ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

Yifan Wu the 21 year old winner of the 2025 Busoni Competition making his London debut at Steinway & Sons in an agreement sealed many years ago with the founders of the Keyboard Trust.

A competition that Noretta Conci had frequented since the first edition in 1949 when her lifelong friend and eventual trustee of the Trust , Alfred Brendel, was awarded fourth prize and Bela Siki fifth.

This young Chinese pianist demonstrated much more than his twenty one years as he showed himself to be immersed in a world of a different age .

Speaking perfect English which he learnt via his passion for the great British cinema of the 40’s and 50’s . The Ealing comedies and especially keen on Margaret Lockwood whose daughter Julia I can just about remember as Peter Pan on the stage of the Scala Theatre that was demolished at least fifty years ago.

‘ Kind Hearts and Coronets’, ‘In which we Serve’ , ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ and many others with actors that Yifan identifies himself with. It is the same passion that he has for the performing practices of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century, that informs his own playing .

A knowledge of the very earliest studio recordings and even those of the piano roles of the time. It was this complete immersion in the past that inspired his playing as he improvised between pieces that as if by magic became Beethoven’s Rondo in C op 51, Mozart’s Sonata also in C or the eight fantasies that make up Schumann’s Kreisleriana.

He showed us his own very personal but informed interpretations in this hour long presentation recital.

He even chose to play as an encore a Scarlatti Sonata but from the hands of Tausig. I have not heard Scarlatti played in this way since Cherkassky who would delight with his multicoloured playing of another era when Scarlatti would occasionally appear on programmes of showpieces and transcriptions under the titles such as ‘ Pastorale and Capriccio’. Much frowned on in this era of authenticity and absolute fidelity to the scores handed down to us directly from the composers hand.

Playing from the score to alleviate a sense of panic and allow himself total dedication to the recreation of the music as it might have been played by the pianists of the so called Golden era of piano playing or even in the actual period in which the ink was still wet on the page.

The pianists Lucas Debargue and Sergio Tiempo ( both on the jury of the 2025 Busoni Competition ) have even created their own movement in which they claim that in an age when there is a uniformity of performance we need to free ourselves from the printed score and bring a new life to well worn works. Looking into the meaning behind the notes and the performing practices of the antique even if limited instruments of the day.

Andras Schiff , on the other hand declares that he only plays a limited repertoire of great works because a lifetime is not enough to delve ever deeper into the scores to find the meaning of the composers indications on the printed page . Gone are the performing practices that people like Robert Levin or Richard Goode have enlightened us with from scores that have been overburdened by the personal freedom of performers of the past who were more entertainers than interpreters.

Yifan is a passionate and dedicated young man extraordinarily well informed and ready to share his passion as he did with us via his music making. Also in the very interesting discussion he had with Elena Vorotko, who apart from being co artistic director of the KT, is a fellow of Historic Instruments at the Royal Academy .

Yifan’s performances were always of commanding authority and a deep concentration as he delved into the music recreating many moments with inspired intuition contrasted with other moments of what would seem wilful distortion .They were performances that did not leave you indifferent but evoked feelings that ranged from complete ravishment to anger.

There was a continual arpeggiating of chords especially in the left hand and adding deep bass notes sometimes with such surprise that we jumped in our seats. A wake up call indeed but in the end this continual adding and arpeggiating became predictable and in the end boring.

Many of Alfred Cortot’s recorded legacy of a poetic genius can only be listened to for a limited amount because of the mannerisms of his age. Moments of enlightened poetic inspiration in Cortot’s case inspired by a deep knowledge and respect for the text. This was the basis for the inspirational performances of Rubinstein , Pollini or Perahia where the mannerisms of a past age were put aside with instruments that no longer needed help to resonate or to project.

This was a recital by a dedicated young man which provoked and made us rethink our values . Masterly piano playing and a chameleonic sense of colour from a passionate advocate of all he does.

The one thing that is sure is his undying love for the sounds of this black box of hammers and strings that can be made to sound like the Philadelphia or Caballe .

The problem is as Karl Ulrich Schnabel once said to a student, who has since become a celebrated artist on the world stage, ‘ so you are a composer but with the notes that are not your own!’

Fou Ts’ong listened to Cherkassky having listened to a pianist riding on the fame of a clamorous dissent in the Chopin Competition. I suggested that they both were rather free with the printed score . Tsong who was the most inspired and passionate man I have ever known , shrieked : ‘But Shura loved the piano, this man hates it !’

There is no doubt that Yifan is a master pianist who loves the piano but whose performances may always provoke but will never leave you indifferent .

Indifference is the death to any relationship and I am sure that we will all be convinced by Yifan’s love for music as he gains more experience sharing his music making on the world stage.

‘Chapeau’ Maestro Yifan Wu.

Winner of the 2025 Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition

Mozart Sonata No. 10 in C major K.330 Beethoven Rondo in C major Op.51 No. 1 Schumann Kreisleriana Op. 16 Wednesday 11 November at 6.30pm Steinway Hall This one-hour recital will be followed by a short, informal interview with Yifan to talk about his life and choice of music. . Yifan Wu was born in 2005 into a non-musical family, and began his piano studies at the age of 14 with Prof. Yunlin Yang. He is currently studying with Prof. Ioudenitch at Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid, Spain.His has won top prizes in the Singapore International Piano Competition and Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition. His performances have taken him to many prestigious venues in China: Shenzhen Concert Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Shanghai Conservatory Opera House, He Luting Concert Hall (Shanghai), Qintai Concert Hall (Wuhan), Tianjin Juilliard Recital Hall, SOTA Concert Hall (Singapore) as well as Carnegie Hall (New York). He has also performed concertos with renowned conductors including Daye Lin, Yifan Sun, Stefan Vladar, Peng Liu, and Xiao’ou Zhao, appearing with orchestras such as the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra.In November 2024, Yifan was named a Young Steinway Artist by Steinway & Sons Asia Pacific Headquarters, joining the international community of Steinway Artists. In 2025 he won 1st Prize in the Ferrucio Busoni International Piano Competition.Besides piano playing, he is also a keen photographer, winning several international awards including the 2022 Architecture Photographer of the Year in the International Photography Awards. His work has been exhibited in New York, Shanghai, and Budapest.

