Current Programme
PIano Recital – Maksim Stsura Monday 6th April 2015
Maksim Stsura Recital Programme 13 April 2015
Tuesday 13 April 2015, Churchill Room, Wanstead Library, Spratt Hall Road, Wanstead. 8:00 pm
Tickets will be available at the door: £10 (Visitors) £7 (Members).
Complimentary light refreshments will be served during the interval.
Estonian pianist Maksim Stsura is in great demand as a chamber musician and has performed extensively in the UK and Europe. In London he has performed at the Southbank Centre and at the Cadogan and Wigmore Halls and in 2014 he was awarded the Beethoven Medal by the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe at a recital at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields. His recital tonight will include works by classical and modern composers including Beethoven, Brahms, Ligeti and others and will end with Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’
Biography
‘Maksim Stsura impressed a large crowd at London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields with formidable performances of two Romantic piano favourites…’ Malcolm Miller
Maksim Štšura is an Estonian pianist, composer and music scholar based in London. He performs extensively as soloist and chamber musician in the prestigious concert halls across the United Kingdom, including St Martin-in-the-Fields, Purcell Room and the Wigmore Hall.
He received his Master of Music degree from the Royal College of Music in 2013, studying under Gordon Fergus-Thompson and has also completed the prestigious Artist Diploma course with him in 2014. He previously graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre where he studied with Ivari Ilja. In 2008-09, he participated in an Erasmus exchange at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, where he worked with Volker Banfield. In 2008 Maksim was awarded a scholarship for participating in the International Holland Music Sessions Summer Academy. His Masters studies were generously supported by a Somers-Mountfort scholarship, the AHRC Study Award, the Estonian Capital of Culture Study Award and the Kristjan Jaak Scholarship. Maksim was a Mills Williams Junior Fellow for 2013-14. In 2014 Maksim started his Doctoral course at the RCM, supported by a Leverhulme Postgraduate Studentship and Mr Nigel Woolner. His research is focused on the piano transcriptions of the contemporary orchestral scores.
Maksim has performed in masterclasses with musicians including Dmitry Bashkirov, Stephen Hough, John Lill, Barry Douglas, Nina Seryogina, Veera Gornostayeva, Daniel Pollack, Tamas Ungar and Eliso Virsaladze.
He has won prizes in several international competitions, including First Prizes at the 7th Estonian Piano Competition (2008), the Steinway-Klavierspiel-Wettbewerb in Germany (2004), the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Estonia (2000) and other awards including Third Prize at the International ‘Young Musician’ Competition in Estonia (2002) and the Laureate Prize at the International Jevgeny Mravinski Competition in Russia (2001). Additionally, Maksim was awarded both a Yamaha (2008) and a Helmi Valtman (2010) scholarship. In 2013 Maksim won the First Prize at the Intercollegiate Beethoven Piano Competition.
Maksim has performed extensively in the UK, Germany, Austria, Holland, Finland, Estonia and Russia. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Saint Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, The National Opera Estonia Symphony Orchestra, The Symphony Orchestra of Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and Narva Town Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with conductors including Nikolai Alexeev, Paul Magi, Aleksandr Titov, Jüri Alperten, Anatoli Stsura, Mihhail Gerts and Simon Thompson.
Maksim is also in great demand as a chamber musician. His experience includes performing with ensembles Jakobstad Sinfonietta (Finland), Mediterranean Chamber Brass (Spain) and distinguished instrumentalists, most notably violinists Soh-Yon Kim and Michael Foyle. His recent engagements include performances at the Purcell Room, Charlton House, The Royal Academy of Arts, St Mary Magdalene Church, Chappells of Bond Street, Bishopsgate Hall, Elgar Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Cadogan Hall, St James’s Piccadilly Church. In 2014-2015 the Foyle-Stsura duo are performing across UK as Live Music Now, Park Lane Group and City Music Foundation artists.
[Photograph above: by Kaupo Kikkas]