Thursday , August 28th  2025
7:00 p.m.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel

Praised by The Examiner (Independence, Mo., newspaper) as a “piano protege” and an “award winning talent,” Ali Mammadoff has been captivating audiences around the globe with his virtuosity, depth sensitivity and individuality. His exceptional talent has taken him all over the world, appearing numerous times as a soloist and with orchestras in the U.S., England, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine and his home country of Azerbaijan. His breathtaking performances have won Mammadoff prizes at international competitions as a pianist and a composer.

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, the future musician began to show curiosity in piano at the age of 5. Noticing his passion, at the age of 7 Mammadoff’s mother took him to the Bulbul Secondary Special Music School in Baku, where he studied music fundamentals with Adelya Rahimova and composition with Pike Akhundova. Despite early success winning local competitions, orchestrating and performing his own works, he wasn’t sure whether he would continue with music.

However, Mammadoff decided to make a lifelong professional commitment to music when he was 16. As a huge fan of jazz music, Mammadoff wanted to pursue a career as a jazz pianist, but then he decided to leave it as a hobby. His exceptional talent and passion for music brought him to the Manhattan (N.Y.) School of Music, where he studied under Phillip Kawin and received the Harold and Helene Schoenberg Scholarship. After spending six years in New York, his journey continued at the University of Missouri – Kansas City under Israeli pianist Alon Goldstein. He also received lessons from Marios Papadopoulos, Rena Shereshevskaya and William Grant Nabore.

At the age of 24, as a part of the “New Names” project, Mammadoff appeared for the first time with a symphonic orchestra performing one of the most difficult concertos in piano literature, Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto in D Minor, Op. 30.” After this sensational performance, he was immediately invited to perform this concerto at the 13th Gabala (Azerbaijan) International Music Festival with Fuad Ibrahimov in an open air concert.

In October 2023, Mammadoff participated in a world concerto tour project by pianist Stanislav Ioudenitch, Park University International Center for Music founder and artistic director, celebrating Rachmaninoff’s 150th birthday anniversary featuring the composer’s complete piano concerti. In March 2024, as a part of the “New Names” project, Mammadoff appeared again with Ibrahimov, performing Prokofiev’s “Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26” at Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall in Baku which was received with huge success. Following that, he was invited to perform at the Piano Evenings with David Dubal concert series in New York City. In March 2025, Mammadoff appeared at Kansas City’s top music venue, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, as a part of the Park ICM ‘s annual “Stanislav and Friends” gala.

In summer 2024, Mammadoff recorded a complete set of 24 preludes and fugues from the second set of “The Well-Tempered Clavier” by Johann Sebastian Bach, which will be published soon.

Currently, Mammadoff studies at the Park ICM under Ioudenitch, gold medalist of the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001.