Yifan Wu ‘on the road to El Dorado’ Marco Scolastra presenting the 2026 Concert Season

Busoni 2025 The final lap

On Sunday 29th November 2026 at 11 am , the city of Trento will celebrate this great much loved lady, Noretta Conci, at ‘her’ Filarmonica .
Surrounded by eight wonderful musicians who have come together to celebrate and thank her for her unstinting dedication of helping young musicians.
Gradus ad Parnassum.
Together with her husband ,John Leech ,they created the Keyboard Trust, an invaluable friend to all aspiring young musicians.
Performances by Evgeny Kissin and his colleagues Francesco Libetta , Alessandro Taverna , Stefano Greco , Vitaly Pisarenko , Sasha Grynyuk , Elena Vorotko and Giovanni Bertolazzi.
Together with just a few heartfelt words from her friends, Marco Gambino, Valentina Lo Surdo and Moritz von Bredow
It will be a memorable occasion celebrating a great lady in her own much loved city .

Simone Tavoni launches his Festival in Spain this summer at ‘Grand Passions Piano’ showroom of Muzz Shah in Newham Street Oxford Circus .

Paisajes Piano Festival will see its 4th edition next August from 12-16th when Diana Cooper will be performing as part of a collaboration with the Keyboard Trust of which Simone is an Emeritus artist.

Diana Cooper in Provence ‘Chopin playing of refined elegance and poetic mastery’

This unique intimate and bucolic Piano Festival was launched in 2021. It was held in the gardens of the Casa Rural Las Fuentes de Agata in Hoyos, Caceres, Extremadura, Spain from the 12-15 of August 2021. Four extremely gifted international young musicians gave four evening concerts over the four days of the Festival. Admission was free, concerts started at 8.30 pm and finished by 10.15 pm with an interval mid-concert.

Simone Alessandro Tavoni, the festival’s founder and artistic director, explains:

“I have been inspired by the successful model of the late Robert Turnbull’s piano festival En Blanc et Noir held in Lagrasse, near Carcassonne, France. I wanted to bring to this part of Spain a festival that is very close to his vision of a piano festival in an atmosphere of calm, freshness and peace.”

The goals of Paisajes Festival

We offer a festival that: is free to the public – supports pianists by inviting them to perform in a nurturing, appreciative and non-competitive environment that encourages close connection with audiences – provides an educative festival programme that aims to enrich the culture of Sierra de Gata.

12/08/2025

Pedro Lopez Salas

A Chopin evening

F.Chopin: Barcarolle op 60

F.Chopin: Mazurkas op 33

F.Chopin: Etude op 25 no 10

F.Chopin:  Waltz op. 34

F. Chopin: Scherzo no 2 op 31

F.Chopin: Nocturne no 1 and 2 op. 9

F.Chopin: Preludes op 28 ( 7-12)

F.Chopin: Polonaise and Fantaisie

F.Chopin: Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise Brillante op. 22

8.30pm https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/09/27/pedro-lopez-salas-chopin-recreated-with-poetic-beauty-and-romantic-fire/

Supported by the Keyboard Charitable Trust https://keyboardtrust.org

15/08/2025

Jose Navarro Silberstein

Piano solo recital

CPE Bach – Fantasy in F-Sharp minor, Wq. 67
Chopin – Ballade No. 4, Op. 52
Liszt – Hungarian Rhapsody S. 244/9
Busoni – Indian Diary Book 1
Villa-Lobos – Ciclo Brasileiro, W. 374 https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/08/jose-navarro-silberstein-masterly-performances-of-red-hot-intensity/

8.30 pm

Supported by the Robert Turnbull Foundation https://rtpianofoundation.com

Simone Tavoni in the shadow of Eros seduces and excites the senses in Thalberg’s nuptial Church

Simone Tavoni triumphs on the Italian tour for the Keyboard Trust – part 1 Florence – part 2 Venice and Padua

Mariam Batsashvili entices with jewel like brilliance in Haydn’s D major sonata and astonishes in Liszt as she conquered Olympian heights with fearless abandon at the limit of what only Liszt himself would have made possible.

Haydn played with wit and charm as Liszt spoke with demonic seduction. A perfectly equilibrated Haydn of jewel like precision, where the composers restrained brilliance of his age was a marvel of characterisation.

Liszt on the other hand was played without the restraint of bar lines as this is a personal interpretation of a great artist with a vision of monumental proportions. Freedom and luminosity with a fearless drive at the limit of the possible. Mariam is a stylist not an intellectual with a dedication to finding the very meaning behind the notes that she interprets with passionate conviction and poetic beauty.

Mozart’s innocuous D minor Fantasia was given an operatic performance where the characters entered with larger than life declamations . The simple chiselled opening melody was played with extraordinary luminosity as Mariam played with sounds like icicles on a bed of barren desolation. Whispered palpitations were played with quite extraordinary sensitivity as the Allegretto opened like a breath of fresh air on such a torrid scene.

The genesis of Mozart’s Fantasia in D minor, is still shrouded in darkness. Even Mozart’s sister, who came across the work in 1807 through the first edition, was astounded to have discovered a previously unknown composition of such quality. In its original form the Fantasia was in all probability a fragment. The closing bars that are most frequently performed today originated from an unauthorized print from 1806 and are by Maximilian Stadler.

Schubert’s F minor Impromptu was also given a platform on this operatic stage . With the commanding opening flourishes giving way to a heart rending duet between soprano and tenor.Her extraordinary sensitivity to balance and colour turned this musical conversation into a heartrending message of sublime beauty.

Of course this was just the preparation for Liszt’s rarely heard Fantasy on Mozart’s Figaro and Don Giovanni S.697.

Here I must admit that I thought I was going to hear something like the Don Giovanni paraphrase which is a recognised masterpiece of this genre much lauded by Busoni, Arrau, Rosen and many others . Alas this was certainly not the case today and one can understand why it has been abandoned so long to oblivion . A hotch potch of melodies pinched from Mozart and joined together by string where it was only the ‘tour de force’ of this ‘Piaf of the Piano’ that it managed to survive its over lengthy outing.

This though was a rare performance by a pianist who is also an eclectic searching musician ready to bring forgotten scores to our notice with performances of conviction and mastery.

As an antidote Mariam offered a magical account of Chopin’s Nocturne op posth in C sharp minor where her extraordinary sense of balance created a sound world that is quite unique. She and Vikingur Ólafsson have both created extraordinary sound worlds with a sense of touch and balance, above all listening and moulding so sensitively every sound they create.

