Pianist, conductor, and composer Mikhail Pletnev was the Gold Medal and First Prize winner of the 1978 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition when he was 21, a prize that earned him early recognition worldwide. An invitation to perform at the 1988 superpower summit in Washington led to a friendship with Mikhail Gorbachev and the historic opportunity to make music in artistic freedom.

In 1990 Pletnev formed the first independent orchestra in Russia's history. Many of the country's finest musicians joined Pletnev in launching the Russian National Orchestra. Under his leadership as artistic director and principal conductor, the RNO has achieved great stature among the world’s orchestras. In 2006, he launched the Mikhail Pletnev Fund for the Support of National Culture, a nonprofit that supports major cultural initiatives, including the RNO's annual Grand Festival that opens the Moscow cultural season each September.
Pletnev’s performances and recordings have shown him to be an outstanding interpreter of an extensive repertoire, both as pianist and conductor. The London Telegraph remarked, "from Pletnev's fingers and brain come ideas that vitalise the music and make it teem with freshness and wit. [He] made the music positively leap for joy." The Times describes his playing as "born of a prodigious virtuosity of imagination outrageous in its beauty."


Pletnev’s recordings have earned numerous prizes, including a 2005 Grammy Award for his own arrangement, for two pianos, of Prokofiev’s Cinderella, with Martha Argerich and Pletnev at the keyboards. He received Grammy nominations for recordings of Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes (2004) and the Rachmaninov and Prokofiev Piano Concertos No. 3 with the RNO and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich (2003). His critically acclaimed album of Scarlatti’s Keyboard Sonatas (Virgin/EMI) received a 1996 Gramophone Award. BBC Music Magazine called the recording "piano playing at its greatest... this performance alone would be enough to secure Pletnev a place among the greatest pianists ever known." His recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos (Deutsche Grammophon) was named “Best of 2007” by The New Yorker.
Pletnev's compositions include works for orchestra, piano, strings and voices. His transcriptions for piano of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Sleeping Beauty were selected, along with his performance of Tchaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto and The Seasons, for the 1998 anthology Great Pianists of the 20th Century (Philips Classics).


The son of musician parents, Pletnev learned multiple instruments as a young child and entered the Moscow Conservatory as a teenager. Today he is one of Russia's most respected and influential artists. An advisor on Russia’s Cultural Council, Pletnev is a People’s Artist of Russia and frequently acclaimed for his contributions to Russia's artistic life, receiving Russia’s highest civilian honor in 2007 and 2019, and the Platonov Prize in 2014. Pianist, conductor, composer and cultural leader — all are significant facets of Mikhail Pletnev's life as an artist. Yet he considers himself, simply, a musician.

Dmitry Shishkin is a critically acclaimed Russian pianist who has been highlighted for both his creative and individual approach to music, as well as his brilliant piano skills by the international press. “In his playing we can hear both excellence and playfulness.” He was awarded a silver medal in June 2019 at the prestigious 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition and won the first place prize in November 2018 at the 73rd Geneva International Music Competition where he performed with Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Born in Chelyabinsk, Siberia, Dmitry demonstrated an exceptional talent for the piano at a very young age. He performed his first recital at the age of three and orchestra concert at the age of six. He then entered the prestigious Gnessin Moscow School of Music for gifted children (class of Mikhail Khokhlov) at the age of nine and then attended the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory (class of Eliso Virsaladze). He has also studied in Sicily at the “Vincenzo Bellini” State Conservatory in Catania with Epifanio Comis, and in Hannover at Musikhochschule with Arie Vardi.

From a young age, Dmitry has won many competitions, and received numerous awards and scholarships from Russia and abroad. He is a prize winner of such renowned competitions as Busoni in Bolzano (third place prize in 2013); Rio de Janeiro (second place prize in 2014); Chopin in Warsaw (sixth place prize in 2015); Queen Elisabeth in Brussels (finalist in 2016); and the first place prize winner of the Top of the World Competition in Tromsø (2017). Dmitry currently resides in Switzerland, but performs around the world. Most notably, he has collaborated with the Mariinsky Theatre (conductor: Valery Gergiev); State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Svetlanov Orchestra”; Russian National Orchestra (conductor: Mikhail Pletnev); Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra (conductor: Vladimir Fedoseev); Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra; National Orchestra of Belgium (conductor: Marin Alsop); Staatskapelle Weimar; Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Dmitry’s concert schedule additionally includes festival performances; notably Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Bergen Music Festival, Chopin and his European Festival, and Brescia Bergamo Music Festival.

