Victor Chestopal was born in 1975 in Moscow, in a family of musicians, scientists and artists. He starts learning the piano at the age of 5 with his mother, Professor Victoria Yagling (1946 – 2011), cellist and composer, trained by Mstislav Rostropovitch, and prize-winner of Tchaikovsky competition. At the age of 6, he enters « Gnessin Music School » and Tchaikovsky Music High School in Moscow three years later. His teachers were Tamara Bobovitch, Alexander Mndoyants, Lev Vlasenko and Mikhail Pletnev. Aged 12, Chestopal performed Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto in G minor in Saratov (Russia) and gave his first recital as a soloist one year later in the
Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow. In 1991, Victor Chestopal interpreted Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto in the Vatican, in front of Pope John-Paul II, accompanied by the Russian National Orchestra directed by Mikhail Pletnev.
Chestopal settled in Helsinki in 1990, became a Finnish citizen in 1997 and graduated from Sibelius Academy in 2001. His studies in Sibelius Academy were led by Professor Erik T. Tawaststjerna. During his studies in the Accademia Pianistica “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola (Italy) from 1992 to 1997, and in the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar (Germany) from 1995 to 1997, his professor was Lazar Berman. In 2001 and 2002, Chestopal had the opportunity to play several times for Mstislav Rostropovich.
Prize-winner of several major international competitions, Chestopal performed in many countries worldwide and has been invited to several European festivals. He has played as a soloist with major orchestras and directors and also won fame in the field of chamber music. He has achieved many recordings.
In 2010, Victor Chestopal obtained a Ph. D. in Music in Sibelius Academy. The doctorate included five recitals dedicated to the great names of the piano repertoire. Dr. Chestopal gives master classes in several music conservatories in Europe. Since 2007, he holds piano master classes in Liège on a yearly basis.