Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Alexander Toradze graduated in 1978 from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and soon became a professor there. In 1983 he moved permanently to the USA and in 1991 was appointed the Martin Endowed Professor in Piano at Indiana University South Bend.
Mr. Toradze continuously appears with every major North American orchestra, including those of New York, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Montreal, Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh. Overseas, he appears regularly with the Kirov Orchestra, La Scala Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, City of Birmingham Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.
He has collaborated with such conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Osawa, Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovich and others. Summer festivals where he frequently appears include the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Hollywood Bowl, Saratoga, Blossom, Mann's Music Center, Concertgebouw, Salzburg and the Mikkeli Festival in Finland.
His recording of all five Prokofiev Piano Concerti with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra is acclaimed by critics as definitive, and the recording of the Third Piano Concerto is named by the prestigious International Piano Quarterly as "historically the best on record" (from among 70 recordings). His other recordings include recital albums of works by Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, Ravel and Prokofiev.