THE KEYBOARD CHARITABLE TRUST
in collaboration with ST MARY’S, PERIVALE
present
An Autumn Piano Festival
A series of great masterpieces
performed by ten of the finest young pianists of our time.
Saturday 30 September 2.00 – 7.00 pm
Day 1 – Saturday 30 September
2 pm Zala Kravos
Zala Kravos was born in Slovenia in 2002 and started piano lessons at the age of five. The following year she entered the Conservatory of the City of Luxembourg, where she was awarded diplomas in performance and music theory. From 2012 to 2018, she studied in parallel at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium with Maria João Pires and Louis Lortie. At the age of seventeen she was accepted in Bachelor of Music (Hons) programme at the Royal College of Music. She graduated in July and is now in the Master of Music in Performance (Keyboard) programme. Her piano professor is Norma Fisher. Since 2010, she has regularly taken part in masterclasses with many other internationally renowned pianists. Between 2009 and 2016, Zala won national and international competitions in Luxembourg, France and the USA, where she was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall. She has been regularly performing solo, chamber music and with orchestras since the age of six and has already played in nineteen countries. She recorded in Germany her first solo album in 2017 and in 2021, she recorded a second album of piano duets with her younger brother, Val. Critics across Europe were unanimous in their praise of both recordings.
‘One of the greatest talents I have ever seen.’ – Maria João Pires
‘An artist with a distinct and compelling voice and a musical sincerity that is rare, indeed.’ – Norma Fisher
‘A performing career that is already international enough to make her talk as if she’s an old hand.’ – International Piano Magazine
3 pm Nikita Burzanitsa
And a star Nikita truly is as he allowed Prokofiev’s War Sonata n. 7 to explode before our astonished eyes.Could this be the same piano that had just given us such intelligent refined Beethoven.There was a cocktail mixture of violence and mystery with playing of great clarity and rhythmic energy but with an astonishing palette of sounds.From the whispered to the truly explosive .The Andante caloroso was just that as it was bathed in warmth with a combination of majesty and passion in an overpowering outpouring of emotion.The siren at the end of the Andante I had never been aware of until now as Nikita allowed the glass like sounds to cut through the languid atmosphere of a movement that lay exhausted from such powerful emotion.The Precipitato was played with driving energy and relentless forward movement with the passion and technical reserves of a triumphant youthful virtuoso – ‘veni vidi vici indeed!’
Nikita Burzanitsa was born into a family of musicians in Donetsk, Ukraine. In 2015, he won a scholarship to Wells Cathedral School where he studied with John Byrne. In 2017, he returned to Donetsk to study at the State Conservatoire. Since 2020 he has been studying at the Royal College of Music with Dmitri Alexeev. His competition successes include winning the Wells Concerto Competition and First Prize in the International London Piano and Music Competition in 2017. In 2020, he won the Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year – and in the following year, he won Second Prize in the Joan Chissell Schumann Piano Competition and in the Orbetello Piano Competition (Junior) in Italy. He also won First Prize in the Moscow International Music Competition in 2021, at the Nouvelles Étoiles International Music Competition in Paris, in the Four Notes Piano Competition in Abu Dhabi and in the Vienna Music Competition (virtuoso category). He has taken part in masterclasses with Dmytro Suhovienko, Andrey Ivanovich, John Byrne, Ian Jones, Steven Hough, Vanessa Latarche, Mitsuko Uchida, Barry Douglas, Boris Berman, Vovka Ashkenazy and Miguel Angel Shebba.
