Boris Petrushansky was born in Moscow in 1949 to a family of musicians. Trained at the Central School of Music of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire (class of Heinrich Neuhaus) and was subsequently a student and postgraduate student at the Conservatoire itself (class of Lev Naumov).

In 1969 he was a prize-winner at the Leeds International Piano competition, followed in 1971 by the Bayerische Rundfunk International Competition in Munich and, in 1975 by the Alessandro Casagrande International Competition in Terni. In 1969 he made his debut with the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad State Philharmonic under Arvīds Jansons. Following dazzling performances at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (where he replaced Sviatoslav Richter) the pianist’s international career was launched.

Has worked with ensembles including the State Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow State Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berliner Staatskapelle, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Münchner Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, the Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the New European Strings chamber orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Has appeared with the conductors János Ferencsik, Paavo Berglund, Arnold Katz, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Valery Gergiev, Dimitri Kitaenko, Roberto Abbado, Saulius Sondeckis, Maxim Shostakovich, Anton Nanut, Vladimir Jurowski and Aldo Ceccato. Has performed chamber music with Leonid Kogan, Igor Oistrakh, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Zurab Sotkilava, Valery Afanasiev, Mischa Maisky and Mario Brunello and with the Borodin State Quartet and the Berliner Philharmoniker Quartet.

Since 1990 has taught at the Accademia Pianistica in Imola (Italy) and gives master-classes in Great Britain, Ireland, the USA, Germany, Poland, Japan, South Korea and Israel. Gives recitals at major concert halls in Russia, Europe, America and the Near and Far East.

His discography includes recordings of works by Brahms, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Prokofiev, Schnittke, Myaskovsky and Ustvolskaya produced together with the companies Melodiya, Art & Electronics, Symposium, Fone, Dynamic and Agora. In 2006 he recorded the complete piano works of Shostakovich on the Stradivarius label. In 2014 he was awarded the title of academician of the Musa international academy in Florence.

Jury member of the International Ferruccio Busoni Competition in Bolzano, the International Giovanni Battista Viotti Competition in Vercelli, the International Alessandro Casagrande Competition in Terni, the International Frédéric Chopin Competition in Warsaw and competitions in Leeds, Orléans, Paris, Andorra and Hannover.