Mikhail Berlin

Mikhail Berlin was born in Moscow in 1979 and trained at the "Gnessin" music school in Moscow.  From 1996 to 2002, he studied at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich with Michael Leslie and graduated with an artistic diploma from the University of Music and Theatre in Munich.

In 2005, he completed an advanced training class with Donald Sulzen in chamber music, specialising in lied accompaniment. He took part in masterclasses with Prof. Rudolf Kehrer, Prof. Anatol Ugorski and Gérard Wyss. He also took part as a soloist in the orchestra workshop with the BM Duna Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Prof Michael Dittrich.

At the international Stravinsky Piano Competition in Urbana Champaign/USA, he was awarded 6th prize and the special jury prize for the best performance of Bach works. He also won 1st prize at the International Piano Competition in Cincinnati/USA and subsequently took part in the prizewinners' concert in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. 

Mikhail Berlin was a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Society in Munich in 2004. He has given concerts in Russia, Japan, the USA, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Finland and Hungary. Mikhail Berlin works with vocal coaches such as Nikolaus Hillebrand, Frieder Lang, Marilyn Schmiege and Jennifer Trost. He regularly works with opera and concert singer Prof. Krisztina Laki and is a constant accompanist at her singing masterclasses.

In 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010 he was an accompanist at the Vienna Masterclasses. In December 2006, he accompanied the Christmas Gala at the Max-Josef-Saal in the Munich Residence. Since 2008, he has regularly taken part in the "Klein Kummerfelder Kuhstall Konzerte" music festival under the artistic direction of Thomas Mohr.

From 2012 to 2015, he was a guest at the "Three Bridges International Chamber Music Festival" in Duluth, Minnesota in the USA, where he performed with soprano Helen Huse Ralston and George Shirley, among others. He performs regularly with the soprano Carmela Konrad, the baritone Äneas Humm and the bass and ECHO prizewinner Joel Frederiksen.

In 2014, he was a pianist in the masterclass for lieder singing with Kammersänger Prof. Peter Schreier at the Akademischer Gesangsverein München AGV. He took part as a pianist in the Lied masterclass with Prof Peter Schreier at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg Hohenems 2015 and in the Lied masterclasses with KS Prof Christa Ludwig and KS Prof Robert Holl at the International Lied Festival on Lake Zurich in Switzerland.

Mikhail Berlin has been a lecturer in vocal accompaniment at the University of the Arts in Bremen since 2009. Since 2014 he has been Artistic Director of the Lake Zurich Music Organisation in Switzerland. Mikhail Berlin has been Music Director of the newly founded Wertinger Festspiele since 2023.