4 pm Ellis Thomas
Ravel was played with luminosity of ravishing flowing washes of colour.Notes disappeared as sounds of water were allowed to fill the entire keyboard that became awash with the impending stormy waters.The return to calm with the continuous splash of water was played with enviable precision by the right hand as a religious calm brought us back to the serenity and peace of the start of the voyage.Alborada was played with burning intensity of indecent Latin passion and the double glissandi were things that dreams are made of.This is a young artist of such mastery and a modesty as he thinks more of the music than himself
Welsh pianist Ellis Thomas has been acclaimed as a ‘sincere and committed’ musician, offering performances ‘with real understanding’ (Julian Jacobson, Beethoven Piano Society of Europe). He is equally at home with core repertoire as with contemporary and lesser-known works. Ellis has performed extensively at venues around the UK and is regularly invited to perform at music festivals in England and Wales. In recent years, he has also performed in Spain, Germany and Italy, and his performances and interviews have been broadcast on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Cymru, and S4C television. He has won prizes at many competitions including at the 2021 Düsseldorf Robert Schumann International Piano Competition. He also won First Prize at the Wales International Piano Festival, Gregynog Young Musician and the RIBI National Young Musician, and the Wales National Eisteddfod, amongst others. He has taken part in masterclasses with, and received lessons from, Boris Berman, Imogen Cooper, Pascal Rogé, Yevgeny Sudbin, Till Felner, Péter Nagy and Steven Osborne. He regularly performs as part of several chamber groups and ensembles. Ellis is a collaborative pianist and faculty member for the International Music Academy of Solsona in Spain.
Ellis also holds the Philharmonia Orchestra’s MMSF Piano Fellowship for the 2023-24 season. He is interested in exploring new connections between music and other arts. He recently worked with artist Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom for an exhibition at Kettle’s Yard Gallery in Cambridge, providing improvisations for a series of short films. Ellis graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2022 with First Class Honours, where he achieved the highest mark in a final recital performance. Prior to this, Ellis studied at the Royal Northern College of Music’s Junior department for six years with Manola Hatfield. He is currently pursuing postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where he is studying with Tessa Nicholson. Alongside a generous scholarship from the Academy, Ellis is grateful for support from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation, the Ryan Davies Memorial Fund, the Kathleen Trust and Talent Unlimited.
5.15 pm : Antonio Morabito
A completely different world of voluptuous sounds of subtle suggestion of Scriabin’s first poem were played with delicate luminosity and the second was a passionate outpouring of symphonic sounds.
The Mazurkas op 30 by Chopin were played with a subtle palette of colours full of nostalgia and infectious dance rhythms.Four miniature tone poems in which Chopin with so little can say so much .
Two studies op 25 in sixths and octaves were played with sumptuous sounds and allowed to breathe so naturally .Unlike the studies op 10 so admired by Liszt to whom they are dedicated “à mon ami Franz Liszt” these are real ‘canons ‘ of transcendental difficulty covered in flowers obviously love letters dedicated to Franz Liszt’s mistress, Marie d’Agoult,the reasons for which are a matter of speculation.Ending with one of the greatest works of the romantic piano repertoire,the Fourth Ballade was played with a continuous unfolding of beauty and invention.Notes just disappeared as the music was allowed to unfold so naturally with mastery and passion.
Antonio Morabito is an Italian pianist and graduate of the Royal College of Music in London with a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance. He teaches through the Royal College of Music Teaching Service. He also teaches as a Piano Professor at the Blackheath Conservatoire and at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London – and as a choral conductor at St. Augustine’s Church in Hammersmith. Antonio graduated with distinction in piano from the Cilea Conservatory under the guidance of Marialaura Cosentino who continues to be a mentor. Whilst studying at the Cilea Conservatory, he also studied composition. As a composer, he has written solo piano and chamber music, some of which he has performed himself in public concerts and for television broadcasts in Italy.
In 2019, Antonio won a scholarship from the European Commission and obtained a Master’s Degree from the J. Rodrigo Conservatory of Valencia in piano and chamber music with Adolfo Bueso and in choir conducting with Nadya Stoyanova. In 2019, he graduated with distinction in chamber music from the Cilea Conservatory. He also graduated in philosophy from the University of Messina. He has participated in masterclasses with acclaimed musicians such as Freddy Kempf, Enrique Batiz Campbell, Cristiano Burato, François-Joël Thiollier, Michele Campanella, Benedetto Lupo, Stefan Stroissnig and Leslie Howard.
