Alexei Sultanov had passed away.

In this blog page, the author Yoshiko-san mentioned about this loss.

http://pogo-wao.cocolog-nifty.com/ivo_at_the_ivories/2005/07/post_1cb8.html

When she first met with Alexei, it was in Feburary, 1991. She was at a concert of him. She knew Mr.Sultanov because her respecting pianist, Pogorelich mentioned about Mr.Sultanov at some interview. Pogorelich started to hold a music festival since 1989, and one of the guest pianist at the first festival was Mr.Sultanov. Pogorelich praised Mr.Sultanov that his performance was great and the concert was successful.

Yoshiko-san remembers his performance of Beethoven's appasionata. He was just around 20 years old at that time, but he plyed it with exclusive energy. He was not a kind of big person, but his performance was overwhelming.

She continues her entry with introducing how Alexei got ill, worked on rehabilitation, and come back with playing with his right hand. She also mentioned about his wife's devotion, becoming a member of U.S. citizen, and "Live in Riga". She finished her entry with quoting Mrs.Sultanov's touching word "Never Give Up".