Alim Beisembayev won First Prize at The Leeds International Piano Competition in September 2021, performing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Manze. He also took home the medici.tv Audience Prize and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society Prize for contemporary performance, with The Guardian praising him as a “worthy winner” with a “real musical personality”.

Highlights of the 2021/22 season include debuts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (under Case Scaglione), BBC Symphony Orchestra (Clemens Schuldt), RCM Symphony Orchestra (Sir Antonio Pappano), SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart (Yi-Chen Lin) and St. Petersburg State Academic Capella (Henry Cheng). Recent and forthcoming recitals include the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, Oxford Piano Festival, Bath Mozartfest, St George’s Bristol, and Chopin Institute in Warsaw, in addition to a tour of Europe, in association with the Steinway Prizewinner Concerts Network, and Korea, with the World Culture Network. His debut release with Warner Classics was released in September 2021 — an EP featuring Scarlatti, Ligeti and Ravel.

Ivan Krpan was born in Zagreb in 1997 into a musical family and began studying the piano at the age of six at the Blagoje Bersa Music School in Zagreb, under the tutelage of Renata Strojin Richter.

From 2013 he has been studying piano with Ruben Dalibaltayan at the Music Academy in Zagreb where he obtained his master’s degree in 2019. He has won several first prizes in national and international piano competitions; prize wins of note include first prizes at the 12th Piano Competition “Les Rencontres Internationales des Jeunes Pianistes” Grez Doiceau in Belgium in 2014, the International Piano Competition Young Virtuosi in Zagreb in 2014, the International Piano Competition for Young Musicians in Enschede (Netherlands) and the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists. He achieved 2nd prize in the International Danube Piano Competition in Ulm in 2014 and same year he won a special prize awarded by the Dean of the Zagreb Music Academy and the 4th prize at the 1st International Zhuhai Mozart Competition in Zhuhai, China. He also won the annual Ivo Vuljević prize awarded by the Jeunesses Musicales Croatia for the best young musician in Croatia in 2015. In 2016 he won the 3rd prize at the 10th Moscow International Frederick Chopin Competition for Young Pianists and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra has granted him the Young Musician of the Year Award.
Ivan Krpan also plays in piano duo with pianist Paula Ropuš. Together they performed on numerous concerts and recently they gave recitals in Croatia and abroad.

At the age of twenty, Ivan Krpan has won the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition 2017, one of the world’s most prestigious piano competitions.
2018/2019 season saw him performing in important Italian cities as Venice, Rome, Milano, Turin, in major music centers as London, Vienna and Hong Kong as well as a tour in South Korea in collaboration with the World Culture Networks Foundation and Steinway & Sons. He also had an important tour in Germany (Munich, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dusseldorf, Dresden, Hanover), and an extensive tour in Japan.
For the first time the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition Foundation has produced a studio album, which it has made available exclusively on IDAGIO, a leading streaming service for classical music. In May 2018 Mr. Krpan took to the legendary Emil Berliner Studios in Berlin to record Chopin's 24 Préludes and Schumann's Fantasie op. 17 and Arabeske op. 18. Classical music lovers around the world can hear this exceptional recording exclusively on IDAGIO.

Following recent debuts with the Chicago, Pittsburgh and London symphony orchestras, Lukáš Vondráček has a season packed with highlights ahead of him. In 2021/22 he will debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at Hollywood Bowl and return to renowned orchestras such as Baltimore and Chicago symphony orchestras, both under the baton of Marin Alsop. Elsewhere Lukáš Vondráček will appear with Orchestre National de Lille conducted by Lionel Bringuier, Warsaw Philharmonic as well as the Turku and Malmö symphony orchestras. Recital projects will take him to the Rudolf Firkusny Piano Festival at Prague’s Rudolfinum and the Kissinger Summer Festival. He will take his residency with the Janáček Philharmonic into the next season and continue his recording cycle of all Rachmaninov Piano concertos with Prague Symphony Orchestra.

Over the last decade Lukáš Vondráček has travelled the world working with orchestras such as the Philadelphia, Tasmanian and Sydney Symphony orchestras, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Symphony Radio Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic and Netherlands Philharmonic orchestras.Recitals have led him to Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the Flagey in Brussels, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, Wiener Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and to renowned festivals such as Menuhin Festival Gstaad, PianoEspoo in Finland, Prague Spring Festival and Lille Piano Festival.

At the age of four Lukáš Vondráček made his first public appearance. He has achieved worldwide recognition by receiving many international awards, foremost the Grand Prix at the 2016 Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels alongside first prizes at the Hilton Head and San Marino International Piano Competitions and Unisa International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa, as well as the Raymond E. Buck Jury Discretionary Award at the 2009 International Van Cliburn Piano Competition.