He has also received prizes and achieved high rankings in national and international piano competitions, including at the Bruxelles International Piano Competition, the International Competition Città di Barletta, the Mandanici Award, the Rome Competition, the Làszlò Spezzaferri International Music Competition, the International Music Competition ‘Città di Pesaro’, the VII Odin International Music Online Competitio, the ‘San Donà di Piave’ Piano International Competition, the International Youth Music Competition in Atlanta, USA, the London Classic Music Competition and the International Moscow Music Competition. He was named ‘Young Artist of Excellence for the Musical Arts’ in 2014 by the UNICRAM Association.His studies at the RCM were generously supported by the Members of the Board of ‘Il Circolo’.
6.15 pm Kyle Hutchings
Subtle beauty of the Adagio which was played with a fluidity that contrasted with the drive and mystery of the Allegro assai.
There was beauty and precision in Beethoven with dynamic drive allied to scrupulous musicianship.The Prestissimo was played with drive and fire with great sweep as the music drove inexorably forward.The ‘Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo ‘- the very heart of this Sonata was played with simple noble artistry as the variations were allowed to unfold so naturally as they led to the celestial sounds that only Beethoven could imagine in his head and miraculously could share with posterity.The miracle was revealed by Kyle with the innocence and simplicity that is too easy for children but too difficult for adults.At 22 this young man has a lifetime of discovery to look forward to.
Kyle Hutchings is a British pianist who, after just twelve months of self-taught playing, won a scholarship to study in London with pianist, Richard Meyrick on the Pianoman Scholarship’s Scheme, sponsored by Sir Harvey and Lady Allison McGrath. He subsequently made his London debut with the Arch Sinfonia playing Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto.
Kyle has performed at many venues in the U.K. including at London’s King’s Place, the BT Tower and the Lansdowne Club, as part of the Blüthner Recital Series. He also performs internationally and recently gave recitals in Italy and Poland. He has been the recipient of many scholarships and prizes and was awarded the Nancy Thomas Prize for Piano as well as the Director’s Prize for Excellence during his scholarship studies at Trinity Laban. Kyle was also nominated for the Conservatoire’s coveted Gold Medal.
THE KEYBOARD CHARITABLE TRUST
in collaboration with ST MARY’S, PERIVALE
present Sunday 1 October 2.00 – 7.00 pm
An Autumn Piano Festival Day 2
Roger Nellist writes :”A second day of fabulous recitals by 5 international pianists playing in our Autumn Piano Festival, run jointly with the Keyboard Charitable Trust. Just so many effusive comments were offered about their performances from audience members in the church and from the numerous online viewers (with several pianist friends today in Italy and Bolivia, as well as our usual followers in Poland, USA, Canada and UK). Today, KCT Artistic Director Christopher Axworthy interviewed each pianist after their performance, adding much interest to the day. He will prepare a more detailed review but for all of us this two-day festival has been a musical triumph – which ended in something of a party atmosphere with pianists, KCT organisers (Christopher, Elena and Sarah Biggs), St Mary’s team and some in our audience chatting together and photographing afterwards. It was especially good to see some of our pianists staying to hear the others play. So, very special thanks for their impressive performances go to: JOSE NAVARRO-SILBERSTEIN (Bolivia), FILIPPO TENISCI (Albania/Italy), GIORDANO BUONDONNO (Italy), KASPARAS MIKUZIS (Lithuania) and MISHA KAPLOUKHII (Russia).
2.0 pm José Navarro Silberstein
I have never heard him play so well.
He has put his competition status to one side and allowed his artistry to grow and be nurtured in performances that are being ever more admired.At a certain point it is only by playing in public that one really listens to oneself and grows artistically.
