Demidenko to take the stage at Akbank

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

As part of the Akbank Piano Days that will continue until Nov. 30, Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko will take the stage tonight at the Akbank Art Center.

Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko will take the stage at the Akbank Art Center today.

Demidenko studied at the Pyotr Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow under Dmitri Bashkirov before moving to England in 1990. He received British citizenship five years later.

The pianist works closely with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and its conductor, Yuri Temirkanov. With this orchestra he has given concerts in Berlin, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Geneva, Glasgow, London, Lugano and Manchester.

He also works with the Hermitage String Trio and other Russian artists living in London, including cellist Leonid Gorokhov and the pianist Dmitri Alexeev, with whom he performs piano works for composers such as Rachmaninov. Demidenko has worked with many of the world’s most respected conductors, such as Andrey Boreyko, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Thierry Fischer, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons, Okko Kamu, Yakov Kreizberg, Alexander Lazarev, Susanna Malkki, Tania Miller, Sir Roger Norrington, Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko, Gerard Schwarz, Leif Segerstam, Evgeny Svetlanov, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Osmo Vanska.

His repertoire as a soloist includes works by Bach, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Clementi, Chopin, Schubert, Scarlatti, Schumann and others. He often gives recitals in London.

He recently gave a concert at a Chopin festival in Paris.

Tonight’s concert starts at 8 p.m., with Demidenko set to dazzle audiences with Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin and concertos by Modest P. Mussorgsky