A conversation with Tatiana Zelikman and Vladimir Tropp, surprise performance by Vladimir Tropp was followed by young artist’s appearance: Deva Mira Sperandio played Schumann “Kreisleriana”, Op.16 and Mischa Carr played Medtner Sonata-Idyll, Op.56

What an evening and all thanks to Dina Parakhina where our two illustrious musicians are guests and above all to Oleg Kogan,and his wonderfully independent Razumovsky Academy, who could immediately decide that these two historic figures at the age of 87 could and should meet a public that has only read about them in books or heard them on historic re issued CD performances.

It was a very private and intimate gathering around FouTs’ong’s Steinway D that stands so proudly in the Razumovsky Academy that the distinguished ‘cellist Oleg Kogan built with his own hands. With the same loving care he invites selected people into his home where they can be engulfed in warmth, remarkable music making and on occasion Oleg’s cordon bleu cuisine. Today these two legendary figures not only performed but also answered questions and listened to two students of Dina with whom they were happy to share their precious advice. Such an informal gathering that Dina was not sure if they would be happy to play, but it was Vladimir Tropp who felt so at ease that he was happy to play much longer than we could have hoped for.

Three short works by Scriabin were played with chiselled eloquence, vibrant intensity and even impish good humour. A truly epic performance of Chopin’s Nocturne op 27 n. 1. Chiselled and etched in gold as this nocturne was played with imposing nobility and not the usual whispered whimperings but a voice of extraordinary strength and imposing importance bursting into an overpowering left hand octave cadenza before disappearing into a whispered land of glowing beauty. This Nocturne maybe the most Scriabineque and also showed Maestro Tropp’s Scriabin that was played with imposing sounds of authority and aristocratic simplicity. But the surprise was to come with Rachmaninov’s C sharp minor prelude op 3 that was played with overwhelming power. Two voices, one of overpowering sounds and the other with whispered echos. It was an extraordinarily forceful declamation that exploded with the enormous sonorities of the climax before the hesitant and distant final bars played with timeless wonder. This was indeed a revelation and a performance of searing originality from a musician with a towering personality. Tchaikovsky’s Evening Prayer from the seasons was the final work that this master was to share with us.

Now it was his wife Tatiana Zelikman who was to give an extraordinarily original performance of Schumann’s Arabesque op 18 with many details underlined and pointed out with chiselled weight. It was ,though, in the excerpts from Schumann’s Kreisleriana that she played in the short masterclass afterwards ,that showed her remarkable fantasy and fearless authority. Playing with hands that look as though they are swimming in sounds as she played without the score remembering all the details that she had heard from this brilliant young student of Dina Parakhina,Deva Mira Sperandio.Imploring this young musician to play with more fantasy and horizontally not vertically.

Both she and her husband had made copious notes in the score whilst Deva was playing. Pointing to particular points which they took in turns to mark with delicate circles in her score.

Nothing was missed, with Tatiana curled up over the score like a croissant, whilst Victor was bolt upright with burning eyes of concentration. What a formidable team! At 87 their burning passion for the music uniting them with a dedication that the only thing that mattered were the sounds in that very minute. Vladimir Tropp had pointed out to Misha Carr many refined phrasings that would clarify the melodic line in her very fine performance of Medtner’s Sonata -Idyll.

A question and answer session was a fascinating journey to be able to touch history from the people that had been In Moscow when history was being made. Jed Distler was anxious to know about the appearance of Glenn Gould in Moscow in the 50’s. An empty hall where Tatiana was seated in the front row intrigued by the mastery of Gould’s ‘Art of Fugue’. Neuhaus was so overwhelmed that he had the interval prolonged whilst he communicated to his colleagues and students the marvels that were taking place from this unknown Canadian pianist. The next concerts of course were completely sold out!

To hear of Sofronitsky who was considered a God by all those that had heard him live. Including Richter, who they both heard many times and who bowed to Sofonitsky as a leading light. Even if he was uneven his playing was always of the vibrant presence of recreation.

An extraordinary evening when we could have a direct link with the past as we watched these remarkable artists at the age of 87 living for the present and united in their quest for perfection, with a passion and intensity that was truly a lesson to us all.

Tatiana Zelikman is considered to be one of the finest piano teachers today. Over the years she has taught pianists such as Daniil Trifonov, Konstantin Lifschitz, Alexei Volodin and Alexander Kobrin, all artists of rare talent who have become celebrities. Many of her students have enjoyed remarkable careers have obtained the most prestigious prizes, including the Tchaikovsky and the Rubinstein, Van Cliburn, Busoni and Chopin piano competitions, and today perform on the major stages of the world. Many have also followed in her footsteps and become highly regarded teachers. Her entire career, from the School to her higher studies in the class of Teodor Gutman, a disciple of the great Heinrich Neuhaus, has been characterised by a sound, a memory and an ear of rare quality, musical subtlety, and most important a distinctive personality that shines through in her art of interpretation. Her repertoire included works by François Couperin, Scriabin, Schumann, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin; she had an insatiable passion for the music of Ravel and Debussy.

Vladimir Tropp was born in Moscow and studied at the celebrated Gnessins Music School from an early age. His teachers were the distinguished Russian pedagogues, Moisey Feigin and Teodor Gutman, both pupils of Heinrich Neuhaus.

In 1963 Tropp graduated with distinction from the Gnessins State Musical Institute, now named the Gnessins Russian Academy of Music. He immediately began his graduate work while teaching there and is now regarded as of the Academy’s leading professors. In 1997 he became chair of the Academy’s piano department. He has also held a professorship at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. In his teaching Professor Tropp strives to maintain the highest traditions of the Russian piano school.  In 1970, Tropp became a laureate of the International Enesco Piano Competition in Bucharest. Since then, he has regularly appeared in performance and gave maseterclasses in Russia and many countries all over the world. The principal part of his repertoire is romantic music, with acclaimed performances of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Medtner. He serves on the boards of the Rachmaninoff (as a vice-president) and Scriabin Societies in Russia and is a member of the Teodor Leschetizki and Scriabin Societies in the US and the Glenn Gould Society in Canada. He regularly serves on juries of international and national piano competitions.

Dina Parakhina and Dmitri Alexeev are a very special presence at the Royal College of Music representing the Russian School of piano playing. Inviting the masters that had inspired them to share their unique message with young musicians in London.

Mikhail Voskresensky a Colossus bestrides the Royal College of Music

Gonçalo Maia Caetano at St Cyprian’s Chamber Music Series just a stone’s throw from the Royal Academy where he and his girlfriend Gabrielé Sutkuté have both recently graduated with honours. It was in fact a work from Gabrielé’s recent repertoire that opened Gonçalo ‘s recital with his own transcription for guitar of Rameau’s ‘Les Tendres Plaintes.’

Gabrielé Sutkuté at Lansdowne Club ‘A star in Mayfair shining ever brighter’

Like Segovia on the guitar or Casals on the cello discovering repertoire and inventing technique to allow such masterpiece to grow and glow in their hands .

Gonçalo and Gabrielé sharing their life in music together was a touching way to open his recital today. A golden couple indeed.

Exquisite ornamentation in the Rameau that was even more suited to the guitar than the piano. The piano of course with its luxuriant legato of subtle beauty and colouring but on the guitar it took on a different character of a more detached beauty of a refined aristocratic sound world of its time. However both were able to transmit the extraordinary sentiment that Rameau hides in these miniature tone poems. ‘La Gran Sarabanda’ by Leo Brouwer was played with extraordinary technical brilliance which contrasted with the charm and beguiling rubato of Giulio Regondi’s Introduction that he played with great weight before embracing the style of the Caprice . It was the same charm and style that he brought to Barrios Mangoré’s ‘Mazurka Appassionata’ and the formidable mastery that he brought to Antonio José’s only work for guitar his sonata .