A C.P.E Bach Fantasy – a truly nobel declaration of vibrating harmonies .A heart beating with warmth and character as this great improvisation was played out with extraordinary freedom and a kaleidoscope of colour and imagination.The deeply nostalgic recurring theme in José’s hands today made me realise how reminiscent it is of that deep yearning that is found in Janacek.Food for thought provoked by a performance of great conviction and mastery.
A Beethoven op 90 with its imperious opening dissolving into a vision of the beauty that was yet to come with the simple Schubertian beauty of the second movement and it’s bagatelle like finish.Scrupulous attention to detail in a work that was to be Beethoven’s gateway to paradise.
The Chopin Fourth Ballade opened in one long whispered breath before the theme and variations that were played with beauty,passion and a fluidity that took us on a long voyage to the final passionate outpouring.A coda that was played with the same aristocratic control and undercurrent of fire that I remember so well from Rubinstein’s hands.The four last chords played with the authority of the great artist that José is fast becoming.
Ginastera was played with total conviction and astonishing freedom.From simple beauty to searing passion and animal like frenzy in an astonishing display of native fire and passion.
The young Bolivian pianist has performed in different countries in venues and festivals in Europe, South America and USA. Halls include Teatro Municipal “Alberto Saavedra Pérez” in his hometown La Paz to the Musikverein in Vienna. He is a Talent Unlimited Artist in London. As a soloist, he has performed with the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Georgian Philarmonic Orchestra, La Paz Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de Jóvenes Musicos Bolivianos, Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Santa Cruz de la Sierra among others. He is a prize winner at the Anton Rubinstein Piano Competition in Düsseldorf, Tbilisi International Piano Competition in Georgia, International Competition Young Academy Award in Rome, Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition in Chile among many others. He was a finalist at the Eppan Piano Academy and at the 63r d Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition. In Bolivia he gave masterclasses in La Paz Conservatory, Sucre Conservatory Santa Cruz Fine Arts College and Laredo School in Cochabamba. He served as a jury member in national music competitions. He was mentored by Paul Badura Skoda. He studied with Balasz Szokolay at the Franz Liszt University in Weimar and with Claudio Martínez Mehner at the University of Music and Dance in Cologne. At the moment he is at the Artist Diploma programme at the Royal College of Music in London under the guidance of Norma Fisher and Ian Jones.He holds scholarships from Royal College of Music, Herrmann Foundaiton Liechtenstein- Bolivia, Theo and Petra Lieven Foundation of Hamburg, Clavarte Foundation in Bern and Elfrun Gabriel Foundation for Young Pianists.
Jose Navarro Silberstein – masterly performances of red hot intensity
José Andres Navarro at St James’s Piccadilly Temperament,Authority and Musical integrity.
3 pm Filippo Tenisci
Filippo is becoming quite an authority on the relationship between Liszt and his son in law Wagner.Having recorded one CD of the transcriptions there is another in the pipe line which will include the Tannhauser Overture that astonished and overwhelmed us today.
I had heard him play it it in Italy on a piano that Liszt would have used – an Erard of 1876- but today on this modern grand piano it was even more overwhelming for the volume of sound and the pianistic invention of bringing the full Wagner orchestra onto a single instrument.A tour de force from Filippo who was visibly exhausted after such a marathon of athleticism full of excitement and exultation.It was above all a tour de force of invention that would have put Liszt’s rival Thalberg to shame as Liszt was able to literally bring the score to life on a single instrument.
Filippo had been to Bayreuth last summer having been awarded the prestigious Bayreuth Festspiele Scholarship and had been able to hear all four hours of Parsifal in the theatre where it was born.The Solemn March is a paraphrase of great suggestion of brooding insistence full of colour and radiance and lead straight into the nobility of the brass at the opening of Tannhauser.Two remarkable performances of Wagner /Liszt from a young man who is dedicating his time to a deep study of this extraordinary world and recording many of his finds venturing into a world that only Leslie Howard has dared pioneer before him.
