piano at the Tbilisi State Conservatory. Recognized as a child prodigy, he won First Prize at the Trans-Caucasian Music Competition in Armenia at the age of 16. Among his mentors are his mother and Tengiz Amiredjibi, Georgia’s foremost piano instructor. He received Performance Diploma, Postgraduate Diploma from Georgian State Conservatory. In 1988 he took First Prize at the International Piano Competition in Sydney, Australia, where he was also awarded two special concerto prizes. This outstanding performance led to many concert engagements in Europe and the Far East. In 1993 he made an extensive tour of Japan performing recitals and as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Orchestra “Classica” and the Kirov Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. In 1992 Alexander Korsantia, with his family, came to the USA and joined the famed piano studio of fellow Georgian, Alexander Toradze, at Indiana University in South Bend (receiving M.M.). Subsequently, he won First Prize at the 1994 Palm Beach International Invitational Piano Competition, and in 1995, First Prize – Gold Medal and the “Audience Favorite” Prize at Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel-Aviv.

Alexander Korsantia has been a Guest Professor of Piano at Jerusalem’s Rubin Academy of Music and Dance. Before his appointment to the UBC School of Music in 2001 he held the position of Assistant Professor at Indiana University South Bend, Indiana. He was also on the faculty of the University of British Columbia. Recently he joined the faculty of the New Conservatory in Boston (where he now resides) as is a professor of piano.