Dmitri Alexeev is one of the world’s most highly regarded artists. His critically acclaimed recitals on the world’s leading concert stages and concerto appearances with the most prestigious orchestras have secured his position as one of “the most remarkable pianists of the day” (Daily Telegraph). He has performed in all major concert halls around the world and has performed with all leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the five London orchestras, Orchestre de Paris, Israel Philharmonic and the Munich Bavarian Radio Orchestra amongst others. He has worked with conductors such as Ashkenazy, Boulez, Dorati, Gergiev, Giulini, Jansons, Muti, Pappano, Rozhdestvensky, Salonen, Svetlanov, Temirkanov, Tilson Thomas and Klaus Tennstedt amongst many others. During recent seasons he was the Artistic Director of the Leeds International Recital Series, and Artistic Director and Artist in Residence of the concert series “Musis Sacrum” in Arnhem and Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. Alexeev has been a juror for many of the world’s most prestigious International Piano Competitions, including the Leeds, Chopin (Warsaw), Van Cliburn, Santander, Beethoven (Vienna) and Tchaikovsky (Moscow) International Piano Competition. He regularly gives masterclasses around the world. Alexeev became Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music in 2005. Many of his past and current students are top prize winners at major international piano competitions such as the Leeds, Tchaikovsky, Liszt (Utrecht), Viotti, Sydney, Santander, Scottish, Dublin and Maria Canals International Piano Competition to name a few. His most recent recording projects include Scriabin’s complete Sonatas, Etudes and Preludes for Brilliant Classics. His recent recording of the complete Chopin Mazurkas was referred to as “one of the best recordings of the Chopin Mazurkas that have appeared in the past three-quarters of a century – one of the best alongside those of Rubinstein and Yakov Flier” by Gramophone Magazine.
Claudio Martinez Mehner began his music studies at an early age at the “Real Conservatorio Superior de Madrid” in Madrid with Amparo Fuster, Pedro Lerma and Joaquín Soriano. In addition to his piano studies, he participated in the Spanish National Youth Orchestra as a violist and in the Chamber Orchestra of the German School as a violinist, violist and harpsichord player. He finished his bachelor degree in 1989 He continued his studies at the “Tchaikovsky-Conservatory” in Moscow and the “Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía” in Madrid with Prof. Dmitri Bashkirov,
afterwards at the the “Hochschule für Musik” in Freiburg, Germany (Master of
Performance, finished 1994), the “Fondazione per il Pianoforte” in Como, Italy; and the “Peabody Conservatory” in Baltimore, US (Artist degree studies) with Vitalij Margulis and Leon Fleisher. In addition, he participated in masterclasses given by Murray
Perahia, Fou Ts’ong, Alexis Weissenberg, Karl-Ulrich Schnabel, Dietrich Fischer- Dieskau, and Mstislav Rostropovich, among many others. Lately he has received invaluable advice by Prof. Ferenc Rados in Budapest, Hungary. At the ages of 13 and 15 Claudio Martínez Mehner won first prize with special
mention in the German competition “Bundeswettbewerb Jugend musiziert”. He was a finalist in the International Piano Competition “Paloma O’Shea” in Santander (1990), Spain, and won first prizes in the international competitions “Pilar Bayona” in Zaragoza, Spain (1992), “Fondation Chimay” in Belgium (1993), and “Dino Ciani” in Milano, Italy (1993). As a soloist he performed in most major cities in Europe, United States, Russia, Central America, Japan and Korea, with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Moscow Philharmonic, Filarmónica of the Teatro Alla Scala, the Scottish Chamber
Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic, Italian Swiss Radio Orchestra, Norddeutsche Rundfunk, Filarmonia Hungarica and most of the major Spanish orchestras. Claudio Martínez-Mehner is an avid chamber music player and has performed with many ensembles in Europe and Asia. Presently he is piano professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel, Switzerland and at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne, Germany. He teaches masterclasses in Europe, Asia and the U.S.