Debussy : Images (book 2)
1. Cloches à travers les feuilles (Be(blls through the leaves)
2. Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut (And the moon sets over the former temple)
3. Poissons d’or (Golden fish)
Born in 1998 in Tirana, Filippo Tenisci began his studies with Emira Dervinyte. He later trained with Daniel Rivera, Massimo Spada, Maurizio Baglini and Roberto Galletto. He has also attended masterclasses with Beatrice Rana, Elisso Virsaladze, Boris Petrushansky, Andrea Lucchesini, Ewa Poblocka, Justas Dvarionas, Uta Weyand, Jun Kanno, Ralf Nattkemper and Elisabetta Guglielmin. In 2016, he won Third Prize at the International Competition ‘Resonances’ in Paris and the prize for the best performer of Ukrainian music. In 2018, he was the overall winner of the International Competition for Youth ‘Dinu Lipatti’. In the same year, he won First Prize in the Franz Liszt Competition at the Hungarian Academy in Rome and was among the top eight semi-finalists at the Pianale Academy and Competition. In 2019, he won Second Prize and the ‘Scarlatti Prize’ at the Riga International Competition for Young Pianists. In 2020, he collaborated in the making of the documentary ‘Richard Wagner, ovvero la musica dell’avvenire’ by Valerio Vicari. In 2021, he made his debut with the Roma Tre Orchestra performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15 K.450 conducted by Sieva Borzak. Again with Roma Tre Orchestra, he performed Mozart’s Concerto for Three Pianos and Orchestra, with pianist Giuseppe Rossi, conducted by Maurizio Baglini for the Baglini Project 2021. Active internationally, he has recently made his debut in Romania at the Classic for Teens 2020 Festival, and has also performed in France, Germany, Latvia, Bosnia and Switzerland.
‘Tenisci’s … sensitivity and maturity at the piano surprise us despite his age’ – Quinte Parallele
‘Filippo Tenisci is considered as one of the best and promising talents of his generation. A passionate and sensitive musician, capable of capturing the audience’s attention thanks to his undoubted maturity and talent’ – Monferrato Classic Festival
Filippo Tenisci exults the genius of Wagner and Liszt in Velletri
Roma 3 Orchestra The Mozart Project
4 pm Giordano Buondonno
The unmistakeable voice of Rachmaninov tinged Bach’s violin suite with elegance and charm liked a well aged postcard.It was played with irresistible rhythmic energy with Rachmaninov’s ingenuous invention added to Bach’s genius that in Giordano’s hands reminded one of the perfect match between Kreisler and Rachmaninov.A Gavotte that was full of subtle charm and persuasion and a Gigue of knotty twine beautifully unfolded by Giordano’s well oiled fingers.Some sumptuous playing of great colour and style.
I have heard Giordano play all four of Brahms’s Ballades on Michelangeli’s Fabbrini Steinway in the studio that was of Sir George Solti.A work that was long associated with Michelangeli together with the Debussy Images Book One that was on the programme today .
Playing only the first two of the Ballades for reasons of programming he brought great nobility and beauty to the first with a carefully crafted build up to a euphoric climax that was to die away to a mere whisper.There was a beautiful fluidity to the ravishing melodic line of the second Ballade ,floating on wave of magic sounds with the searching of the central episode before the return to the opening poetic paradise.
Debussy Images Book One were played with a chiselled clarity the same that I remember so well from Michelangeli.’Reflets dans l’eau’ had freedom and beauty as the reflections were allowed to reverberate around the keyboard with a fluidity and ease that was quite beguiling.’Homage a Rameau’ was played with regal artistry bathed in sunlight.’Movements’was all lightness and brilliance as the melodic lines were like streaks of lightening that crossed the path of this never ending flow of sounds.