La Campanella that followed showed off Mariam’s refined tonal palette and the same mastery of the great pianists of a Golden era, when pianists were not afraid of having something to say and stamping their unique personality and mastery on performances that became legendary.

Mariam Batsashvili and Martin James Bartlett a dream team of wondrous music making

Mariam Batsashvili The Piaf of the Piano ravishes and seduces at the Wigmore Hall

A star is born …Mariam Batsashvili

The Fantasy on Themes from Mozart’s Figaro and Don Giovanni
Liszt composed the work by the end of 1842 or early 1843, as he performed it at the latest in Berlin on 11 January 1843, when Mozart would have been 86, had he lived. Left as an unfinished manuscript upon Liszt’s death, it was both completed and recorded by the Lelsie Howard in 1993 and published in 1997. Earlier, Busoni had published a much shorter performing version, the Fantasy on Two Motives from W. A. Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, in 1912.Busoni’s version, which does not include the music based on Don Giovanni, is often nicknamed the “Figaro Fantasy”.

Liszt’s incomplete manuscript contains no title, no tempo indications, and very few dynamics and articulation marks. The ending is some few bars from complete, and there is another lacuna towards the return of the Figaro theme. Liszt probably tried out an improvised solution in performance, judging by the rather insignificant gaps. At some point, Busoni , became aware of the unpublished manuscript and prepared a performing version which he first played in 1911 in Berlin . Busoni gave a series of six all-Liszt recitals in mid-October of that year, playing nearly all of the major piano works, and these are the concerts at which his version, the “Figaro Fantasy”, most likely received its first performance.As the title suggests, Busoni did not include the music from Don Giovanni, shortening the currently known manuscript of more than 597 bars by 245 bars. It is not certain that Liszt intended to perform the music from the two operas together and since the manuscript pages are unnumbered, it is possible that pages from two separate works were at some point in time placed together in the Weimar holdings. Since the transition to and from the Don Giovanni music is in C major, the 15 pages of manuscript can be played or omitted without any damage to the harmonic scheme. The Don Giovanniparaphrase begins on a fresh page and at no time are motives from both operas seen on the same page of Liszt’s manuscript.

Leslie Howard reconstructed the work as he believed Liszt intended, recording, and in 1997 publishing, the newly-recast work. His intention was to “publish… the whole of Liszt’s Fantasy with an authenticity of text, supplying and clearly indicating the few bars… which are necessary to render the work performable.The Fantasy on Themes from Mozart’s Figaro and Don Giovanni is very rarely performed in either version, mostly due to its duration (much longer than that of his other showpieces ) and the dexterity and technique required for a successful performance.Leslie Howard recorded his own version in 1993 as a part of his complete piano music recordings of Liszt, and later occasionally included it in his recitals. Mariam , the first prize winner of the 10th International Franz Liszt Competition in Utrecht and the Chinese pianist Chiyan Wong have also made their recordings of Howard’s reconstruction.

As Dr Mather said there was some remarkably moving playing from this young American pianist now studying as a fellow at the Royal Academy in London. Jed Distler in New York had told me that he found him a very interesting player ……he just did not tell me how interesting!

Standing in at fairly short notice for an indisposed Shunta Morimoto, Gold medal winner of the 2022 Hastings Competition, he played three major works that immediately showed his remarkable musical pedigree. It is a masterly musicianship that does not draw attention to itself with histrionics or self indulgence as this is a musicianship that is hidden in the very notes themselves that he played with masterly authority and technical control. Almost note perfect performances not of note picking accuracy but the perfection of a musician where every note has a meaning and a place in a big architectural line.

He is more a Pollini than a Serkin. His seeming lack of showmanship or visible signs of passion or fearless bravura can be deceptive to all but those with ears like his that can follow a musical conversation of such coherence and simplicity that there can be no disagreement or turbulent argumentation. I have rarely heard the treacherous coda of the second movement of the Schumann played with such control or accuracy because his building up from the bass automatically meant the notes above sorted themselves into order! That is, if you are a master of your craft. The final bars of the ‘Langsam’ were played with ravishing beauty where all Schumann’s indications were there but within a framework of beauty and radiance where the slight crescendo and more movement just gave wing to one of the most wondrous moments in this work that Schumann had dedicated to Liszt . Liszt in turn had dedicated his Sonata to Schumann and in both works it is the final page of genius that marks them both as the pinnacle of the Romantic piano repertoire.

Beethoven’s Eleven Bagatelles are jewels that reveal that Beethoven was not only the monumental genius of the Symphony or Sonata but could etch miniature images to appease his publisher who thought they would be more saleable to a larger public. Beethoven eventually managed to have the entire set published by Clementi in London in 1823. They are models of perfection where each one has a voice and character of quite remarkable poetic invention. From the opening ‘Allegretto’ with its staccato and legato contrast of innocence and simplicity to the rambling question and answer of the second with its genial ending pointing eventually to the etherial meanderings of op 111, all played with crystalline clarity and disarming simplicity. The Schubertian charm and grace of the third ‘à l’Allemande’ with its surprise nonchalant ending contrasted with the flowing story that is being told of the ‘Andante cantabile’ that follows .Seth brought an infectious lilt to the ‘Risoluto’ of the fifth. An imposing almost improvised introduction to the sixth allowed the ‘Allegretto’ to take wing with beguiling charm before the trills of the seventh. At first just ornamental but building to Beethoven’s masterly use of the trill in his mature years that brought this little bagatelle to a monumental close.The eighth was almost too serious with counterpoints chasing each other before the flight of the waltz of the ninth . Seth had told us that some of the Bagatelle’s would last only a few seconds and if you blinked you would not have even noticed the tenth that Seth played with impish good humour. The last was played with a glowing radiance, a beautiful flowing ‘Andante’ leading to the final hymn like chords echoed with poignant significance after a moment of a silence that with Beethoven is indeed always golden.

There was a beautiful flowing tempo to the Impromptu in B flat by Schubert, as is indicated by the composer, which allowed the variations to evolve with such natural simplicity, Seth’s finger legato meant that he could achieve a remarkable clarity without any blurring of the edges. He brought charm and refined good taste to the variations with a superb balance between the hands and a jeu perlé that was of crystalline clarity. If there was charm in the second variation there was a subdued passion in the third, before the lilting grace of the fourth and the exquisite jeu perlé of the fifth with the final lento of a coda of poignant significance. Played with a simplicity and beauty where the composer was allowed to speak through the notes for himself, without any exaggeration or interference from unnecessary personal effusions.

