Sergei Babayan, whose performances and recordings have received international acclaim for their interpretative insights, profound musicianship and effortless virtuosity, was born in Armenia into a family of musicians and studied from the age of six with Luisa Markaryan and later George Saradjev. He continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatoire with Lev Vlasenko and Mikhail Pletnev, then as a post-graduate student with Vera Gornostaeva, and also studied privately with Lev Naumov. His deep interest in the music of Bach has led him to study more recently with Helmuth Rilling.

Sergei Babayan was awarded the first prize in several international piano competitions, including the Robert Casadesus Competition in Cleveland (1989), the Hamamatsu Competition, Japan (1991) and the Scottish International Piano Competition (1992), as well as being a Laureate prizewinner at the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels and the Busoni Competition in Italy.

His New York debut recital at Alice Tully Hall met with huge critical acclaim, as have his many subsequent recital and concerto performances throughout the USA. His concert schedule has included performances and broadcasts throughout Europe and Russia and extensive tours of Japan. Festival appearances have included The White Nights Festival in St Petersburg and the Lucena Festival in Spain, while his return invitation to open the International Chopin Festival at Duszniki in Poland was broadcast on radio and television. His unusual and imaginative recital programming has always elicited interest and praise.

He has appeared with many major orchestras throughout the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Osaka Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Nationale de Lille His recent debut performances with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Jarvi and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Yuri Temirkanov were received enthusiastically by audiences and critics alike.

Sergei Babayan is currently Artist in Residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music.