Classical Piano: Pavel Nersessian, Oxana Mikhailoff and Vassily Primakov

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Pavel Nersessian

“His performance brought a veritable roar of approval from the audience,” wrote the Irish Times, after Pavel Nersessian received the 1st Prize in the GPA Dublin International Piano Competition in 1991. Being one of the most remarkable pianists of his generation in Russia, he is known for his ability to play equally convincingly in the whole palette of the piano repertoire. He won prizes in the Beethoven Competition in Vienna in 1985, the Paloma O’Shea Competition in Santander, and the Tokyo Competition.

Nersessian was a pupil of the famous Central Music School of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, where his teacher was Yu. Levin. Later he was a student of the Conservatoire under Prof. S. Dorensky. Upon graduating from the Conservatoire in 1987 with maximum marks he was invited to join the faculty.

Pavel Nersessian has been touring Russia and surrounding states from the age of eight, and has given performances in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Cannes, Leipzig, Vienna, Budapest, Madrid, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Dublin, Muenchen, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro, Belgrade, Cairo, Kiev, and many other cities.

Mr. Nersessian, by special invitation from the Kirov and the Perm Ballet, performed solo part in Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial based on the music of Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Piano Concerto with performances in the Kirov, Bolshoi, Chatelet and Covent Garden. He also played a solo part in J. Robbins’ ballet “The concert, or The Perils of Everybody” on the music of F. Chopin.

He is known for his collaboration with chamber music groups and other musicians, such as Borodin and Glinka Quartets, National Symphony Orchestra in Russia, Thomas Sanderling, Tugan Sokhiev, Eri Klas, Saulius Sondeckis, Alexander Lazarev, Ken-David Mazur, Pavel Kogan, Alexandre Chernushenko, Mikhail Agrest, Pascal Moragues, Julius Milkis, Evgeny Petrov, Abel Perreira, Benjamin Schmid, Stepan Yakovich, Ani Kavafian, Andrei Gridchuk, Alena Baeva, Philippe Cassard, Yana Ivanilova, Nina Kogan, Mikhail Bereznitsky and many others. He has recorded numerous disks with the compositions of Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Shostakovich, and he has given masterclasses in the USA, Russia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Korea, Brazil, and Japan.

Pavel Nersessian has been working as an assistant in a class of a famous professor S. Dorensky since 1987. Many famous students graduated from this studio during these years: N. Lugansky, V. Rudenko, D. Matsuev, O. Kern, A. Shtarkman, P. Kolesnikov, G. Tchaidze, A. Dossin, F. Kopachevsky, T. Tessman and many others.

He is also on the faculty of Boston University.

Oxana Mikhailoff was hailed in a recent review by Jon Sobel as “a titan of the Romantic Piano Literature.” Of her playing, Vladimir Feltsman said “…(Oxana Mikhailoff) is a mature and accomplished musician…Her playing has character, imagination, and is poetic. She has a strong personality and stage presence.”

Oxana has performed throughout Russia and Europe as a recitalist, concert soloist and chamber musician. Her United States debut took place at Carnegie Hall in 1999. She later returned to Carnegie Hall to play an all-Chopin recital on the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death.

Oxana maintains an active teaching studio in Westchester County less than one-half hour from New York City. Along with Vassily Primakov, Oxana is co-Artistic Director of the Sparkill Concert Series and the Midland Music Series in Bronxville, NY.

In recent years, Vassily Primakovhas been hailed as a pianist of world class importance. In 1999, as a teen-aged prizewinner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Primakov was praised by Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “How many pianists can make a line sing as the Moscow native did on this occasion? Every poignant phrase took ethereal wing. Elsewhere the music soared with all of the turbulence and poetic vibrancy it possesses. We will be hearing much from this remarkable musician.”

Vassily Primakov has released numerous recordings for Bridge Records that include works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Chopin, Dvorak, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Philip Glass, Arlene Sierra and Poul Ruders.

In 2011, Mr. Primakov, along with Natalia Lavrova established a new and vibrant record company, L.P. Classics, Inc. Their first release was Anton Arensky: Four Suites for Two Pianos. Most recently, they released Primakov’s Live in Concert Album that includes works by Medtner, Schumann, Brahms’ Handel Variations and Ravel’s La Valse. www.lpclassics.net

In March 2012 Vassily Primakov became a Yamaha Artist.

Vassily Primakov is Artistic Director of Sparkill Concert Series since 2018 together with Oxana Mikhailoff.