I have been unwittingly exposed to many of the great guitarists of our time. A group of young guitarists in Rome brought David Russell to play and give Masterclasses for some years in my Euromusica season in the theatre I had created with my actress wife in Rome. Others brought Julian Bream, John Williams, Manuel Barrueco and the fabulous Duo Assad. The one that impressed me the most, though, for his extraordinary musicality was Oscar Ghiglia. Yamashita came one year and played the Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition on the guitar ! A mechanic of manic proportions but when he returned some years later it was with his wife and three little children all of whom played the guitar. Father and family played like angels this time, and when my wife died they wrote to me that they would like to give a performance in her memory. I was very grateful but explained that to arrange a concert would take time and organisation. I had not understood because they explained they just wanted to play to me, privately, in the theatre that my wife and I had created together, to share their love via their music and to fill my heart not with sadness but with joy. So you see the guitar has a very special place in my heart and I was very pleased to attend Conçalo’s guitar recital after so many years which brought back so many poignant memories.

Gonçalo Maia Caetano is a classical guitarist from Portugal who has concluded his Advanced Diploma course at the Royal Academy of Music with professor Michael Lewin. The guitarist also got a Bachelor of Music Degree (with First Class Honours) and a Master of Arts’ Degree (with DipRAM) there.

Gonçalo has performed in many concerts throughout Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria and United Kingdom. He has performed in renowned venues such as The King’s Place in London, Wiener Saal in Salzburg, Austria, among others.

In 2016 Gonçalo won the 2nd prize Ex-Aequo in Valencia’s International Guitar Competition and later in the year he was awarded the 3rd prize in Guimarães International Guitar Competition. In the following year, he was the winner in the competition “Grand Prize Virtuoso” and consequently was invited to give a concert in Wiener Saal, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. In 2021, Gonçalo was the Winner of the Blyth Watson Guitar Concerto Prize at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2023 Gonçalo received 1st Prize at the prestigious “The Prince’s Prize” competition, the 2nd prize at the Ivor Mairants Guitar Competition and the 2nd prize in Pleven Guitar Competition. In 2024 he was awarded the 2nd prize in the Gallery of Guitars Competition in Scotland and this year he won the 2nd prize in Lagoa Guitar Festival in the chamber music category with his duo “Volt Duo” with Gus Mcquade.

Gonçalo has had Masterclasses with distinguished guitarists such as David Russell, Fabio Zanon, Aniello Desiderio, Lukasz Kuropaczewski, Roland Dyens, Laura Young, Graham Devine, Michel Sadanowsky, Carlo Marchione and many more acclaimed musicians.

Apart from his classical guitar studies, he is very interested in Jazz. In the end of his first year at the Royal Academy of Music, Gonçalo started his second study in Jazz Guitar. He also has his own Jazz project “Maia” with which he released the single “Yellow”. In 2020, Gonçalo joined the “Phemo Quartet” as a Bass player and in 2022 the quartet performed in the Vortex Jazz Club. Later this year, the quartet will release their debut album “Anti-Revelation”.

Gonçalo is currently being supported by the Musicians’ Company, Help Musicians UK, IGF and Talent Unlimited

https://www. concalomaiacaetano.com

Giulio Regondi (1822 – 6 May 1872) was a Swiss-born classical guitarist, concertinist and composer active in France and (mainly) the United Kingdom.

Regondi was born of a German mother and an Italian father in Geneva Switzerland. In 1831 Fernando Sor dedicated his Souvenir d’amitié op. 46 to Regondi, a child prodigy when the boy was just nine.

There is a reference to his appearing in London in 1831, presented as a child prodigy of the guitar.All of Regondi’s concertina music was written for the English system, at which he was a virtuoso though his guitar music is now better known. Regondi’s works for solo guitar comprise a set of etudes, variations on a theme by Bellini and five larger works.

Regondi died in London and is buried in Kensal Rise Cemetery.

Agustín Pío Barrios (also known as Agustín Barrios Mangoré and Nitsuga—Agustín spelled backwards—Mangoré; May 5, 1885 – August 7, 1944) was a Paraguayan virtuoso classical guitarist and composer, regarded by some as one of the greatest performers and arguably the most prolific composer for the classical guitar Barrios was famed for his phenomenal performances, both live and on gramophone recordings. Eye-witness testimony from Lope Texera in Caracas Venezuela on April 18, 1932, declared that Barrios was “superior to Segovia whom I saw in London last year”. Barrios has been credited as the first classical guitarist to make recordings, in 1909/10. Barrios sometimes performed in concert in traditional Paraguayan dress (he was partly of Guarani origin), beginning in 1932 using the pseudonym of Nitsuga Mangoré (‘Nitsuga’ being Agustín spelled backwards, and ‘Mangoré’ being the name of a cacique of the South American indigenous group Timbú).During his performing years, Barrios only informally shared bits of his musical knowledge with his patrons Luis Pasquet, Martin Borda Pagola, Dionisio Basualdo, Bautista and Lalyta Almiron, and Raul Borges.

Barrios vehemently rejected the idea of devoting time to the formal instruction of students, as he saw it detrimental to the flourishing of the artist, often responding to persuasive attempts “cuando nace el maestro, muere el artista”(the artist dies with the birth of the teacher). Given his masterful command of the instrument and compositional prolificity, the stance was then perceived as tragic eccentricityThe J.S.Bach -inspired La Catedral, from 1921, is widely considered to be Barrios’ magnum opus, winning the approval of Segovia who said “In 1921 in Buenos Aires, I played at the hall La Argentina noted for its good acoustics for guitar, where Barrios had concertized just weeks before me. He was presented to me by his secretary Elbio Trapani. At my invitation, Barrios visited me at the hotel and played for me upon my very own guitar several of his compositions, among which the one that really impressed me was a magnificent concert piece The Cathedral whose first movement is an andante, like an introduction and prelude, and a second very virtuosic piece which is ideal for the repertory of any concert guitarist. Barrios had promised to send me immediately a copy of the work (I had ten days remaining before continuing my journey) but I never received a copy.”However, it is possible that Segovia did receive the score and chose not to play it, either out of distaste for Barrios’ folk-based music or professional jealousy (because Barrios was more of a composer than he was).


Antonio José Martínez Palacios (12 December 1902 –11 October 1936), professionally known as Antonio José, was a Spanish composer . Maurice Ravel apparently said of Antonio José: “He will become the Spanish composer of our century”, however, his music lay forgotten until the 1980s.

Born in Burgos ,Castile and León, Antonio José became a music teacher at a Jesuit school and conducted the city choir in Burgos. The sheer volume of his work (he died at 33) was prodigious. He penned his first composition when he was 14. He was hired as a director of a musical review in Burgos at the age of 18. He wrote extensively for voice in his quest to present the melodies of his native Burgos to the world. His compositions, especially the Sinfonía castellana and Suite Ingenua, put his orchestration on a par with anything at the time in the twentieth century. His most famous work is a sonata for guitar.

His harmonic understanding put him in the forefront of post-impressionist composers, and though a disciple of Ravel, his particular voice and choice of medium set him distinctly apart. His chief biographer, Miguel Ángel Palacios Garoz, points out that Antonio José was not only a prolific composer but a writer with an intellectually facile mind that was open to influences from all fronts of contemporary music.

Falangists had success in the July 18 1936 coup , and he was arrested on August 6 and detained in Burgos.

Antonio José was executed by a Falangist firing squad at Estépar. His body was thrown into one of the Mass graves. Like poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca , who met a similar fate in the province of Granada his remains have yet to be identified.

Herman opened his recital with Haydn’s C major Sonata ( English sonata ) probably the last of Haydn’s sonata which is a non plus ultra of thematic concentration, a brilliant, extrovert counterpart to the strenuous ‘Fifths’ Quartet, Op 76 No 2. It was written for and dedicated to Therese Jansen Bartolozzi in 1794, who subsequently published the sonata in 1800 with the title: “A Grand Sonata for the Piano Forte Composed Expressly for and dedicated to Mrs. Bartolozzi by Haydn … Op. 79 … London. Printed for, and to be had of the Proprietor 82 Wells Street and of the Publishers J. and H. Caulfield 36 Picadilly.” After a poetically embellished, quasi-improvisatory Adagio in F—a rhapsodic meditation such as we find in many of the late piano trios—the finale is a candidate for the most subversively comic piece that even Haydn ever wrote. A scherzo in all but name, it continually baffles with its lopsided phrases (the quirky main theme consists of five plus two bars), outrageous sudden silences and disorienting feints to absurdly remote keys that, unlike Haydn’s usual practice, remain arbitrary and unexplained to the end.

