Denis Plutalov was born in Tambov, Russia on May 17th, 1976

He realized that music was his vocation right after he began his studies at the local music school at the age of six. At the age of thirteen he gave his first full solo recital consisting of the works by Beethoven, Grieg and Shostakovich.

In 1991 Denis entered the Rachmaninov College of Tambov(later the Rachmaninov Institute of Music), where he studied under Prof. Natalia Kolpakova, a pupil of famous pedagogue Regina Horowitz, the sister of pianist Vladimir Horowitz. In February 1992 Denis gave a full recital dedicated to the piano owrks of Dmitry Shostakovich. In March 1993 he won the First Prize at the All-Russian Piano Competition in Togliatti. Two months later he won the 2ndPrize at the 3rd International Piano Competition in Ostuni, Italy (June 1993) and also became a Diploma winner at the 1st Rachmaninov Youth Competition in Tambov, Russia (May 1994). Honoring Denis' achievements in the music field he was awarded twice with the Rachmaninov Prize of Tambov in 1993 and 1994 and also became a recipient of a personal scholarship from the Russian Ministry of Culture (1993-1995). During the four years of studies at the Rachmaninov College Denis gave numerous recitals and also participated in numerous masterclasses conducted by internationally renowned pianists from Moscow.

Since 1993 he started widely performing abroad. During the past twelve eleven years his appearances included Russia, Italy, Germany, Czech republic, Netherlands, Poland and United States. Denis also became a welcomed guest at the International Rachmaninov Music Festival in Tambov and Ivanovka, Russia. He performed there every year since 1991 up to 2002.His concerts at the Rachmaninov museum in Ivanovka caused a great public resonance and won him a wide recognition.

Now his aim was to receive a higher education in Moscow, which had two most distinguished Conservatoires in Russia: the Moscow Conservatoire and The Russian Gnessins Academy of Music.

After getting his Performance Diploma with honors from the Rachmaninov College Denis moved to Moscow where he brilliantly passed the preliminaries at the prestigious Russian Gnessins Academy of Music. There he continued his artistic activities, performing solo, chamber and orchestral recitals in Moscow, Nizhni Novgorod, Tambov, Balashov to name only a few. In Balashov I also conducted masterclasses and gave recitals every year since 1993. In Moscow he performed frequently at the Grand and Small Halls of the Russian Gnessins Academy of Music, at the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire and at the International Center of Slavonic Culture (1996-2002).

During that time there were still some teachers remaining at the piano faculty, who represented the great tradition of the old Russian Piano School going back to Liszt, Rachmaninov, Igumnov, Siloti etc. For Denis it was a great opportunity to become a link in the performing tradition of the Old Russian Piano School. It’s hard to overestimate the knowledge he inherited during the years of his studies in Moscow. For four years (1995-1999) Denis Plutalov studied with Professor Maria Gambaryan, with whom she met in November 1992. he became one of gambaryan's best students and inherited her great piano school, which she received from her teacher Constantin Igumnov, a pupil of Alexander Siloti, who in turn was a nephew of Rachmaninov and a pupil of Franz Liszt.

In June-July 1996 Denis Plutalov participated in the international piano courses at the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.

Although it took him some time to achieve a great success in Moscow, it started with two significant events. The first one was Denis' performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto on April 1, 1997 at the Grand Hall of the Gnessins Academy under conductor Timur Mynbayev.

Denis participated in the numerous concerts where he appeared both as a soloist, chamber performer and accompanist. Since his first months of studies at the Gnessins Academy I was already considered one of the greatest specialist on Dmitry Shostakovich. When the celebrations on 90th anniversary of this great composer took place, I was the only one pianist from the Academy recommended to perform in the festival concerts at the Glinka State Museum, where I appeared in one concert together with Shostakovich’s best pupil composer Boris Tischenko. This performance was followed bn the Grand Hall of the Gnessins Academy.

In December 1996 Denis Plutalov became a member of the International Dmitry Shostakovich Association. It’s a very prestigious musical society with headquarters based in Paris, France, which deals with the promotion and research of music of the great Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich. He met Irina Shostakovich, the widow of the great composer, who showed a high respect towards Denis' performance of her husband’s works. Denis' graduation paper was devoted to Shostakovich’s piano works.

On January 1998 Denis was granted an honor to play in the presence of Alexiy II, the Great Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1999 Denis Plutalov switched into the class of another prominent teacher, Prof. Igor Nikonovich, a pupil and son-in-law of the great Russian pianist Vladimir Sofronitsky. One of year of his studies under that great master increased his musical knowledge and experience and resulted in a continuos close friendship with his teacher.

That same year he became a Diploma Winner at the highly prestigious First International Franz Liszt Competition in Wrozlav (Poland).

In June, 2001 Denis Plutalov received his Bachelor's degree from the Russian Gnessins Academy of Music. Since there were not so many opportunities to get a good job position, Denis worked asan accompanist and a vocal coach at the vocal faculty of the State Russian Theatre Academy (RATI).

In March 2002 he became a member of the prestigious Dutch Willem Mengelberg Society, which deals with the research and promotion of the legacy of one of the greatest conductors of the twentieth century. The specific of this society is that it doesn’t accept any members from abroad, for which Denis was given an only exclusion. His membership also resulted in the performances for the society given in April 2002 and September 2003.

In February 2002 he applied and auditioned for Master of Music degree program at the North Carolina School of the Arts located in Winston-Salem, NC, USA and was accepted, awarded a scholarship. At the beginning of October 2002 Denis Plutalov arrived in the US to begin his studies. His musical achievemnts are honored both in America, Europe and in Russia. During Denis' participation in the Franz Liszt Competition in Holland he took part in the shooting of the documentary on that competition filmed by the Dutch television.

In May 2003 Denis Plutalov won the NCSA Concerto Competition, which resulted in public performance of Rachmaninov’s challenging Third Piano Concerto with the NCSA Symphony at the Stevens center in Winston-Salem, NC on November 22, 2003. The performance was given a standing ovation by the public and was also warmly received by the critics.

In August and September 2003 he gave several successful recitals in Russia and in the Netherlands.

In April 2004 Denis Plutalov became a semifinalist at the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition in Joplin, MO.

In Russsia the recently issued encyclopedia "The Great People of the Province of Tambov" contains an article about Denis, a big and very special honor for him to see his name mentioned along with Rachmaninov, Igumnov and Merzhanov.

In May 2005, Denis Plutalov received his Professional Artist Certificate from the North Carolina School of the Arts. It’s a one-year post-Master’s program into which only two or three best school’s students are usually accepted. It helped him immensely to develop his perofrmnig abilities and to prepare for his upcoming doctoral auditions. Denis' artistic project for that program consisted of all the piano works of the great Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich divided into four recitals to be performed both at NCSA and in the Winston-Salem area.

Denis Plutalov participated in masterclasses with such prominent musicians as Anatoly Vedernikov, Lina Bulatova, Alexander Alexandrov, Victor Merzhanov, Claude Frank, Boaz Sharon, Robert MacDonald, Alexander Alexandrov, Evegeny Teregulov, Nathan Bendizky and many others.

Denis Plutalov currently resides in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he is a second year doctoral student working with one of the finest disciples of Leon Fleisher, Prof. Dr. Mark Clinton, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music.