A Schumann Fantasy that reminded me of the young Pollini who gave two presentation recitals in London in the QEH including Prokofiev 7, Petrushka and the Schumann Fantasy all works included in a career that spanned three decades and which was concluded with this very Fantasy on a moving occasion described by a fellow Italian with such poetic understanding:

.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/26/london-salutes-a-legend-maurizio-pollini-the-story-of-a-miracle-by-antonio-morabito/

Seth played the first movement with architectural understanding, what it missed in passion and sweep it gained in intelligence and poetic understanding . A second movement of such musical mastery that Schumann’s dotted rhythms were turned into phrases of extraordinary shape and drive . The last movement was played with refined ravishing beauty. Sometimes the hands not synchronised in a search for the magical colours of Schumann ‘s love letter to his distant beloved, Clara.

No encore was possible after such a feast of music even though Hugh did try!

Seth Schultheis is an American pianist based in London who recently won First Prize and the Chamber Music Prize in the 2025 Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn. Fluent in a wide range of styles and composers, Seth is also a dedicated performer of contemporary music. After his success in the TBC, Seth performed Beethoven Concerto No. 2 with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under the direction of Dirk Kaftan for the Beethovenhalle New Year’s Concert, where his playing was described as “brilliant”, imbued with “clarity and precision”, “refined sensitivity”, and “rhythmic vitality” (General Anzeiger Bonn). Since the beginning of 2026, Seth has been invited to the 30th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw, where he performed Beethoven Concerto No. 3 with Sinfonia Iuventus and Alexander Humala at the National Philharmonic. He subsequently embarked on an 8-concert tour throughout Germany with the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn and conductors Rafaël Merlin and Julien Leroy, performing Beethoven Concerto No. 4 in such venues as Konzerthaus Berlin, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, and Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg. Over this summer, Seth continued his fellowship with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and will perform solo recitals at Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival and Wigmore Hall.

He received the majority of his training at the Manhattan School of Music, where he was twice awarded the Harold Bauer Prize. He attended Precollege and earned a Bachelor’s Degree under the tutelage of Phillip Kawin, before completing a Master’s Degree with Solomon Mikowsky, with additional lessons from Wael Farouk and Jiayin Li. Most recently, he earned a Professional Diploma with Distinction at the Royal Academy of Music with Mei-Ting Sun, and was selected as an Aud Jebsen Fellow for the following year.

http://www.seth.schultheis.com

I stumbled purely by chance on the Fidelio Café some years ago. I had heard about this café opposite the Italian Church in Camberwell and ventured in to meet the founder and guiding light of a place where culture reigns. Pages from scores adorned the walls. The Hammerklavier adorning the walls of the rest room as great pianists of the past and original programmes filled the spaces on the walls to the most sumptuous green room I have ever seen. I offered to move in immediately ! I have since heard miracles from Fillipo Gorini, hardly known in the UK but revered like Richard Goode elsewhere. Jonathan Ferrucci launching his masterly Bach CD’s and his mentor Angela Hewitt playing Brahms with the café’s resident orchestra. Imogen Cooper is regularly seen as is Steven Isserlis both also heard in this shrine of culture that is a true oasis of the senses. Refined menus adorn the programmes that include Beethoven Diabelli, Schubert Impromptus, Bach Goldbergs etc etc ……….For this is a place where quality counts more than quantity and is a rarity indeed where the box office reigns supreme over any other consideration. Raffaello has left his career with Morgan Chase and with a PhD in Mathematics he has hung up this hat and follows his passion.He is indeed a Renaissance Man. ‘Chapeau’

Culminating last night in a fearless performance of Mahler’s 6th not only rehearsing but also minutes before the actual performance conducting a conversation with two renowned experts about the order of the movements and that great hammer that Mahler uses in the last movement and much of the deep significance of Mahler. A conversation entitled : ‘ Dealing with the Tragic in life : Mahler,Judaism and beyond ‘ with Edward Seckerson ,Anthony Freud and Raffaello himself – conducting the conversation as he did his performance without the score, the ninety minutes of this monumental work that is locked deep in his soul.

No idea where Raffaello’s burning passion will lead him next but I will follow blindly knowing that it is a very rare wind that is blowing through London at the moment.

Fidelio Mahler 2 ‘The Resurrection of a Renaissance Man’

Death of Stalin – ‘Come all ye faithful’ Fidelio calls the tune

Catherina Lee ignites the Fidelio Orchestra and out of the cinders the message of Victor Ullman unites Art with the meaning of Life ‘O come all ye Faithful”

Angela Hewitt plays Bach and Brahms with the Fidelio Orchestra of Raffaello Morales

Diabelli is box office at Fidelio where Genius meets Genius -Filippo Gorini and Raffaello Morales breaking barriers

Jonathan Ferrucci plays Bach for Fidelio ‘A Giant for a Genius calling the English to account’

Samson Tsoy: Mastery and restless conviction reaching for the skies with Fidelian courage

Mihai Ritivoiu at Fidelio The Poet speaks in an oasis of elegance and eloquence.

A private fundraising concert for the London International Chopin competition with just forty minutes of Chopin from the winner of the last edition. A young man from Chethams in Manchester studying with Benjamin Powell , a name new to me but judging from the artistry of this young man he must be a remarkable mentor.

https://www.ll-cc.org.

Julian Zhu is the 15 year old winner of the Grand Prize 2026.

One of Chopin’s last performances was in Manchester just a year before his untimely death at the age of thirty nine. Sir Charles Hallé wrote an effusive and exhaustive report of his performance which is one of the few objective accounts of Chopins playing from a fellow musician. His description of the ‘Aeolian Harp’ study op 25 n 1 epitomises the artistry of a unique musician who was the innovator of today’s pianistic technique and also a composer of quite extraordinary originality .

A technique that is like swimming in sounds with natural horizontal movements of which the anchor is like a tree planted in the ground with the branches free to move as freely as they can within a certain radius.

All this to say that this young man has found the same secret that allows Argerich and Rubinstein to continue into their Indian Summer just adding to their mastery a depth and authority together with an intimate knowledge of the scores that allows them to discover new secrets as they share a spontaneity with an audience on a voyage of discovery together.

It is immediately apparent listening to this young man that his simple natural musicianship flows from fingers that are anchored in an arch of the hand with fingers often pointed or directed by an arm or wrist movement much like a painter before his canvas . Arcadi Volodos is in my opinion the perfect pianist because the sounds he makes are shaped by the beauty of the way he caresses the keys.