Ilya Maximov is the winner of the G.B. Viotti International Piano Competition in Italy. He has a wide range of repertoire starting from early classics to modern composers. He performed at the world’s most esteemed concert halls and festivals in Europe, Asia and America including Bratislava Philharmonic, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Palau de la Música in Valencia, Real Academia de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Salle Cortot in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York, Chamber Hall of Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Morinomiye Piloti Hall in Osaka, Suginami Kokaido in Tokyo, Esplanade Hall in Singapore, Theatre A. Roldán in Havana and La Sapienza in Rome. Maximov regularly performs as a soloist and with various orchestras such as Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Teatro Carlo Felice Orchestra, Wuhan Symphonic Orchestra, Singapore Youth Symphonic Orchestra, Orchestra Simfònica del Valles, Ural state symphony orchestra, Havana National Symphonic Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra among others. He collaborated with such conductors as Justus Franz, James P Liu, Misha Katz, Dmitry Yablonsky, Darrell Ang, and James Ross. Ilya Maximov’s successes include top prizes at many international competitions, including Maria Canals International Piano competition (Spain), Hilton Head International Piano Competition (USA), Jose Iturbi International Piano Competition (Spain) and at the Scottish International Piano Competition. In 2011 he has received the prestigious Public Award prize at Musical Olympus festival in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Ilya Maximov graduated from Conservatorio Superior del Liceu in Barcelona, Royal College of Music in London and Universitat Mozarteum Salzburg where he studied with a renowned pianists and pedagogues Stanislav Pochekin, Dmitri Alexeev and Pavel Gililov. Alongside solo career, he currently teaches at Universitat Mozarteum Salzburg.
After winning the First Prize at the 8th F. Liszt International Piano Competition in Utrecht and the Third Prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition Ukrainian-Russian pianist Vitaly Pisarenko has been steadily gaining worldwide recognition. He regularly performs across the globe as a recitalist and a chamber musician. Past concerts include appearances at the Wigmore Hall, Musikverein in Vienna, Bozar in Brussels, National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, Shanghai Concert Hall, Mozarteum in Salzburg, de Singel in Antwerp, Toyota Concert Hall in Japan, Hong Kong City Hall, Salle Cortot in Paris and Palace of Arts in Budapest. As a soloist Pisarenko collaborated with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Noord Nederlands Orchestra, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra on tour in Japan, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Het Gelders Orchestra, the YMSO and others performing at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Cadogan Hall in London, Big Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, Tokyo Opera City, Seoul Arts Center, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Sala San Paulo in Brazil and De Doelen in Rotterdam among others. The Association of Music Critics of Argentina recently presented Vitaly with the ‘2018 Revelation Award’. Recently he has been performing intensively in the UK, including performances at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Cadogan Hall, St Martin in the Fields, Champs Hill, Chopin Society UK, BMS York and others. Vitaly Pisarenko started his musical education in his native Kiev, Ukraine with Natalia Romenskaya and in Kharkiv with Garri Gelfgat. Later on, he commenced his studies in Moscow with Professor Yuri Slesarev at the Central Music School and State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. From 2005 to 2008 Vitaly studied with Aquiles delle Vigne at the Codarts, Rotterdam and from 2009 to 2012 he was a student of Oxana Yablonskaya in Italy. Since September 2012 Vitaly has been a student at the Royal College of Music in London, where he studies with Professor Dmitri Alexeev. Vitaly completed his Master’s degree with distinction in 2014 and Artist Diploma degree in 2015 and is currently a Doctoral course student as an Emma Rose Memorial Scholar and a Bob and Sarah Wigley and Helmut Schuster Scholar. Starting from 2012 Vitaly has been also studying with Professor Boris Petrushansky at the ‘Incontri col Maestro’ Academy in Imola, Italy. Since January 2020 Vitaly is a principal study teacher at the Purcell School for young musicians and in September 2021 he has been appointed an Assistant Professor of piano at the Royal College of Music, London.
Rafael Lipstein is a German/Argentinian pianist who is praised by the critics for his poetry and unique interpretations and has won over 25 prizes in music competitions. He started playing the piano at age of 11 under the guidance of his father and then at age of 14 continued his studies with Pavel Gililov at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and Universitat Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Furthermore he worked with artists such as Martha Argerich, Maria Joao Pires, Gabriela Montero, Ivry Gitlis, Ferenc Rados and many others.
After being forced to interrupt his career at the age 23 due to a neurological injury, he started developing a big interest in the body and it’s biomechanical but also emotional role in music making.
Currently he is studying Music Physiology at the ZHdK Zurich and working with different approaches like the Taubman approach under close guidance of specialist Robert Durso and the Pianosomatics with Alan Fraser.
In his sessions any topic ranging from technical difficulties, discomfort, pain, stage fright or limitations in expression can be addressed.