Herman playing with a clarity and refined phrasing of impish good humour and a rhythmic drive of irresistible charm. What fun he was having as he unravelled Haydn’s knotty twine with such spirit with the composer’s own poetic pedal effects realised so beautifully, following on afterwards with playing of crystalline clarity and scintillating jeux perlé. Adding a teasing embellishment to the slow unwinding cadenza before flying high again with the return of the opening. A grandiose opening to the ‘Adagio’ and the simple unadorned beauty of Haydn’s ‘bel canto’ that Herman played with grace and style adding a delicate unobtrusive rubato that allowed the music to speak with a human voice. Beautifully radiant sounds of delicacy and strength where the shadow that momentarily passes over the keys was played with poignant significance before the return of the ‘Adagio’ , embellished by the composer with just a little help from Herman! He brought delicacy and beauty to a coda of pleading, whispered poetic intensity. The Allegro molto just flew from his fingers with its continual questioning and joyous response with playing of a ‘joie de vivre’ of masterly poetic control and impish good humour .

The Piano Sonata in B minor S.178 is in a a single-movement that Liszt completed during his time in Weimar, Germany in 1853, a year before it was published in 1854 and performed in 1857. It was dedicated to Robert Schumann in return for Schumann’s dedication to Liszt in his Fantaisie in C op 17. A copy arrived at Schumann’s house in May 1854, after he had entered Endenich sanatorium, but Clara Schumann did not perform the Sonata despite her marriage to Robert Schumann; as she found it ‘ merely a blind noise’.

It was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1854 and first performed on 27 January 1857 in Berlin^[ by Hans von Bülow. It was attacked by the critic Eduard Hanslick who said ‘anyone who has heard it and finds it beautiful is beyond help’. Brahms reputedly fell asleep when Liszt performed the work in 1853,and it was also criticized by the pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein. However, the Sonata drew enthusiasm from Wagner following a private performance of the piece by Karl Klindworth on April 5, 1855. Today it is considered the pinnacle of the romantic piano repertoire with the first commercial recording made by Alfred Cortot on March 13, 1929, at the Small Queen’s Hall in London.

This was Herman’s first outing with the sonata that he has obviously pondered over for a long time because it was played with a maturity ,intelligence and masterly control. A scrupulous attention to Liszt’s very precise instructions and a look at the score without any rhetoric, but delving deep and finding many things that were for me a revelation. For example the fermata before the central ‘Andante sostenuto’ or the accent on the deep F sharp after the pianississimo scales. An astonishing clarity and precision that just added to the passion and intensity of the more energetic passages but also the poignancy to the ravishingly beauty of the slow parts that were never hurried or given unnecessary rhetorical rubatos. The opening was played ‘piano’ and ‘forte’ with ‘fortissimo’ only where the actual Sonata takes wing. I have only heard Curzon play the left hand semiquaver passages so precisely, where usually the last notes of the bar are clipped in an effort to make the music more exciting. The great octave outpouring of the second theme was played with astonishing accuracy and clarity leading to the first ‘Grandioso’ that was played with an extraordinary sense of balance and control, the burning palpitations merely sustaining the melody but not overpowering it. This young man is a thinking musician who reads the score and turns what he sees into music where he is free to add his own remarkable personality of refined good taste and intelligence. The ‘Margherita’ theme was played ‘cantando espressivo’ but not before the third theme was allowed to give its final gasps as it surrendered to the radiance and beauty that followed. Absolute rhythmic precision meant that the clockwork perfection of the build up to the first great climax allowed the actual point of arrival to be breathtaking in its audacity. Usually played at breakneck speed Herman kept it under control with the same aristocratic mastery of Arrau.

The great declamatory chords before the ‘Andante’ were even more astonishing for the burning intensity of the silences between them, making the ‘recitativi’ even more poignantly significant. The fugato after the central movement was played with a control of sound as it gradually grew in intensity leading to the eruption of the recapitulation. The ‘Grandioso’ theme now played as requested ‘accentuate il canto’ and it was a moment ‘avec un sentiment de regret’ of great significance and radiance .The final octaves were played with fearless abandon and extraordinary clarity with the final outburst now overwhelming in its intensity. A burning silence followed where Herman held the tension until he lowered his hand once more onto the keys to carve out with mastery and a musicianship of poetic vision, the final pages that Liszt had added as an afterthought, and that are the most remarkable two pages of his entire output. Prophetic, profound and with disarming simplicity pointing into the future.

I look forward to Herman’s next performances of the sonata that will grow even more in significance as he delves deeper and deeper into the score on his masterly voyage of discovery

Herman Med Cerisha at La Mortella A remarkable young artist who thinks more of the composer than himself

Herman Med Cerisha at St James’s Poetic beauty concealing technical mastery

The second concert this week in Alberto Portugheis’s season at St James’s Sussex Gardens.

Yesterday the superb Gabrielé Sutkuté from Lithuania

Gabrielé Sutkuté ‘A walk through the paradise garden of the National Liberal Club illuminated by the radiant beauty of ‘Clair de lune’

Today Ciro Rolon had flown in especially from Argentina, as winner of the 24th Sound & Time competition in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to play in the historic masterclasses that this unstoppable eclectic master is holding in Steinway Hall from 19 to 22 October.

If Music be the food of love ..play on -The historic Alberto Portugheis Masterclasses 2023 and updated to 2024

Alberto Portugheis Premio Sorrento Classica alla Carriera 2026 A prize for his life’s work ‘A piano for peace’

On New Years’ Eve he will celebrate his 86th birthday!

Arriving at the concert in open sandals because he had lent the pianist his shoes and dress trousers as Ciro’s luggage had been lost in transit from Argentina to London !

A programme of Schubert, Franck, Rachmaninov and Beethoven demonstrating his pedigree from the Italian School of Aldo Antognazzi heir to the leggendary Michelangeli and Vidusso . A beauty of sound and limpet touch without doubt from his studies with Bruno Leonardo Gelber.

From the very first notes the liquid fluidity of his playing of Schubert’s A flat Impromptu D. 899 demonstrated his timeless musicianship where his sense of style and beauty allowed the music to live and breathe naturally with a palette of sounds that were never hard or vertical but pure and horizontal . His arms outstretched as they embraced the beauty that was lying within each note like jewels on a velvet cushion.

The same fluidity he was to find in the opening of César Franck’s Prelude, Chorale and Fugue with washes of sound out of which emerged the musical line of magical limpidity. A poetic sensibility that on occasion he allowed too much reign at the expense of the architectural line, but it was done with such loving care and with fingers that delved deep into the keys to find the gold that was hidden within. Almost imperceptibly the ‘Chorale’ was heard floating magically on waves of expansive harmonic arpeggios. Building to a climax that was sumptuous and sonorous but never hard or ungrateful. A ‘Fugue’ that was allowed to unfold so naturally until the bubble burst and a cloud of radiance filled the air. Jewels that seems to glisten and glow as César Franck stealthily combined the three main ingredients into one sumptuous passionate outpouring to the Glory of God the maker of peace and harmony. A dynamic outpouring of rich broken chords brought this magical feast to a brilliant end.

The Rachmaninov ‘Elegie’ of the Moments musicaux op 16 n. 3 ,was played with weight and the poignant significance of Russian nostalgia.

The last work on the programme was Beethoven’s’Appassionata’ Sonata op 57. Ciro played with great style but could at times sound a little laboured as his control and measured playing demonstrated an achitectural sense of line at the expense of the dynamic drive that the title ‘Appassionata’ should imply. The ‘Andante con moto’ flowed well and the variations grew naturally out of the processional theme that was played with sensibility but rather too vertically for the string quartet quality which Beethoven defines. The final movement was played with great intensity and if there was a little too much pedal it was because he was shaping the multitude of notes into phrases of musicianly understanding . A coda in which he finally allowed his temperament full reign. If he played too loudly the chords after the two dramatic declamations it at last brought a sense of excitement and ‘Appassionata’ to a performance of great style and beauty but lacking the dramatic character of one of Beethoven’s most imperious sonatas.