Chopin’s first published Polonaise in C sharp minor op 26 n 1 opened this showcase recital and it was immediately apparent that here was a young man with a very big natural talent. Everything I had noticed at the competition was on display, the only difference was that he could find even more sumptuous colours on this very fine Steinway piano. Playing in this intimate salon which is similar to where the teenage Chopin himself would have astonished his audiences, eliciting from Schumann :’ Hats off ,a Genius’.

It was the totally committed ‘Allegro appassionato’ opening that was immediately arresting, playing of chiselled beauty with fingers sculpting the sounds with pointillist precision and beauty. He brought a rare sensitivity to the ‘meno mosso’ where he could have been even more generous with the beautiful tenor exhortations. But this was a young man who plays with authority and was able to lead us to places of poetic intensity with a simplicity and total commitment of remarkable maturity for a young man barely fifteen years of age. Playing of great temperament with a masterly use of the pedal which did not take away from the crystalline clarity of his playing but just added more colours to his palette of sounds.

Four Mazurkas of op 17 revealed a natural feeling for the Polish idioms as he opened with the ‘vivo e risoluto’ of the first in B flat that he played with fervent passion and crystalline clarity with note picking of masterly relish.The beautiful central episode was played like the drone of a bagpipe with subdued etherial freedom. The E minor, a mellifluous outpouring of masterly flexibility contrasting with the A flat meanderings of extraordinary nostalgia and insinuating rubato with a teasing jeux perlé just thrown off with masterly nonchalance. What aristocratic beauty he brought to the A minor , final Mazurka, as Chopin’s bel canto was allowed to sing with refined beauty. Embellishments that were a magic web of sounds with touches of golden strands adorning this most poignant of Chopin’s early Mazurkas. Schumann described the Mazurkas as ‘canons covered in flowers’ but there were no canons here except for the deep yearning within the notes which this young man could portray with poetic intensity and simplicity.

The final work was the one that had won this young man the top award at the Chopin competition with a masterly performance of the ‘Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante op 22.’ I wonder why he began the accompaniment with two hands because it continued with one with masterly control as the fingers in the right hand played with extraordinary chiselled beauty. Fingers that were noticeably independent brush strokes with a technique that I have only ever noticed so apparently from Alexander Romanovsky. A way of pointing to jewels hidden within the keys with a sensitivity but allowing glowing luminosity that was quite extraordinary. The Polonaise was played with masterly command with a technical perfection that was part of the music and never used to his own advantage. Chordal playing, though, that he played more vertically and that held up the natural flow of his wonderful horizontal vision of the music. His playing is like washes of paint on a canvas with one natural masterly stroke from a pianist who is a musician who listens to himself with poetic intensity.

What a discovery similar to when I too discovered Artur Haftman when he first came as a teenager to begin his studies with Alexeev at the Royal College . A lunchtime recital in St James’s Piccadilly that will go down in history for the record number of encores that the public insisted on lasting until it was almost time for tea. Hats off to him and Jenny Lee for providing a platform for the next generation of musicians who have, like him, been blessed by the Gods.

Chopin Competition London International for Young Pianists Artur Haftman, Jenny Lee and Piotr Michalik create a showcase for the pianists of tomorrow.

This is what I wrote earlier this year when he ran away with the LICC:

‘Category C , the winner was Julian Zhu , a revelation, as this young English born Chinese student at Chethams, revealed a natural talent that cannot be taught. Breaking all the rules, but creating his own as he had the gift of listening to himself and creating music with quite considerable artistry. The Andante Spianato immediately revealed a wonderful arch to his left hand as flat fingers chiselled out Chopin’s youthful bel canto with the freedom that Chopin himself described to his pupils of a tree firmly planted in the ground but with the branches free to move naturally above. A Grande Polonaise that was truly ‘Grand’. Note picking accuracy is not for him, as he needed to communicate what he found within the notes, the external details which were pretty good, will be easy to perfect as he matures and his playing gains in weight.’

Misha Kaploukhii plays Brahms in the historic St Alfege in Greenwich where Thomas Tallis was organist and is buried.

The Greenwich Chamber Orchestra founded and conducted by David Cutts has been presenting concerts in this noble edifice since 2019.

A young pianist on the crest of a wave, now in his final year of study with Ian Jones at the Royal College of Music, has played with this orchestra many times.Having already played Brahms ‘tiny’ Second Concerto with them he returned tonight to play the First. The Second Concerto is very much a concerto where the piano becomes part of the orchestra but the youthful first concerto is one where the piano and orchestra fight it out to the end. This, in many ways, is a piano struggling to dominate the orchestra.

There are many assertive passages where the piano battles to dominate the orchestra and lead the way, but there are many others where the piano plays with an eloquence and the sounds of the ‘lullabies of Brahms’s grief’ that are of poignant beauty. Nowhere more than in the etherial and noble ‘Adagio’ with its gradual elation and passionate outpouring etched in marble. It was here that Misha’s poetic understanding was able to create an atmosphere where piano, orchestra and audience became involved in one of those seances that only music can create. A magic cadenza unwound in Misha’s sensitive hands as it brought the final benediction from the orchestra with a whispered intensity of remarkable poignancy. Brahms and Misha ,the same age, were here united in a benediction of extraordinary poetic potency with the glistening sounds from the piano not struggling against the orchestra but in this movement united with a poetic fantasy of profundity. Misha had also brought the same poetic intensity to the two solo ‘cadenzas’ in the first movement. Here Brahms, like the central episode of Schubert’s B flat sonata, allows a chorale to bring a moment of calm and solemnity as it gradually takes wing with a melodic line floated on etherial sounds contained within its very being. There were moments too where Misha could outdo the orchestra as the mighty orchestral opening of the ‘wailing of hell’ is mirrored on the piano in a duel of intensity and overwhelming power.

The last movement ‘Allegro non troppo’ just shot from Misha’s hands barely giving us time to wallow in the intense atmosphere created by the dying breath of the ‘Adagio’. Bursting with youthful energy it has been said that Beethoven’s third concert was Brahms’s model. This is, though, a movement of great originality and whereas Beethoven is full of youthful energy and ‘joie de vivre’ this is full of ominous clouds of turbulence and dynamic drive. A climax to this Rondo theme that explodes with scales across the keyboard as one of Brahms’s most noble of mellifluous outpourings opens with aristocratic poise and dignity. Exhilaration and youthful excitement are played out to the final cadenza where the piano, certainly in Misha’s hands, could outdo the orchestra for the full sumptuous sounds that brought this youthful but extraordinarily mature work to a glorious ending.

