Pavel was born in St. Petersburg in 1982. He graduated from the St Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire (class of Honoured Artist of Russia, Professor Alexander Sandler) and completed his postgraduate studies with the same teacher. He undertook an internship at the Carl Maria von Weber Higher School of Music in Dresden (class of Professor Arkady Zenziper).
Laureate of the international competitions:
2000 - The 1st Prize Award in the International Sergei Prokofiev Competition for Young Pianists.
2001 - The 1st Prize Award in the Karol Szymanowski International Music Competition (Poland).
2003- The 2nd Prize Award in the International Anton Rubinstein Piano Competition (Germany).
2010 - The 3rd Prize Award in the International piano competition “Spanish Composers” (Spain).
He took part in international master classes in Germany, Holland and Russia. He works with many famous musicians and professors, among them Peter Palechny, Lev Naumov, Mikhail Voskresensky, Sergey Dorensky, Hans Leihgraf, Paul Feuchtwanger and Boris Berman.
In 2000 he was awarded the European Cultural Foundation “Pro Europe” (Denmark). In 2004-2005 he was awarded a laureate of the contest of professional excellence “Music of St. Petersburg”, in 2005 he received a personal grant from the governor of St. Petersburg.
In June 2006, Kennedy Center USA invited him to the 45th International Achievement Summit (Los Angeles, USA).
He participates in various Russian and foreign international festivals, such as: Arts Square, Shostakovich through the Ages, Moscow Autumn, Youth Academies of Russia, International Conservatory Week, New Silver Age, Drei Klang, Les Perelinages - F.Liszt Kunstfest Weimar, Schubertiaden, Young Euro Classic, etc. These festivals are held in Russia and abroad. Pavel joined state programmes to support young performers and composers: “Look into the Future”, “Musical Elite of the Future”.
He works with such conductors as Vasily Sinaisky, Vladislav Chernushenko, Alexander Chernushenko, Vladimir Ponkin, Alexander Sladkovsky, Hobart Earle and others.
The concert repertoire of Paul Raikerus includes compositions in many different styles and genres, with pieces from Bach to composers of the present day widely represented. He actively recites in Russia, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Holland, Austria and the USA.
In 2003 - 2005 the television channel “Deutsche Welle” made two films about the young musician. One of which was streamed on Euro News channel, Pavel has records on CDs, on “Petersburg Radio”, on “Radio of Russia”.