Alfredo the young Italian pianist who at only 24 already has a Bachelor and Masters degree from Rome Conservatory to which he has added a first class honours degree from Kings College,London. In his burning pursuit for knowledge and mastery he is pursuing a PHD at the Guildhall with playing mentored by Ronan O’Hora. Awarded a special Pappano Scholarship through the generosity of Madame Bassatne which has also allowed him to have precious guidance from the KT honorary Patron . Gabriella Bassatne was also a very close friend of Noretta and John Leech the KT founders, who was with us last night for the KT debut recital of this distinguished young artist. An audience that included many illustrious musicians and two much feared critics Jed Distler and Bryce Morrison.

Rising to the occasion with an eclectic programme of Liszt, Beethoven and Scriabin which he crowned with a glowing performance of Clementi, a much neglected English based composer whose slow movement of the F sharp minor Sonata was the highlight of a special occasion.

Alfredo in the discussion that followed with the ‘birthday boy’ described how he had managed to combine his original training from the late Maura Pansini of the Neapolitan school with that of Ronan O’Hora of the Cortot (Perlemuter) school. Cleanliness, precision but allied to poetic fantasy colour and real weight, a difficult conundrum but one which Alfredo showed us is becoming a reality in playing that spanned the romantic ,classical and fantasmagorical.

Opening with a rare work by Liszt “The Sarabande and Chaconne’ from Handel’s Almira that Leslie Howard,had brought to light via the inclusion as the set piece in the Liszt Utrecht competition and thanks to him is now being included in many pianist’s repertoire.

Leslie , a co artistic director and founder member of the KT could not be present to interview Alfredo but he will be in Perivale on the 28th November when Alfredo and five other pianists will compete for the prestigious first prize of the UK Liszt Society

This year’s first prize winner Max Walsh was also present last night and will give a recital in Perivale as a curtain raiser to the Annual Liszt Day in St Mary’s Perivale that can be followed worldwide by their superb streaming at. A long and taxing work that Mariam Batsashvili ,another KT artist, has made her own but that Alfredo showed a fearless authority and architectural understanding of Liszt’s long, genial and at times meandering thoughts. Handel’s much neglected masterpiece recently had such an enormous success at Covent Garden where Handel’s oratorio type operas have been unjustly neglected for too long. Alfredo followed with a poetic account of the Petrarch Sonnet 104 . Playing of radiance and flowing beauty with ornaments thrown of with glistening mastery as the subtle beauty of Liszt’s writing was conveyed with poignant significance.

The epic poem of Hero and Leander depicted ( according to Arrau) by Liszt in his Ballade in B minor was played with a palette of sounds that could indeed portray this harrowing tale.The chromatic rumbling in the bass representing the sea: “You really can perceive how the journey turns more and more difficult each time. In the fourth night he drowns. Next, the last pages are a transfiguration”. Played by Alfredo with great authority but also radiant beauty as the wonderful tenor melody filled the piano with sumptuous rich sounds that are elaborated with ever more transcendental effusions.

Of the two sonatas that followed it was the enigmatic fantasy of Scriabin’s ‘purple’ Sonata that suited our young virtuoso the best. A subtle palette of sounds but allied always to an intelligence and architectural awareness where Scriabin’s still early Chopinesque writing . The beginning and guiding light to the composers lifelong search for the ‘star’ that was to be a diabolical journey of harrowing torment. A technical mastery of the Presto, perpetuo mobile, that did not deny the unstoppable Romantic outbursts of Romantic effusions.

The Beethoven Sonata ,a new work for Alfredo, I found a little too earthbound. The opening Vivace lacking improvised fluidity and freedom as Alfredo seemed intimidated and too respectful of the first of Beethoven’s great trio of late Sonatas. It missed the etherial beauty and imprecisions of a composer searching for a world of peaceful coexistance. A beauty that was to be revealed in the final theme and variations of the last movement that Alfredo played with remarkable authority.Here again I felt his Neapolitan verticality was at odds with Cortot’s horizontality.

All this was resolved however in the radiant beauty and understanding that he brought to the Clementi encore. Jed Distler the most discerning of critics thought that Alfredo had found the perfect key with a performance where the beauty and radiance of the opening sounded like a Bach chorale prelude such was the glowing simple beauty of playing that allowed the music to speak for itself.

Alfredo in discussion with Jed at the end and which is the raison d’être of the meeting the artist reception that Steinways very generously allow in their beautiful showroom. Good times where in a relaxed atmosphere a mutual love and respect for the music can be debated over many glasses of Champagne and on this occasion a birthday cake with the recipe bequeathed to Elena Vorotoko ,co artistic director , by our much missed founder Noretta Conci .

Noretta will be celebrated in her home town of Trento where the Filarmonica are proud to host a celebration together with Evgeny Kissin and many emeritus KT artists on the 29th November 2026.

An ovation for Salome Jordania as her Spiritual Odyssey drew to a close with a monumental performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures.

Here in these sumptuous surrounds where pre-Raphaelite beauty reigns rather than Mussorgsky’s friend Hartman’s posthumous exhibition of paintings .

Salome restoring Mussorgsky’s masterpiece to the original piano with all the mastery and artistry of a young lady on the crest of a wave, with a ravishing and sometimes almost overwhelming palette of sounds . With the solidity of Berman from her studies in Yale but the style of O’Hora from the Guildhall she kept us bewitched bothered but never bewildered. Bells pealing from the first glorious notes of Rachmaninov to those of hope and resistance of the Great Gate of Kyiv

Blessed by the Gods with the ‘Benediction ‘ of Liszt , this is a young lady with something important to say.

Deciding to alter the order of the programme, as she wanted to start and end with the bells .One of elation and the other of expectation.

So it was with Rachmaninov’s call to arms of the Etude-Tableaux op 33 n. 7 that was to be the fanfare to a recital of extraordinary intensity and poetic fantasy. She brought power and grandeur to the study with her extraordinary sense of balance which allowed her to play with sumptuous full sounds but never with the ungrateful force that we are so often witness to.There was radiance and flowing beauty to the prelude in G major op 32 n. 5 followed by the astonishing bravura of the Etude-Tableaux op 39 n. 1. A dynamic drive that swept all before it with a pulsating menace relieved momentarily by the sumptuous radiance of the tenor melody before all hell let loose again with transcendental brilliance.

Passing from darkness to light with one of Liszt’s most neglected masterpieces : ‘Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude’. It closely corresponds to Lamartine’s poem in its content and form, showing the composer’s indebtedness to French Romanticism. In the key of F sharp which gives it a very warm sound as with Chopin’s Barcarolle, as this too is a great song of ravishing beauty. Salome played the opening tenderly, with a noble tenor voice with washes of undulating sounds in the right hand. A remarkable control of balance with subtle shading as the music built to a climax with aristocratic poise and she placed the great bass notes with breathtakingly daring authority. A deep meditative silence before the opening of a window to hear the simple pastoral beauty of the ‘Andante. It was transformed into the radiance of ‘più sostenuto quasi Preludio’ leading to the main theme on waves of sounds that Salome played with masterly control and refined beauty. Building to the final great climax which opened a box of jewels that were spread with whispered gossamer beauty over the entire keyboard and where the tenor voice, once again, intoned Liszt’s magical melody. Gasps of sounds were interrupted by a deep prayer of solace ‘Andante semplice espressivo’ that was reverently intoned as the Andante theme appeared on high as a distant memory, before the final chords that Salome played with the refined finesse that only comes from listening intently to the very soul that is being bared in that moment. One of the finest accounts that I have ever heard of this remarkable work with an ending played with the same whispered intensity and concentration as the visionary last bars of the B minor Sonata. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/02/11/ivan-krapan-premio-busoni-2017-presents-liszt-harmonies-poetiques-et-religieuses/

It is the third of Liszt’s ten Harmonies Poètiques et Religieuses.

If one had closed one’s eyes and heard her Scriabin Nocturne for the left hand I doubt one would have ever believed that it was possible to play with such a sumptuous palette of sounds and a magical sense of balance that we heard today. A timeless beauty where she allowed the music to breathe as a singer without ever loosing the golden thread that held it so miraculously together.