The concert had started with Beethoven’s ever green Egmont Overture and the much lesser known Eighth Symphony ,written in 1812, was his penultimate and shortest symphony that he fondly referred to it as “my little Symphony in F”.

The premiere took place on 27 February 1814, at a concert in the Redoutensaal, Vienna, at which the Seventh Symphony (which had been premiered two months earlier) was also played. The concert also included Wellington’s Victory and the premiere of Beethoven’s song “Tremate, empi, tremate.” Beethoven was growing increasingly deaf at the time, but nevertheless insisted on leading the premiere. Reportedly, “the orchestra largely ignored his ungainly gestures and followed the principal violinist instead.”

When asked by his pupil Carl Czerny why the Eighth was less popular than the Seventh, Beethoven is said to have replied, “because the Eighth is so much better.”

A valiant performance conducted by the orchestra’s founder David Cutts, in which his daughter and Misha’s girlfriend shared the lead second violin desk adding a personal note to a joyous occasion in this Grade 1a edifice, where Tallis’s shadow still reigns.

Misha Kaploukhii plays Brahms 2 igniting with Martyn Brabbins the RCM Philharmonic

Misha Kaploukhii in Florence and Milan for the Keyboard Trust and Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation

Misha Kaploukhii and Magdalene Ho at Perivale ‘Friendship and mastery go hand in hand: ‘Notre amitié est invariable’

Two Lions were let loose in Trafalgar Square today as Catherina Lee and Miles Walter ignited the atmosphere of St Martin in the Fields with passionate intensity and poetic mastery. Two young artists on the crest of a wave as they were like two animals on the prowl looking at each other to see which way this great wave of music would take them.

Catherina almost on her bended knees as she seemed to pull the sounds from below taking them to the heights with arched back and noble stance as the searing intensity of the sound filled this noble edifice with sounds that it has rarely heard before.

Miles, almost standing up from the piano stool as he too was swimming for his life with sounds that ranged from whispers to sumptuous rich golden sounds. Playing as one with the piano lid fully open, but there was never a moment when this Concert Grand was allowed to overpower the violin. Here were two artists listening to each other and with chameleonic mastery allowing themselves to be led into places neither had been before. The magical opening of the César Franck from Miles was immediately answered by a wave of fluidity from Catherina leading to moments of discovery together, Catherina like the water nymph Ondine relishing such exhilarating waters as she darted from one wave to another.

There was fantasy and passionate intensity as Catherina’s violin soared around this noble edifice with searing intensity with a pianist, who is also a composer, living and recreating with her a jewel of sumptuous beauty. Chausson is telling a story with an extraordinary palette of sounds from whispered intimate musings to outburst of passionate commitment.

It brings to mind Schlegel’s poem :Resounding through all the notes. In the earth’s colourful dream . There sounds a faint long-drawn note. For the one who listens in secret.

The whispered opening of the Ysaÿe solo sonata evoking ‘L’Aurore’ (The Dawn) with legato and staccato combined with masterly effect. A formidable technical command that never draws attention to itself but is at the service of the poetic fantasy of a great musician as she also brought sumptuous brilliance and breathtaking command to the awakening.

At the beginning of the César Franck Sonata Catherina immediately entered with a flowing tempo where her whole body was involved after an opening with the awakening of a dream from a pianist who is her equal partner. Menuhin commented on the mutual anticipation of the British and it is just this mutual anticipation that united an Australian and an American as they flowed and wove together streams of gold and silver strands erupting into passionate outbursts of overwhelming intensity and yearning. A pianist who could create a cushion on which the violinist could float the whispered musings of what must be the greatest wedding present ever offered from one composer to another. Brilliance and astonishing dynamic drive to the ‘Allegro’ second movement where the pianist was able to weave his way around the keys with masterly chameleonic ease as this duo ignited the atmosphere with playing of breathtaking audacity. And after such ‘sturm und drang’ a smile came to Catherina’s face as she intoned the simple pastoral beauty of the ‘Allegretto’. Shadowed by a pianist who was occasionally allowed to meet up and embrace with the Radiance and Joy of the greatest wedding gift a couple could ever receive.

No encore was possible after a musical conversation that was so intense and exhaustive but there was great exhilaration in there presbytery with many surprise visitors visibly moved by such an outpouring of Dreams and Devotion.

A very interesting and even arresting programme of ‘Dreams and Devotion’ in which and entire world was mixed up in poetic and romantic effusions with the great Belgian violinist as the catalyst between Chausson and Franck and even Liszt and Wagner.

Ernest Chausson developed his skill and his talent slowly. At age 25, he turned away from law to pursue music under the tutelage of César Franck, producing a limited number of compositions. The Poème was written for Chausson’s violinist friend Eugène Ysaÿe in 1896, and it reveals the composer as a gifted lyricist, a rhapsodist of impassioned refinement (or refined passion), and a craftsman of security and control. Claude Debussy said, “The Poème contains Chausson’s best qualities. The freedom of its form never hinders harmonious proportion. Nothing touches [us] more…than the end of the Poème, where the music, leaving aside all description and anecdote, becomes the very feeling that inspired the emotion. These are very rare instances of the works of an artist.Poème was written in response to a request from Ysaÿe for a violin concerto . Chausson felt unequal to the task of a concerto, writing to Ysaÿe: “I hardly know where to begin with a concerto, which is a huge undertaking, the devil’s own task. But I can cope with a shorter work. It will be in very free form with several passages in which the violin plays It was commenced in April 1896 and finished on 29 June, while Chausson was holidaying in Florence, Italy.Chausson initially called it Le Chant de l’amour triomphant, then changed it to Poème symphonique, and finally to simply Poème. The first two rejected titles are crossed out on the extant manuscripts.

The original title came from the 1881 romantic novella, Le Chant de l’amour triomphant ‘ ; Песнь торжествующей любви) by the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev , who lived on the estate of the famed mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot and her husband near Paris; all three were acquaintances of Chausson’s. The Viardots’ daughter Marianne was engaged for some time to Gabriel Fauré, but broke it off and instead married Alphonse Duvernoy . Turgenev’s novella seems to mirror this set of relationships, and it may be that Chausson initially attempted to portray it in music.