B
Debussy: Images (Book 1)
1. Reflets dans l’eau (Reflections in the water)
2. Hommage à Rameau (Homage to Rameau)
3. Mouvement
Born in Italy, Giordano Buondonno graduated from the Giacomo Puccini Conservatoire with Honours, receiving the highest mark in his class. He completed his Master’s Degree and an Artist Diploma, both achieved with Distinction, at Trinity Laban Conservatoire under the guidance of Sergio De Simone and Deniz Gelenbe. At the age of nineteen, Giordano won First Prize at the Clara Schumann Competition. In 2017 and 2019, he performed for the Piano City Festival in Milan. He was also the First Prize winner at the PianoLink Concerto Competition, playing Chopin’s First Piano Concerto with the PianoLink Philharmonic Orchestra in Milan. Giordano’s performances in the U.K. include recitals at St. James’s Piccadilly in London and at Henley Park Manor in Surrey, for His Serene Highness Prince Donatus von Hohenzollern. He also represented Trinity Laban as a finalist in the 2019 Beethoven Society Intercollegiate Piano Competition and, more recently, he was selected to represent Trinity Laban’s Keyboard Department in the annual Gold Medal Showcase at King’s Place in London. In 2021, he won Third Prize at the Sheepdrove Intercollegiate Piano Competition, and was a finalist in the Trinity Laban Soloist Competition. Giordano is a recipient of The Leverhulme Trust Scholarship, Arthur Haynes Scholarship, Gladys Bratton Scholarship and two Jaqueline Williams Scholarships for his studies at Trinity Laban.
Giordano Buondonno at the Solti Studio- Masterly performances of searing intensity
Giordano Buondonno at Roma 3 ‘Drops of crystal ‘ of musical intelligence and ravishing beauty
5.15 pm Kasparas Mikuzis
Mikuzis came on stage looking as though he had lost his way until he got to the piano and it was like an atomic explosion.Breathtaking authority and conviction with a fluidity of sound and a rhythmic drive that was like being caught up in a whirlwind.
A Sonata from 1953 of Bacewicz that was a totally unexpected bombshell but there was also the deep contemplation of the slow movement before the Toccata last movement of astonishing brilliance.
Rachmaninov’s Corelli Variations were played each with great character and an astonishing palette of colours.A dynamic rhythmic drive that was overpowering as he had a full orchestra in his hands.A wondrous magic carpet at the end of ravishingly beautiful chiselled sounds.
Chopin’s 3rd Scherzo was played with imposing authority from the the very first demonic notes.If the octaves could have been more melodic and less hypnotic it would have lead more naturally into the wondrous chorale with its commenting cascades of golden streams of sound and given a more architectural cohesion to the whole work .But this was a young man’s Chopin of passionate conviction and transcendental technical authority which was totally compelling and really quite breathtaking.I remember being overwhelmed last time I heard him on this very stage and I am even more so now.
By the age of twenty, Lithuanian-born pianist Kasparas Mikužis had performed at Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room and the Concertgebouw. He had also released a debut CD and his performances had been televised on Mezzo TV and broadcast on Lithuanian radio and Radio Classique in France. Kasparas’s distinctive piano playing was acknowledged when he became a scholar of SOS Talents Foundation at the age of ten. Since then, Kasparas has performed across Europe including at the United Nations’ Headquarters in Geneva and at ‘EMMA for Peace’, the World Summit of Nobel Prize Peace Laureates concert in Warsaw. In 2018, Kasparas was invited to participate in the V. Krainev Competition in Kharkiv where he performed Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. He has also performed in the Lithuanian Philharmonic Hall, the Fazioli factory concert hall in Sacile, Italy, Steinway Hall in Barcelona and in Kharkiv Philharmonic Hall with the Kharkiv Philharmonic Orchestra. Kasparas is a laureate of twenty-two international competitions including the Grand Prix at the tenth international Balys Dvarionas competition for young pianists in Lithuania and a double First Prize at the twenty-eighth Roma International Piano Competition, where he won First Prize in both the nineteen and twenty-five-year old categories. Kasparas is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music with Diana Ketler. He previously studied with Justas Dvarionas at the Purcell School and with Liudmila Kašetiene. Recently, Kasparas was invited to play for Sir András Schiff in the Riga Jurmala Music Festival masterclass. Forthcoming engagements include a chamber music concert with Jack Liebeck and Josephine Knight at the Royal Academy of Music and a recital at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Kasparas is grateful for the help and support of SOS Talents Foundation, the M. Rostropovich Charity and Support Foundation (Lithuania), Talent Unlimited Foundation, the Hattori Foundation and Drake Calleja Trust. For representing Lithuania on an international stage Kasparas was awarded a letter of gratitude by the President of the Republic of Lithuania.