Hartmann’s sudden death on 4 August 1873 from an aneurysm shook Mussorgsky along with others in Russia’s art world. The loss of the artist, aged only 39, plunged the composer into deep despair. Stasov helped to organize a memorial exhibition of over 400 Hartmann works in the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg in February and March 1874. Mussorgsky lent to the exhibition the two pictures Hartmann had given him, and viewed the show in person. Later in June, two-thirds of the way through composing his song cycle Sunless . Mussorgsky was inspired to compose Pictures at an Exhibition, quickly completing the score in three weeks (2–22 June 1874).In a letter to Stasov (see photo), probably written on 12 June 1874, he describes his progress:

My dear généralissime, Hartmann is boiling as Borisboiled—sounds and ideas hung in the air, I am gulping and overeating, and can barely manage to scribble them on paper. I am writing the 4th No.—the transitions are good (on the ‘promenade’). I want to work more quickly and steadily. My physiognomy can be seen in the interludes. So far I think it’s well turned …

The music depicts his tour of the exhibition, with each of the ten numbers of the suite serving as a musical illustration of an individual work by Hartmann.

Salome brought a refreshing simplicity to a score that was originally written for the piano and that was eventually orchestrated by Ravel and others. Also transcribed by Horowitz for his performances with demonic playing as powerful as any orchestra and is one of those unique performances that have been captured on disc. Salome played it as the composer had written for the piano bringing a refreshing brilliance and sense of colour to each of the paintings with the composers varying moods as he approached each canvas. ‘Gnomus’ was played with electric precision and diabolical contrasts and her fearless final flourish was enviable indeed! A whispered beauty to the ‘Old Castle’ where she played with simplicity and a continual forward movement as the castle came into view and then disappeared into the distance like Debussy’s ‘Cathédrale engloutie’. A quicksilver clarity to the children quarrelling in the ‘Tuileries’ was followed by the remarkable ‘Bydlo’ that lumbered onto the scene with awkward movements and again disappeared with barely audible sounds, where Salome seemed to be hardly touching the keys. More brilliance with the chicks hatching with some remarkable fingerfertigkeit of trills that were like well oiled springs shooting from one to the other. The extraordinary characterisation of ‘Goldenberg and Schmuyle’ was followed by the transcendental brilliance of the ‘Market Place in Limoges’ where the fleeting lightness of her playing was played with a relentless forward movement never showing sign of fatigue or hardness. ‘Catacombae” and con mortis in lingua mortua’ was pure magic before ‘Baba Yaga’ that she strangely underplayed at the beginning . A piece that can sound oppressive for its percussive insistence Salome turned into a piece of dynamic drive but with a palette of sound that could be shaped and given an architectural meaning .’The Great Gate’ was where Salome’s extraordinary sensibility of balance and overall shape showed her musical maturity with playing off sumptuous fullness but never overwhelming, except in the final declamation which was so much more powerful because saved as the culmination of all that had gone before.

The Chopin waltz op 34 n 1,that she played as an encore , I have heard Rubinstein play with inimitable style many times, but today we heard a performance from an artist who also has much to say and a beguiling musical personality that brought this work magically to life.

Salome Jordania A supreme stylist of passionate intensity and intelligence

Keyboard at Eight ‘Stars shining brightly at Milton Court ‘ Rose Mclachlan ,Jeremy Chan and Salome Jordania

Salome Jordania at St Mary’s ‘Masterly playing of intelligence and poetic beauty’

Lucas I have heard several times and always playing very beautifully but today was really a very special occasion because of the breadth and sweep that he brought to all he played. Allied to a tone palette of great range and beauty this was a musician who could sculpt music in sound. I asked him afterwards about this remarkable new vision as a maturer musician and he told me that he had been working with Murray Perahia. This great musician has opened a door for Lucas where his talent and mastery could flourish and delve ever more deeply into the scores. Just as Perahia himself had done with Horowitz who opened up a new vision for him and as Rubinstein had done for Zimerman. Three of the greatest pianists I have ever heard sharing so generously their secrets and allowing the performer to get ever nearer to the composer’s intentions with selfless dedication.

Kreisleriana is a very dramatic work and is viewed by some critics as one of Schumann’s finest compositions. In 1839, soon after publishing it, Schumann called it “my favourite work”, remarking that “The title conveys nothing to any but Germans. Kreisler is one of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s creations, an eccentric, wild, and witty conductor.”

Lucas the moment he sat at the piano immediately burst into the impetuous romantic outpouring of Schumann’s Kreisleriana . Playing of passionate intensity but also giving the music an architectural shape of great importance with a continual surging forward of sumptuous full sounds. By contrast, the central episode, maintaining the same tempo, was played with disarming simplicity shaping the melodic line with refined poetic beauty. The second piece was played with a beautiful flowing tempo allowing the melodic line to unfold with inner counterpoints that sparkled like jewels from within. Lucas managed a perfect legato line which contrasted with the spiky brilliance of the first Intermezzo and the beautiful romantic sweep of the second. Schumann’s untangling counterpoints were played with great musicianship which led so naturally to the return of the long legato melody. A disarming ending was played with whispered eloquence.

In the third piece it was in the central episode that Lucas gave a great romantic sweep of fluidity out of which the melodic line emerged with intensity and beauty. The rhythmic outer passages were played with a dynamic drive and enticing rhythmic impetus. An ending of passionate romantic sweep and mastery as the fourth piece opened with subtle whispered sounds with a duet between the voices of magical glistening beauty. An ending of poignancy and intensity where the magnificent deep bass notes on this beautiful Steinway ‘D’ piano were allowed to resonate with sumptuous rich warmth. He brought an impish good humour to the fifth piece but also moments of great romantic sweep as contrast. An intensity to this passionate central outpouring was soon dispelled with the impish good humour of the return of the opening. An imperiousness to the sixth piece that he played with masterly restraint and authority gradually melting into a mellifluous outpouring of whispered nostalgia. Brilliance and an extraordinary harmonic sense were the hallmark to the seventh piece played with astonishing mastery and as Schumann had written, with the left hand that is so often shared with then right and thus robbed of its inherent struggle. Keeping the intensity to the coda where it was magically transformed into chords but without breaking the musical line or architectural shape. He brought a clarity to the clumsy impish meanderings of last episode that burst into a seamless outpouring of romantic ardour in the sumptuous tenor register only to be interrupted by the clumsy lumberings of the opening again. This time interrupted by a passionate outpouring of imperious authority before again succumbing to the fleeting meanderings of the opening that took the music into the bass of the piano with whispered sounds disappearing into the distance.

The Mazurka op 63 n. 2 is one of the last of Chopin’s 59 Mazurkas, just two pages in which Lucas immediately revealed his Polish ancestry with playing of disarming simplicity and whispered delicacy. An extraordinary control of sound of refined aristocratic sentiment. The Nocturne in F op 15 was played with glowing beauty gently leaning on inner notes that gave depth and poignant meaning to this very simple outpouring. The central ‘con fuoco’ was played with dramatic intensity but always within the same sound world of the opening which gave an architectural shape of intense meaning to this beautiful Nocturne.

It was in the Fantaisie in F minor that Lucas revealed his great musicianship as he was able to shape one of Chopin’s longest single works into a unified whole where even the central episode grew out of the passionate intensity that preceded it. Playing of aristocratic elegance and beauty building to a passionate outpouring of romantic sweep. A remarkable technical mastery but always with the control of a musician who had a vision of this entire tone poem that Chopin was depicting in sound. A scrupulous attention to the composer markings adding even the final long echoing pedal that brings such etherial mystery to the ending of this extraordinary work.

Lucas Krupinski on a star shining brightly over Westminster Cathedral

Lucas Krupinski and Lovre Marusic ‘On wings of song’ at Steinway Hall

Marco Arcieri who I met earlier this year in Rome at Martha Noguera’s recital at the Circolo degli Esteri and heard from him and others of his undying love for Chopin . A love he has shared only with intimate friends whilst he built up a very successful engineering career.

