Graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory in the class of the great Soviet pianist and pedagogue, People’s Artist of the USSR Yakov Vladimirovich Flier, from whom he inherited a vivid virtuoso performing style and a special affinity for large-scale works by Romantic composers: Liszt, Brahms, Chopin, Rachmaninoff.
Laureate of the 1st All-Union S. V. Rachmaninoff Competition (Moscow, 1983) and the International Jubilee F. Liszt Competition (Budapest, 1986).
Since 1989 he has regularly toured abroad, primarily in the USA (around 200 concerts in more than 40 cities). The pianist’s concerts take place in the most prestigious concert halls, including the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, the famous Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, wh ere D. Ratser performed with the National Symphony Orchestra of the USA under the baton of Mstislav Rostropovich. The Symphony Orchestra of Lancaster (USA) proclaimed D. Ratser «the best of the living pianists performing Rachmaninoff.»
The geography of D. Ratser’s concert appearances is very extensive: Canada, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Finland, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic.
The pianist’s solo and symphonic concerts have also taken place in the Grand and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatory and in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. The pianist’s master classes have been held at the Universities of Houston, Dallas, and Austin (Texas), as well as in California, Utah, Colorado, and New York. The artist’s compact discs have been released in the USA, Mexico, Spain, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Korea.
Since 1992, D. Ratser has been an artist of the Steinway & Sons piano company.
