Mikhail Alperin

Michail Jefimowitsch Alperin (Ukrainian: Миха́йло Юхи́мович Альпе́рін; 7 November 1956 – 11 May 2018), usually credited as Misha Alperin, was a Soviet-Norwegian jazz pianist, known as a key member of the Moscow Art Trio. Alperin was born in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukrainian SSR to a Jewish family. He was educated in Khmelnytskyi, Bălți and Chișinău. In 1980, he formed one of the first jazz ensembles in Moldavian SSR. He moved to Moscow in the 1980s and founded the Moscow Art Trio with Arkady Shilkloper and folk singer Sergey Nikolaevich Starostin. He has also worked with Huun Huur Tu. From 1993 to 2018 he lived in Oslo, Norway; he was professor of music at the Norwegian Academy of Music and he supervised pianist Helge Lien and Morten Qvenild among others. He released several works on ECM Records. He died on 11 May 2018 at the age of 61.