Martha Noguera illuminates the Cupola of the Eternal City with mastery and poetic understanding

Now deciding that his love for Chopin is stronger than his expertise in engineering I was happy to see his Chopin recital announced in Fou Ts’ong’s favourite London venue, St John’s Smith Square.

Ts’ong had been awarded the Mazurka prize in one of the first Chopin Competitions to be held in Warsaw after the war. How could someone not Polish understand something so innately nationalistic?! Schumann called them canons ‘covered in flowers’ and they are fifty nine or more miniature tone poems of vibrant nostalgia and folkloristic vigour encompassing the poetic soul of the Polish people. Ts’ong whose father had been a specialist in Chinese poetry knew that the sentiments of the mazurka and Chinese poetry are human elements that share a great similarity. The soul knows no frontiers!

Roberto Prosseda pays tribute to the genius of Chopin and the inspirational figure of Fou Ts’ong

From the very first notes of the Impromptu there was a beauty of whispered sounds that were to be the key to Marco’s intimate relationship with Chopin. A timeless freedom to the central mellifluous episode where Marco took a leisurely look, stopping and staring in wonder at such beauty.

Of course twenty years were spent engineering and not the hours necessary to create fingers that could command the more demanding passages in the great works that Marco also presented . The G minor Ballade, the Second Scherzo and even the Polonaise Héroique were fearlessly presented with accommodating tempi and a helping gloss of pedal But even here Marco’s deep love and search for beauty was what came across more than a lack of dynamic drive or passionate intensity of fearless abandon.

The two nocturnes op 15 were played with radiant beauty and if the central episode of the F major lacked weight it was given an unusually persuasive voice just as he gave a whispered glistening sheen to it’s partner in F sharp major, a nocturne that Artur Rubinstein made very much his own .

Marco also offered three studies including Chopin’s ‘Aeolian Harp’ op 25 n. 1. described so beautifully by Sir Charles Hallé when he heard the composer himself play it in Manchester in the last year of his short life. Waves of beautiful shifting harmonies on which the bel canto melody is floated just as Marco showed us today. The famous ‘How sweet are my dreams’ op 10 n 3 was where Marco preferred the slower tempo of tradition rather than Chopin’s own rather faster indication . It gave Marco all the time to allow the melodic line to swim and breathe wallowing in a sea of seductive beauty . And if the central episode risked drowning in too much pedal it was courageously rescued and brought back to the paradise that Marco had envisioned. Finishing this group of études, with another of Rubinstein’s favourites op 10.n 4,it was evident that Marco’s engineering skills had taken precedence over those of his ‘fingerfertigkeit’. He compensated by imbuing it with a glowing warmth only rising to a dynamic drive and passionate intensity on the final page.Rubinstein at this point would rise from the red hot piano seat where Marco preferred to sit much more comfortably. Maestro Arcieri included only one Mazurka and Waltz in his programme for his London debut that concluded his recital.

One of Chopin’s earliest Mazurkas op 6 n. 1 which he played with glowing gasping beauty just as he had the opening of the G minor Ballade . And the Walz in A flat op 34 n. 1 that followed was given a radiance and beauty where scintillating jeux perlé and excitement would be left to others .

A large gathering in this most beautiful edifice where in the past I have heard both Cherkassky and Fou Tsong many years ago . Another Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini teenage winner of the Chopin Competition and a heroic figure in Italy as was Cliburn in America when he triumphed in Russia at the time of the Cold War . Here I had heard Pollini play the ‘Hammerklavier’ in the lunchtime series the BBC used to transmit live from this stage. A sumptuous feast was always waiting in the crypt for the artists after their lunchtime triumphs!

Marco by great request returned to offer what was to be the jewel in his crown.

The Nocturne in C sharp minor op posth was imbued with the whispered heartfelt love for Chopin that has been the raison d ‘etre of an engineer with an undying love for the greatest poet of the piano the world has ever known.

We look forward to Marco Arcieri’s return to remind us again of his great love of beauty in a world where brutality and quantity take precedence over beauty and quality.

Ryan Zhu the Chinese Canadian winner of the 2026 Hastings, making his London debut today in St John’s Smith Square .

Opening with Schumann’s disarmingly simple ‘Arabesque’ op 18 he imbued it with ethereal sounds from a palette of colours that allowed each phrase to speak with whispered radiance . Even the intrusive Florestanesque interruptions just made one long for the return of the rondo melody that this poet of the piano imbued with ever more subtle tenderness . The opening E of the postlude shone with a crystalline purity as Schumann’s final thoughts were played with wondrous sounds of palpitating vibrant beauty .

Ryan with a chameleonic palette of sounds makes everything he plays sound like a rare discovery. Most young prize winning pianists present Beethoven’s last sonatas in their programmes, but Ryan chose the first which he imbued with subtle sounds and poetic imagination whilst paying scrupulous attention to Beethoven’s indications . I may have been astonished by Serkin’s red hot performances of the Sonata op 2 n 1 but today I was seduced by the ravishing sounds that in no way reduced the intensity or dynamic drive that Serkin astonished us with . This was a poet of the piano looking at the score from on high. Even the opening was barely audible as it rose in sound only until the left hand took over. Of course there were cascades of scales, but which merely accompanied the left hand figurations .With his refined palette of sounds even the impish syncopations were unusually characterful rather than being forcefully underlined . Ryan brought freshness and youthful vigour but always with the palette of sounds of its Haydnesque times. A beautiful sense of balance in the ‘Adagio’ allowed the melody to unwind with simplicity and poignant beauty.There was a subtle delicacy with which he played the moving accompaniment leaning over to barely touch the deep bass notes as the melodic line was played with chiselled beauty whilst the accompaniment was of breathtaking subtlety . Ornaments that unwound with crystalline clarity, with a final delicate flourish, and two very deliberately placed detached chords . An attention to detail of a master craftsman with such extraordinary intricacy and perfection that it was as though we were listening to the Sonata for the very first time . A voyage of discovery and a revelation of the simple beauty and perfection of one of Beethoven’s earliest works.

The second half of the concert was dedicated to the two books of Paganini Studies op 35 by Brahms.A ‘ tour de force’ for any pianist, where Michelangeli has set the standard for all to follow. Studies they may be and they are full of challenges for any pianist but they are miniature tone poems where technique means turning the most challenging pieces into sounds , where the technical mastery is always at the service of the music.Brahms intended the work to be more than simply a set of theme and variations each variation also has the characteristic of a study. He published it as Studies for Pianoforte: Variations on a Theme of Paganini and it is dedicated to the piano virtuoso Carl Tausig . It is well known for its harmonic depth and extreme physical difficulty with a particular emphasis of the technical challenges that lie on hand independence, with the left hand often mirroring the right throughout the piece or having its own set of obstacles.Clara Schumann described them as Hexenvariationen Witches Variations because of its difficulty of diabolical variations that are also vast spiritual problems. ‘ To play them requires fingers of steel, a heart of burning lava and the courage of a lion’, to quote James Huneker. With Ryan we were never aware of the technical challenges as the music flowed from his fingers with a glowing fluidity that was all consuming.There was always an extraordinary fluidity to Ryan’s playing even in the rather pedantic outpouring of sixths, but the imitation of the solo violin in the third variation was transformed into a sumptuous outpouring of buzzing beauty. A beguiling insinuation to the fifth and the extraordinary mastery as Ryan managed to convey the legato right hand with the insistent staccato of the left. Great, quasi orchestral sounds in the seventh and eighth were answered by the harrowing almost ghostly murmurings of the ninth. A radiant beauty to the music box sounds of the eleventh where Ryan allowed the left hand to lead and was merely shadowed by the right. What ravishing beauty he brought to the twelfth with the left hand melodic line accompanied by sounds of glistening radiance. A Viennese charm to the thirteenth with the leisurely glissandi lazily joining the phrases to one another.A finale of quite extraordinary dynamic drive and rhythmic elan brought this first book to a sumptuous close. Some masterly playing of great control and nobility with an unstoppable build up to the final great flourish.

