“Sophisticated, energetic, charming and breathtaking.”

Alexej Gerassimez was born in Essen/Germany in 1987 and received his first piano lessons at the age of five. Two years later he began to play percussion. In 2000 he continued his musical training as a an extraordinary young student with Christian Roderburg at the Cologne Conservatory of Music and Performing Arts and started an intensive concert career at a very early age.
After his high school degree and a year at the Berlin Conservatory Hanns Eisler he changed to Munich, where he presently studies at the Munich Conservatory of Music and Theater with Prof. Peter Sadlo.
After various early successes in competitions, among others 1st awards in the International Marimba Competition in Nuremberg, the European Music Competition for Youth, the Southwest-German Chamber Music Competition, four 1st awards including the highest number of possible points in Jugend Musiziert (renowned national music competition your youths) he won the Deutscher Musikrat-Competition (most important national competition in all instrument categories for young adults) in 2010. In the same year he received the 1st award, the Audience Award as well as the Press Award, in the TROMP Percussion Competition in the Netherlands, one of the most renowned international competitions for percussion solo. Today Alexej Gerassimez is presumed to be one of the leading percussion soloists of his generation. Alexej Gerassimez has repeatedly been awarded the extraordinary prize of Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and other awards, such as the Aalto Stage Award of the Essen Philharmonic, the Cultural Award Essens Beste and both the Sponsorship Award as well as the Audience Award of the city of Ingoldstadt. As a soloist and chamber musician Alexej Gerassimez regularly gives guest performances at festivals like Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, Musikfestival Potsdam, Ludwigsburger Festspiele or Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in the latter of which he was awarded the Ensemble Award for percussion/piano, performing as a duo with his brother Nicolaj in 2006.
He performs as a soloist with orchestras like the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn or the the Bochum Philharmonic and his vivid performance activities have lead him to a wide range of European countries as well as to Japan, where he gave solo performances in Tokyo and Yokohama in the context of the German Year in 2006.
In 2012 Alexej Gerassimez will make his debut in the USA on a tour as soloist of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist Alexej has appeared in several TV productions. Recent examples are the production „Prix Courage“ (ZDF) and the production „Stars von Morgen“ (Arte). 
Since 1998 recordings with the German Broadcasting Corporations WDR, NDR, SWR and BR have been produced on a regular basis. His first solo CD will be released in 2011. It contains works for solo percussion and ensemble music for percussion and piano. In addition to that, the multi-faceted young artist dedicates himself to composition, too. First publications with the Danish publisher Edition Svitzer have already been performed internationally, e.g. in the USA, Canada, Japan, and Europe. Alexej Gerassimez holds scholarships of various foundations such as Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, Stiftung Musikleben, Dr. Carl Doerken Foundation and the PE Foundation for Talented Musicians. He was supported by the Degussa Foundation, the Juergen Ponto Foundation, the Juetting Foundation and the GenRe Foundation.

For further information vistit www.alexejgerassimez.de