Ysaÿe’s set of Six Sonatas for solo violin, Op. 27, was written in July 1923 with each sonata dedicated to one of Ysaÿe’s contemporary violinists. Mathieu Crickboom (1871–1947), dedicatee of the Sonata No 5 in G major, was the second violinist in the Ysaÿe Quartet before forming a quartet of his own in 1897, and was often thought to be Ysaÿe’s favourite pupil. Chausson dedicated his String Quartet to him. Crickboom became a professor first in Liège and then in Brussels, being best known for his teaching method Technique of the violin, containing pieces by the masters as well as some of his own.

César Franck’s Violin Sonata in A was written in 1886, when he was 63, as a wedding present for the 28-year-old violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. Twenty-eight years earlier, in 1858, Franck had promised a violin sonata for Cosima von Bülow,the daughter of Liszt and wife of Hans von Bülow and Richard Wagner This never appeared and whatever work Franck had done on that piece was put aside, and eventually ended up in the sonata he wrote for Ysaÿe in 1886. Franck was not present when Ysaÿe married, but on the morning of the wedding, on 26 September 1886 in Arlon, their mutual friend Charles Bordes presented the work to Ysaÿe and his bride Louise Bourdeau de Courtrai. After a hurried rehearsal, Ysaÿe and Bordes’ sister-in-law, the pianist Marie-Léontine Bordes-Pène played the Sonata to the other wedding guests.

Catherina Lee ignites the Fidelio Orchestra and out of the cinders the message of Victor Ullman unites Art with the meaning of Life ‘O come all ye Faithful”

16th International Competition “Premio Citta di Padova”

Today great music returned to the Ghione Theatre.

And as this young lady opened with Bach the thought of Tureck and Nikolaeva came to mind, as their shadows are still present on the stage of the theatre that was to claim my wife, Ileana Ghione, as she intoned the terrible exhortations of Hecuba on 2nd December 2005. Fausto Zadra, a few years earlier, making his much awaited return to Rome on 17th May 2001, was called by the angels as he intoned his Chopin D flat nocturne op 27 n. 2.

And now a young Russian pianist of Hungarian parentage had come to make her debut at the start of what promises to be a long and productive career in music.

‘ All the world is a stage and the men and women merely players ‘ states the great poet William Shakespeare. And as the wheel turns the same stage is ready to greet them with open arms, ready to share their message of hope, fear, beauty and communication with a world full of rhetoric and politics starved of the poetic fantasy of true story telling.

And it was indeed with the universal genius of Bach that this twenty year old artist began her journey. One that was to include the personal revolution of Beethoven with his ‘Appassionata’ Sonata and the revelation of Dante from the pen of her fellow Hungarian Franz Liszt . All wrapped up in just a few bars, with four of Chopin’s ‘canons covered in flowers ‘ as Schumann was to describe the 59 Mazurkas, or miniature tone poems that the innovative genius of the piano was to bequeath the world.

The Toccata in D minor, BWV 913 is a keyboard piece composed by Johann Sebastian Bach around 1708 and first published in 1801. The seven Toccatas were composed largely during the period when he served at the Weimar court (1708-17), although some may be dated back to the years of Arnstadt or Mühlhausen. Born as a very free form of improvised invention and bravura it gradually took form with and introductory Prelude. a secondary section in the style of an ‘Aria’ followed by a first Fugato, then a new improvised recitative episode leading to the virtuosistic Toccata. The idea of inserting an ‘Aria’ between the introduction and first episode was probably inspired by Buxtehude and George Muffat; another characteristic is the double fugue (with two united subjects), a form that the composer was no longer to use in his keyboard works.

The Toccata in D minor BWV 913 dates back to the years between 1705 and 1708. It certainly enjoyed considerable prestige within the circle of Bach’s students since it was handed down to us in a number of copies, one of which reported had the honour of being in the first of Bach’s harpsichord-keyboard editions (Hoffmeister und Kühnel, Leipzig 1801).

Henrietta immediately demonstrated a rhythmic energy and fantasy with playing of style, intelligence and a refined palette of sounds. Playing of authority and aristocratic good taste as Bach’s fantasy was ignited with mastery and a sense of improvisation on a voyage of discovery always of radiance and beauty. A Toccata that took wing with a dynamic rhythmic drive of remarkable control and clarity as her fingers were able to dig deep into the keys and give an architectural shape to this early work of Bach.

And after Bach, Beethoven as this young lady demonstrated her remarkable musicianly credential intoning the mysterious and threatening opening notes of Beethoven’s ‘ Appassionata’ Sonata op 57.

Next to the Moonlight and the Waldstein Sonatas, the Appassionata is no doubt the most celebrated of Beethoven’s piano sonatas and marks a new high point in the composer’s piano oeuvre. Even Lenin said of them that “Such miraculous works can only be made by man.”
Curiously, the nickname Appassionata appeared for the first time in 1838 in a transcription of the sonata for piano four-hands published by the Cranz Verlag in Hamburg and is nowadays inseparably connected with the work.Beethoven’s autograph manuscript of the sonata though has “La Pasionata” written on the cover, in Beethoven’s hand, and it fits splendidly with the dramatic contrasts of the first movement, the solemnity and inwardness of the second and the demonic passion of the third.

Henrietta opened with a whispered authority and great sense of style, immediately immersing us in Beethoven’s tempestuous world with fearless abandon and dynamic drive. Henrietta has quite rightly said that ‘music is in the silences between the notes’ and nowhere more is that apparent than in this first movement of Beethoven’s tempestuous ‘Appassionata’. She shaped the opening with great style, playing Beethoven’s virtuosistic outburst with one hand as he asks in the score. Beethoven’s is not play safe music, but there is an inherent struggle that is evident from Beethoven’s very precise notation. It was a pity that she tried to round off the trill ending of the opening phrases, because played strictly in time makes the silences even more terrifying. But the movement moved continually forward with the expansive second subject played with sumptuous sounds before bursting into another of Beethoven’s tempestuous rages. Beethoven was also very particular about the pedal having inherited from his mentor Haydn a poetical use of long held pedal effects. It was here that Henrietta preferred a cleaner pedal loosing an effect that makes the return of the four note figure ( like the opening of the fifth symphony) even more menacing. The ‘Andante’ is also marked ‘con moto’ and was a little too slow for the opening of a procession even though played with string quartet fullness. The variations that followed, though, she allowed to flow with fluidity as the deep bass notes of the first variation were given great prominence. It contrasted with the mellifluous beauty of the second and the scintillating outpouring of the third, and she brought great drama to Beethovens’s extraordinary interruption at the end of this movement, as the ‘Allegro ma non troppo’ took wing with dynamic drive and a relentless forward motion. Playing of great architectural shape interrupted only by a whispered stream of notes that Henrietta played with remarkable control before giving great menace to the bass motif ( similar to the opening ), that signalled the tempestuous race to the end. A coda played not only ‘Presto’ but with a scintillating passionated intensity that brought this revolutionary work to an exhilarating end.

