More online concerts from Hastings International Piano: Maxim Kinasov this Friday

The next ‘An Evening In With’ recital takes place on Friday, March 27 (7pm), and features 2019 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition Prizewinner Maxim Kinasov.

The programme will be Franck-Bauer Prelude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18, and Rachmaninov Etude-tableau in C minor, Op. 33 No. 3.

Born in Moscow, Maxim is an award-winning solo and chamber musician. He started piano lessons at the age of five at the Yakov Flier Music School in Moscow and made his concerto debut in Moscow at the age of nine.

The first concert of this new series took place on Friday, March 20, and featured a recital from 2018 Competition Winner Roman Kosyakov.

These events take place on Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition’s Facebook page and on www.hastingsinternationalpiano.org.

They are free to watch, but music lovers will be able to make a voluntary donation to Hastings International Piano Engagement Fund via its JustGiving page. People can also choose to join as a Friend.

Hannah Deeble, general manager of Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition and Hastings International Piano Festival, said: “On the Facebook page there will be a live video premiere. You can click to say you’re going to watch it, so it lines it up for you.”

Hastings International Piano decided to create this online series after arts venues across the UK suspended shows due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

“We’re very conscious that because of the virus lots of musicians are out of work,” Hannah explained. “Lots of cancellations and performances, concerts and gigs. A lot of our prizewinners have already told us that they’re losing a lot of their income in the next couple of months as their concerts are cancelled, so we wanted to do something to support their careers and get them through this difficult time.”

“I hope it will be a nice break from the stress and the worries of the day,” she continued. “15-20 minutes of wonderful classical music to listen to on your Friday evening so hopefully everybody can gather round and feel like they’re watching together. With Facebook Live you can also comment and you can share your views on the concert as it happens, which is quite nice. Also we’re asking if people – while watching or after watching – if they would like to subscribe to our newsletter. If they’d like to sign up as a Friend or Patron or if they’d like to make a donation to our engagement projects then they can do that as well, but otherwise the videos are free to watch.”

“We had a series of engagements for our prizewinners in the coming months that we’re not sure will be able to go ahead. So as long as this current situation continues, we’ll continue this online platform. But we hope to be able to get our audiences together and see our prizewinners live in the coming months, as soon as possible.”

“The 2021 International Piano Competition actually opens online in April,” Hannah added. “So we’ll be expecting another couple of hundred young pianists from around the world to be entering over the coming months – it’s something to look forward to for next February in Hastings.”

Maxim Kinasov biography

Maxim Kinasov is an award-winning solo and chamber musician who performs a wide range of repertoire from Bach to Shostakovich. Born in Moscow, he began piano lessons at the age of five, making his concerto debut at the age of nine and his recital debut a year later.

Awarded a scholarship, he obtained his Bachelor of Music degree with Distinction from Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. His teachers there included Sergei Dorensky, Nikolai Lugansky, Pavel Nersessian and Andrei Pisarev, who are his greatest musical influences.

During his studies, he won several music competitions including Second Prize and Audience Prize at the 2015 International Gian Battista Viotti Piano Competition in Vercelli, Italy, Grand Prix and Special Cuomo Foundation Prize at the 2014 International Chopin Piano Competition in Rome and Grand Prix, First Prize and Special Prize ‘For the best performance of a work by Tchaikovsky’ at the 2013 International Konstantin Igumnov Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Lipetsk, Russia.

In 2019 Maxim completed his Master of Music in Performance degree, also with Distinction, at the Royal Northern College of Music in the class of Ashley Wass, supported by a Leverhulme Arts Scholarship. He is currently studying on the International Artist Diploma course at the RNCM, supported by the FM Wright Piano Award.

In 2018, Maxim won the RNCM’s most prestigious award, the Gold Medal and played in the Gold Medal Winners concert at Wigmore Hall in the Spring of 2019. He most recently won First Prize and Special Jury Mention at the Cantù International Piano Concerto Competition (Italy, 2019), Runner-up Prize at the Bromsgrove International Musicians Competition (2019, United Kingdom), and Second Prize and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Prize at the 2019 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition. Also, he was selected as a Kirckman Concert Society Artist for 2019-20 and played his full-length solo debut at Wigmore Hall in October 2019.

Maxim has been a soloist of the St Petersburg House of Music since 2012 and has performed in prestigious venues across Russia, Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil and US, including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. He has performed internationally with orchestras including the St Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and The Hallé, among others.

At the invitation of Nikolai Lugansky Maxim took part in the International Rachmaninov Music Festival in Russia. Other festival appearances include the ‘Gathering Friends’ International Music Festival at the Moscow Conservatory, South Downs Summer Music Festival in Alfriston, Chester Music Festival and Battle Festival.

As a chamber musician, Maxim won the 6th International Sergei Taneyev Chamber Ensembles Competition in Kaluga, Russia (First Prize, Special Tatiana Gaydamovich Award and Special Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory Prize ‘For the best performance of a work by Taneyev’, 2017) and has worked with Henk Guittart of the Schoenberg Quartet and Alexander Bonduriansky of the Moscow Trio.

Maxim has broadcast on Italian TV channels TG2 RAI and TGVercelli, and on BBC Radio 3.

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