Kasparas Mikuzis the outsider takes St Mary’s by storm
6.15 pm Misha Kaploukhii
It was the very first bars of Beethoven’s penultimate sonata that revealed a profound interpreter of the composers very precise indications.The wonderful way that the opening trill was just a vibration that lead to the opening sublime melodic outpouring.But there were also the cascades of delicate arpeggios played with a clarity and shape that was enthralling.The rising and falling scales that accompany the development section were beautifully realised as was the magic change of key from the E flat to D flat just before, played so simply allowing Beethoven’s genius to speak for itself.The measured tempo of the Allegro molto and the absolute authority of the treacherous Trio was a great contrast to the mellifluous outpouring of the ‘Moderato cantabile molto espressivo’.The ending just disappearing on a cloud of pedal as Beethoven reaches on high to one of his most sublime creations.There was a clarity to the fugue that made the return of the Arioso even more poignant as the fugue returns in a whispered backward turn leading inexorably to the final glorious exultation and the triumphant arrival home on A flat.A performance of great maturity and intelligence allied of course to a superb technical command.
There was luminosity and an atmosphere of deep contemplation in Liszt’s magical tone poem of St Francis preaching to the birds.An artist is known by his programmes and Misha’s choice of this Liszt ,in particular,to follow Beethoven’s most mellifluous sonata just showed what an artist we have before us.
Now Misha could let his hair down and like the great virtuosi of the Golden Age of piano playing he could show us his beguiling seductive waltz steps of breathtaking virtuosity and subtlety.Godowsky was known as the pianist’s pianist and the performances in his studio were the stuff that legends were made of.A very private man who could play better in his studio than on the stage but left many transcriptions and some original piano works that show what the word virtuoso really means.Not loud and fast but pianissimo and pianississimo with a range of colours that could turn a box of hammers and strings into a box of jewels that could entrance and hypnotise all those that were lucky enough to be caught in it’s spell.
Misha has this sense of style allied to a transcendental technical command and it was this wonderful performance that had us clicking our heels and with a smile on our face coming to the end of a piano marathon of ten wonderful pianists over two afternoons wanting even more .
Misha Kaploukhii was born in 2002 and is an alumnus of the Moscow Gnessin College of Music. He is currently studying at the Royal College of Music and is an RCM and ABRSM award holder generously supported by the Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation and Talent Unlimited studying for a Bachelor of Music with Prof. Ian Jones.
Misha has gained inspiration from lessons and masterclasses with musicians such as Claudio Martínez Mehner, Dmitri Bashkirov, Jerome Lowenthal and Konstantin Lifschitz. He has performed with orchestras around the world including his recent debut in Cadogan Hall performing Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto. His repertoire includes a wide range of solo and chamber music. Recently, Misha won prizes in the RCM Concerto Competition (playing Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto) and in the International Ettlingen Piano Competition.
Misha Kaploukhii plays Liszt at the RCM A Sea Symphony Concert…..Youth and music a joy to ‘behold’!
Kaploukhii – Matthews at St James’s Piccadilly – Two stars of Talent Unlimited shining brightly
Misha Kaploukhii plays Rachmaninov Beauty and youthfulness triumph
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 
Una risposta a "Autumn Piano Festival Saturday 30th September Sunday 1st October 2003"