After the interval Henrietta brought us to the world of Chopin and Liszt.

Chopin’s four Mazurkas op 6 were played with great character and sense of style. Four miniature masterpieces that she played with the same freedom that Chopin described to his students. A tree with the roots firmly planted in the ground with the branches free to move naturally above. Bringing a natural sense of character with playing of simplicity and great delicacy alternating with infectious rhythmic dance and mellifluous outpourings of nostalgia and refined beauty.

Now we were ready for Liszt’s tempestuous ‘Dante Sonata’.

Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata is a sonata in one movement , written in 1849. The final version was completed between 1853 and 1856 and first published in 1858 as part of the second volume of his Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) and was inspired by the reading of Victor Hugo’s poem “Après une lecture de Dante” (1836).It was composed as a fund-raiser for the Bonn Beethoven monument in 1839, that Liszt had undertaken to bring to fruition and to which funds Schumann had offered his Fantasy op 17 and Mendelssohn his Variations sérieuses. It is a work in three main episodes that depict the wailing of the soul in Hell ( in D minor) and the joy of those in Heaven (in F sharp major ) . With three themes reflecting Satan’s three faces as depicted in Dante’s ‘Inferno’. A remarkable performance where Henrietta could bring such sumptuous beauty and scintillating technical brilliance as she told the story in music of Dante’s great drama that had so ignited Liszt ‘s imagination. Playing with fearless abandon but also a control where the music was given an architectural shape and at times in the central episode a chiselled beauty of glowing radiance. Counterpoints in this sublime outpouring that were allowed to glisten as the music built to passages of breathtaking audacity and brilliance with the treacherous final octave leaps played with masterly technical assurance.

After such a dramatic outpouring it was a good choice to offer as an encore the scintillating brilliance of Scarlatti’s Sonata in D minor K1. Played with crystalline clarity and trills that shone like jewels with the precision of a master craftsman.

Closing her programme with the last of Chopin’s studies op 25 n. 12. Sometimes known as the ‘Ocean’ study for the waves of continuous sounds that spread over the entire keyboard. Henrietta played with passionate intensity but also a sense of line as the tenor melody was allowed to ride on wings of song.

Henrietta Lukacs A life devoted to the piano.

Henrietta Lukacs is a concert pianist whose performances have earned top honors at international competitions across Europe — from London and Milan to the Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Glasgow, Gorizia, and the Feurich Competition for Young Performers in Vienna.

Born in Hungary, she was identified early as a singular talent. She graduated with honors from the Central School of Music at the Moscow Conservatory and is currently continuing her studies at the celebrated Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, refining the deep musical language she now carries to audiences worldwide.

Since 2022, Henrietta has been triumphantly touring with solo concerts in Milan, Rome, Vienna and Budapest. By invitation, she regularly performs as soloist with grand symphony orchestras across the European continent.

Her interpretations are noted for their emotional depth and architectural clarity — qualities equally suited to the searching poetry of Chopin, the tempestuous virtuosity of Liszt, and the spiritual restraint of Bach.

“Music is the silence between the notes —
where the soul speaks.” — HENRIETTA LUKACS

https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESaAHEIkXXuOgqpKLQ451tJMq5Ij45ID_6bTzNbon1EvHtaeh6Ptbu4CiRHyFaySXg92OdnSOEncayf263TG2_187lodwVjHuYwMBMLBBAPIMpb9fcHNBO8bgIckaGcSVx7aQsb21xzv2R&gsessionid=W4PN-2LhOP8XYmScAAWzzcPaVyrIsaqVid_ZKHfqbW7e-rjEDqg8CQ

A concert I heard in Florence just two weeks ago for the Keyboard Trust and am happy to include my review. And even happier to include the superb live stream from his concert at St Mary’s Perivale for all to enjoy and admire.

Alexander Doronin at the British Institute Florence. ‘A pianist with a story to tell, painting pictures in sound with poetic mastery.’

Russian pianist Alexander Doronin began his studies at the Royal College of Music in London in 2021 as an ABRSM Scholar. He graduated in 2025 with a First Class Bachelor of Music degree and is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree under the guidance of Professor Dmitri Alexeev (piano). From 2015 to 2021, Alexander studied at the Gnessin Moscow Special School (College) of Music with Professor Mikhail Khokhlov (piano) and Olga Martynova (harpsichord). Alexander is London Symphony Orchestra Scholar, he is the Eileen Rowe Musical Trust award holder, and is also supported by the Drake Calleja Trust and Countess of Munster.  He has achieved remarkable success in piano competitions, including First Prize at the Moscow Piano Open International Competition (2019), Third Prize at European Piano Competition in Bremen, Germany (2024), Second Prize at the International Piano Competition of Lyon (2024), Second Prize at the Vladimir Krainev Competition for Young Pianists (2019). He has consistently demonstrated extraordinary talent and dedication in his musical pursuits. He has also participated in major international competitions such as the Enescu Piano Competition (2024) and the Van Cliburn Piano Competition (2025).

He performed as a soloist with the Russian National Orchestra (Founder & Artistic Director – Mikhail Pletnev), Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra (as the result of the First prize at the Concerto Competition in Royal College of Music (2022) playing Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto.), City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, Yaroslavl Philharmonic Orchestra, Voronezh Youth Symphony Orchestra, Omsk Symphony Orchestra. Alexander performed recitals and took part in various concerts in the UK, Austria, Poland, China, Vietnam, Netherlands, Switzerland and in various cities of Russia including the series ‘YAMAHA Stars’ in Sochi (2019), the Loft Philharmonic project, ‘Summer evenings in Yelabuga’, Kazan (2021) and a piano recital at the Hermitage, Saint-Petersburg (2021), Piano recital in Steinway Hall in London organized by Keyboard Trust (2023).