Book 2 is often played on it’s own in concert and it is a complete work in its own right. What care Ryan brought to the left hand in the fourth variation before the fleeting brilliance of the fifth and sixth. Rhythmic conundrums abound in the seventh and eighth before the explosion of octave brilliance of the ninth and tenth. Sumptuous rich sounds filled the piano with nobility and grandeur as the eleventh was a cat and mouse game of teasing brilliance. The final variation was a gradual build up of aristocratic excitement that Ryan played with quite extraordinary sumptuous brilliance.

A masterly performance that demonstrated Ryan’s technical authority and poetic fantasy. Difficulties just disappeared as he shaped the music with style and ravishing beauty.

An encore of Scriabin’s beguiling Waltz op 38 was played with subtle glowing sounds and moments of passionate intensity.

RYAN ZHU, PIANIST

Canadian pianist Ryan Zhu began his musical journey at the age of four and has since performed widely across international stages, presenting a diverse and compelling repertoire.
In 2026, he won First Prize at the Hastings International Piano Competition, also receiving both the Orchestra Prize and the Audience Prize. He was a semifinalist at the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition, where he was awarded the G. Henle Verlag Prize, and later that year advanced to the semifinals of the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. In 2023, he won the Juilliard School’s Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, performing in the gala concert broadcast on WQXR and receiving a full-tuition scholarship to the Juilliard School. Additional honours include semifinalist at the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and second prize at the Juilliard Mieczysław Munz Piano Competition. In 2021, he was named one of CBC Classical’s “30 Under 30” musicians.
Zhu has appeared at major festivals including the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Morningside Music Bridge (where he won second prize in the concerto competition), and the Mariinsky International Piano Festival, performing both in recital and with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra.
As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, with appearances in cities such as Hastings, St Petersburg, Nice, Lucerne, Philadelphia, Vancouver, and Los Angeles.
A graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied with Robert McDonald and Stephen Hough, Zhu is currently pursuing a Master of Music at the Yale School of Music with Melvin Chen. He has been mentored by Mira Yevtich since 2017.
Zhu gratefully acknowledges the support of the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation and the Walter Prystawski Prize.

May 5, 2026 The Cross-Eyed PianistInterview, pianist Leave a comment

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music and who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?

Here I must say my parents, in two different aspects. My mother was and still is a great lover of music, even long before I was born. In the most material sense, it was her that put me into music lessons – but more importantly, I learned over time from her how to love and dedicate myself to my craft. My mother has one of the most sensitive and intuitive ears I have come across – even amongst musicians! She used to accompany me to every lesson I had – often sitting in the room with her own copy of the music, making her own notes. Those were by far much more useful than my own scores and notes!

My father is not as musically inclined – but from him I learned (and still do!) the importance of humbleness, hard work, willpower, and mental fortitude. He is the most hardworking person I know – and though he is not as musically involved, his steadfast, calm and silent support gave me a great deal of what I needed to find my own right path.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

Gaining my own confidence in my musical ideology – and crucially, constantly checking that I have done the necessary work to gain confidence, as opposed to arrogance. It’s a fine line in music. For a long time I was always afraid of believing in my intuition – as I knew I didn’t have what was necessary to back it up. But when I started developing my own beliefs, my own voice – the challenge became something that I relished more than feared, because I knew that I could move forward in my development, despite this journey being never-ending.

In short, what I am doing in my practice will always be my greatest challenge – but that in and of itself is rewarding.

Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?

At this point in time, my performances at the Hastings stand out to me – because it was the first time I performed with complete trust in my own ideas, believing in my own voice and the set of musical and artistic truths I had arrived at in the past year.

They are meaningful because they represent a lot of my own work. Of course my mentors helped me refine my playing. But importantly for me, I felt this was one of the more successful times that I was able to present something from my own true voice and spirit at the instrument.

Which particular works/composers do you think you perform best?

Works that I believe have a deep sense of catharsis. To reckon with that aspect of human nature is to reckon with the flaws inherent in myself and those of the composer who wrote it. It reminds me of the very human aspect of music – and that the beauty of musical expression comes very much from human imperfection.

Yearning, remembrance, melancholy, defiance, struggle, beauty within pain – those I like to play with in my music.

What do you do off stage that provides inspiration on stage?

Running to refresh my mind and body; reading novels to explore new perspectives and possibilities in imagination; cooking for both spontaneity and precision; and quite importantly, sometimes not doing or thinking about anything whatsoever!

That last one is so important because often when I play, there needs to be a complete sense of calm and peace in my thoughts coming through the music. No disturbances!

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?

I choose based on what works feel most meaningful. Often times there are parameters – for certain concerts there are specific categories; sometimes competitions have very specific requirements. For me parameters are fun to dance around, because I find my own flexibility and meaning within certain limits. Ultimately, there is always meaningful music for us to discover – after, it is simply necessary to create something special and deeply meaningful, regardless of the work.

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

No particular hall comes to mind yet – but I like playing in acoustically intimate, often darker spaces. It reflects my preference to practice in darker environments, because I feel that sound begins to transcend the auditory sense and becomes something tangible that surrounds all of us. It doesn’t need to be a smaller venue – but a venue where the softest, most intimate touch on the keyboard can be heard can be a miracle itself.

What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?

I believe that one of the most meaningful characteristics of classical music is that the audience is as much musicians as the performers themselves. While we performers have the responsibility of creating unique and meaningful performances, the full potential of classical music can only be reached if the audience is willing to explore and receive the performer’s spirit through the music. Hence, I believe that it is imperative to grow the classical music base by showing people that there is much more to classical music than sitting in a concert hall; that, given the depth of its meaning, it is a continuous process of discovery both within and without the concert hall.

This is not to compel the entire human population to embrace classical music; rather, the aim is to give everyone the tools to understand how classical music is an active art on the part of both the performer and the audience, thereby demystifying the mysterious stigma surrounding classical music, and giving everyone the tools needed to delve deeper, should they be inclined to do so. 

What is your most memorable concert experience?

Now that’s a hard question. If they were successful performances, usually my most recent concerts, as they represent the best that I could have attained in that current moment.

I must admit, playing Prokofiev 2nd Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic was quite the experience. Rarely as a pianist can you feel such a sense of overwhelming raw emotion within the power and multitude of an orchestra. Given how personal this concerto was to me, being able to show what I believed the music spoke to me was a great, great privilege.

The second is a recital quite recently at the Yale School of Music, where I currently am. A much smaller audience – just my friends and colleagues from the School – and yet that recital was important to me. I felt that it was one of the first times I had presented a full recital with ideas that had fully germinated from myself, without feeling I had to compromise my thinking. And, most importantly, I felt at peace with how I presented the program, and in how convincing the execution was – even though I knew there were improvements that I would want to make. The first half ended with Schumann’s Kinderzenen, Op. 15 – a particular highlight, as it truly highlighted my love of the intimate, and of the wistfully remembering.

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

To be completely aware of my own personality as a musician, and to be able to create special music by combining my own personality with how my ears truly hear and feel the music. To create special, genuine music I simply must listen intensely – and from there, the magic begins to reveal itself little by little, one idea at a time.

If I am able to consistently present these kinds of performances and music with audiences, and thereby affect their spirits in some way, however small or large – this is my ultimate goal; and to continue looking to increase my ability to do so.

What advice would you give to young/aspiring musicians?

Firstly (and very importantly) have people around you that you can trust to guide you through this complicated, messy, beautiful world of music. Of course this is also the responsibility of those around you – but finding a mentor who is dedicated and willing to give you the time and work you need is so important. After all – there are no such things as shortcuts. The right mentors will show you the ropes – they will guidd the technique that you need, and start opening your ears and imaginations.

But – and this is also very important – question everything. Strive to understand everything – and in doing so, you will slowly build your own palette of colours and imaginative scenes in your mind. And also at the same time – use your intuition. Every musician with great potential has intuition within them that, under ideal circumstances, will be changed and developed, growing more and more mature. Try everything – and try to make what you try natural to your ear, and to how you feel. Only by trying as much as you can will you be able to make something which has been tempered by all of your efforts into something which is genuine, honest, and special. Stay humble! That’s very important in our line of work. There is always an element of ego in what we do, but it needs to be supported by that which is honest work.

