Mikhail Vasilievich Pletnev is a Russian pianist, conductor, and composer.

Pletnev was born into a musical family in Arkhangelsk, then part of the Soviet Union. He studied with Kira Shashkina for six years at the Special Music School of the Kazan Conservatory, before entering the Moscow Central Music School at the age of 13, where he studied under Evgeny Timakin. In 1974, he entered the Moscow Conservatory, studying under Yakov Flier and Lev Vlassenko. At age 21, he won the Gold Medal at the VI International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1978, which earned him international recognition and drew great attention worldwide. The following year he made his debut in the United States. He also taught at the Moscow Conservatory. Pletnev has acknowledged Sergei Rachmaninoff as a particularly notable influence on him as a musician.
Pletnev has made a number of recordings with Deutsche Grammophon. His recordings are mostly of Russian works, though in 2007 he recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies. The first works he recorded were for orchestra, including Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, his Sixth Symphony and Manfred Symphony, and Rachmaninoff's Second and Third Symphonies. Pletnev's recording of Tchaikovsky's First Symphony (Winter Daydreams) received critical acclaim. His piano repertoire is extensive and includes The Seasons, many Scarlatti sonatas, Pictures at an Exhibition as well as his own transcriptions of suites from The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty. With Pentatone, Pletnev has also recorded Russian works, such as all of Tchaikovsky's symphonies, Shostakovitch's symphonies no. 15 and 11, and Sergei Taneyev's At the Reading of a Psalm.