When you experience tough times, and you’re not sure where to head – that is rarely the end of the world. Growth is never linear – and to suffer is as human as to breathe. You will grow, if you can find the strength to look for the truth – especially your own musical truth. When you begin to find your own way and your own voice, you will know. Never stop looking for that! Our development never ends. The most that we can say is whether we played a recital or work in the only way we possibly could in that current moment.

What’s the one thing in the music industry we’re not talking about which you think we should be?

1. The importance of including the audience as a part of music. They want to engage with the music too – so let’s tell them, as champions of this music, how to do so, and to show them that they can.

2. The importance of personal differences and unique qualities in our performances. We have so many different genres and musicians for a reason – we should be able to hear completely different ways of playing things that are genuine and honest!

3. The truly human (and therefore deeply flawed) side of music. Composers were human – they had flaws just as the rest of us. The most impactful and meaningful works that stay with us today are those that are often born out of a composers’ composing through those flaws. Let’s respect these great musical minds – but also remember that idolizing them is to begin to strip away their humanity. Since they were human, let us play their works as humans – with personal differences and convictions that show in well-developed and honest ways.

What’s next? Where would you like to be in 10 years?

Still performing and studying and growing! I love to perform, so I can’t see myself not performing.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

To have a life where I can play to my heart’s content! Discovering new things about music and myself is always a joy and privilege. 

But at the same time, I like my time away from the piano. I want to be able to do the things I love – reading, writing, seeing nature, and sleeping! Sleep is very important. I love sleep, and I need sleep. 

I also want to be able to spend some time with people that I care about. Maybe some of these people have not entered my life yet – but to be able to discuss meaningful and deep topics (music or otherwise) with these people is a huge part of my life.

What is your most treasured possession?

Nothing material – because frankly there’s too much to choose from. I find more comfort in emotions – people and experiences I have with people I care about that create meaningful and heartfelt emotions within myself.

What is your present state of mind?

 As always – multifaceted! As I write this – excited for recitals coming up. But also at the same time – thoughtful. In an hour, maybe wistful. Who knows? That’s the beauty and excitement of being human – we are sensitive beings that react to things around us, and ourselves.

Ryan Zhu is winner of the 2026 Hastings International Piano Competition. He made his Wigmore Hall debut on Wednesday 6th May.2026 

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The Cross-Eyed Pianist

Frances Wilson is a pianist, writer, music and arts reviewer, music PR, and writer on classical music and pianism under the pen name ‘The Cross-Eyed Pianist’

Fanny Azzuro presented her new CD ‘Hypnos ‘ in Leighton House with a beautiful programme that truly suited the sumptuous surrounds where Lisa Peacock, whose birthday it was yesterday, regularly presents her Discovery Series aided artistically by the Alexeev’s.

Peacocks truly abound in this oasis of Pre-Raphaelite decadence that the aesthete painter Lord Leighton dedicated his life, creating the ideal surrounds for an artist.

Fanny of Italian Heritage received guidance from Boris Petrushansky at the Academy in Imola near Bologna, the culinary capital of Italy, a country that Rostropovich was to describe as the Museum of the World.

Beauty everywhere with the touch of Italian, Russian and Pre- Raphaelite influences very much in the intoxicating air of the music room sited between the Arab Hall and the Oriental rooms.

Beauty too from the elegant French hands of Fanny Azzuro with a selection of gems from her new CD .

Schumann, Robert and Clara were contrasted with Brahms‘s ‘lullabies of my grief’, as this genial trio was joined by Chopin, who Robert Schumann had discovered when a teenage Polish refugee appeared in the refined salons of the day. Welcoming his arrival with ‘Hats off gentlemen a genius !’

It takes one to notice one as they say, and it was with the Schumann’s that Fanny chose to open her programme today.

Choosing one of Schumann’s lesser known piano works from a period when one piano masterpiece after another slipped from Robert’s hand as he entered the Wieck household . Professor Wieck must have been a tyrannical trainer but he also had a daughter, a star prodigy herself, revealing a heart that beat with the same pulse as Robert’s!

It is one of the last works in this wondrous output from op 1 to op 26 and is a rarity in the concert hall . So it was a courageous choice to open with the four Nachtstücke op 23 that in lesser hands can seem rather pedantic and uninspired. I have heard it only from the hands of Gilels and Arrau and it was refreshing to hear the work brought to life tonight with poetic intensity and intelligent musicianly integrity. With its very deliberate precise March like opening leading to moments of vibrant exultation followed by a teasingly featherlight stream of chords bursting into moments of Romantic fervour. Fanny played with poetic poise and an architectural shape that gave great strength to these seemingly capriciously fragmented movements with Florestan and Eusebius becoming strangely muddled together. But suddenly a ray of true inspiration with romantic effusions of the third piece with the dynamic drive of an outpouring of intensity and beauty played with great authority. The last, just two pages long , with a beautifully shaped melodic line of great poise and simplicity to which Fanny brought poetic poignancy. The Nocturne op 6 by Clara Schumann was like a breath of fresh air especially in this beautiful haven of Lord Leighton’s Salon. A work of disarming simplicity played with the beauty and style of its time where ornaments floated into the intoxicating air with beguiling beauty.

Brahms, a family friend of the Schumann household, who ‘befriended ‘ Clara when Robert was placed in an asylum after throwing himself in the Rhine. Towards the end of his life Brahms wrote four collection of pieces that are miniature tone poems of poignant significance and sublime beauty . The second set op 117 Brahms described to Clara as ‘lullabies of my grief ‘ and the other sets were of the same deep introspection and poetic fantasy .

Fanny chose the seven ‘Fantasien ‘ that make up the third set of op 118 . A passionate outpouring with playing of sumptuous rich sounds of aristocratic authority and remarkable technical mastery. The A major Intermezzo that follows was played with disarming simplicity and a sense of improvised freedom with sounds of a string quartet where every strand was given weight and meaning. She brought a dynamic drive of burning intensity to the ‘Capriccio’ that makes up the third piece bringing a beautiful architectural line that dissolved into the magical central episode that she allowed to flow so mellifluously. A meandering searching beauty to the fourth was followed by the inquisitive fifth before the quasi religious outpouring of desolation of the sixth. The seventh just flew from her fingers with burning intensity as this remarkable tone poem was allowed to unwind with aristocratic nobility.

Continuing with her selection from her new CD Fanny played the most famous of Chopin’s Nocturnes op 9 n. 2 with both beauty and strength. The Chopin tradition was not for her as she looked deeply into the score with the eyes of a musician and the heart of a poet and allowed Chopin’s own voice to carry us forward to his greatest masterpiece : the Sonata in B flat minor op 35.

A fearless performance from a musician with the technical possibility to bring clarity and dynamic drive to a work that was described by Schumann as ‘four of his maddest children under the same roof ‘, even describing the last movement as ‘more of a mockery than any music’. The first movement was played with a dynamic drive of rhythmic pulsation and nobility with the second subject of aristocratic radiance and beauty. If she decided to repeat the introduction at the repeat sign it was because the opening bass interval she really underlined with extraordinary vehemence and burning intensity in the development. A hotly debated repeat that some go back to the introduction and others only to the doppio movement. Many great pianists,though, believe it to be only a conventional repeat and ignore it altogether! Fanny showed us the way of a real independent thinking musician who could sculpture the music with intelligence and poetic meaning.

There was a fearless drive to the Scherzo and a nobility to the disarming beauty of the Trio. The Funeral March was played quite simply where Chopin’s own voice spoke for itself with the poignant beauty of the Trio that was allowed to flow with unaffected beauty. Washes of notes in the last movement, where the wind has been described as ‘blowing over the graves’ showed Fanny’s extraordinary mastery with the final chord coming as a full stop to a wind that is probably still blowing over Chopin’s own grave in Paris, even if his heart is now where it always belonged in his homeland of Poland.

Fanny chose the Scriabin Nocturne for the left hand to close her programme which she played with beauty but rather manipulating her rubato to accommodate the awkward writing for two hands played by one!

I was hoping she might offer an encore the beautiful Respighi Notturno or the Grieg lyric piece ops 54 n. 4 but I will have to listen at home to her new CD as the concert had to draw to a close.