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The Ukrainian violist. Maxim Rysanov, studied at the Central Special Music School in Moscow, and after that the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He is a prize-winner of several major international awards, including the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, the Guildhall Gold Medal, Valentino Bucchi International Viola Competition, Carmel International Chamber Music Competition, Haverhill Symphonia Soloist Competition and most recently the prestigious Geneva Competition. He is the current recipient of the Classic FM Gramophone Young Artist of the Year Award and is a current member of the BBC New Generation programme.
Recognised as one of the world’s best and most charismatic viola players, Maxim Rysanov is regularly invited to perform as a soloist and chamber musician in the UK and abroad and has been a guest of many festivals and venues worldwide. He works regularly with prestigious artists such as Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Augustin Dumay, Martin Frost, Vadim Gluzman, Marc-André Hamelin, Janine Jansen, Giya Kancheli, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, Lev Markiz, Viktoria Mullova, Eldar Nebolsin, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Mark Padmore, Julian Rachlin, Maxim Vengerov, Denis Matsuev, Ashley Wass and the ASCH trio among others. His UK solo performances have included the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, and St. John’s Smith Square.
Maxim Rysanov has always devoted a large part of his creative energies to promoting new music. He premiered a new BBC commission by Dobrinka Tabakova at Bridgwater Hall in Manchester. Concertos dedicated to him include works by Tabakova, Artyom Vassiliev and Elena Langer. More recently he gave the world premiere of a new Duo Concertante work for viola and cello by Artyom Vassiliev at the Spitalfields Festival with the Britten Sinfonia. A worldwide tour is planned for the posthumous premiere the Viola Concerto by Valentin Bibik.
Highlights of the 2007-2008 season included his debut in Japan and China in the trio arrangement of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) with Julian Rachlin and Mischa Maisky and a performance of W.A. Mozart's Sinfonie Concertante with Augustin Dumay and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie at the Beijing Festival. He also performed this key work in the viola repertoire with Janine Jansen and the European Union Youth Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy in London. The same season he made his orchestral debut in Germany performing the Béla Bartók Concert for Viola with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Tamas Vasary. He is also continuing the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) tour with performances at Europe’s most noted venues such as the South Bank Centre London, National Concert Hall Dublin, Philharmonie Berlin, Konzerthaus Vienna etc. He also appeared this year as concerto soloist at the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Barbican Hall in July.
The orchestra season 2008-2009 has included concertos with a clutch of UK orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Schnittke), BBC Philharmonic (Berlioz), BBC National Orchestra of Wales (Tabakova and Schubert), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations), Ulster Orchestra (Martinu) as well as a tour with the Britten Sinfonia (Benjamin Britten and Woolrich) and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Sinaisky (Berlioz). Early in the season he also made his USA concerto debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York (with Jiri Belohlavek) and at the Grand Teton Festival (with Donald Runnicles). He also made his debut with the Residentie Orkest Den Haagt and Neeme Järvi (B. Britten and Kancheli Double Concertos with Janine Jansen). He performed the viola arrangement of the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Cape Town Philharmonic, Belgrade Philharmonic, and Lithuanian National Symphony. This work is being recorded with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Muhai Tang in early 2010 for release on the BIS label.
Other orchestras which have recently invited him as soloist include Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Orchestre Royale de Chambre de Wallonie, China National Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, Bayerischer Rundfunk Kammerorchester, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra among others. Additionally he has also worked with conductors of note such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Stefan Solyom, Tamas Vasary and Long Yu.
Highlights of the forthcoming seasons include tours with the European Union Youth Orchestra with Sir Colin Davis, the Philharmonia Orchestra with Christoph von Dohnányi, Sinfonia Varsovia with Augustin Dumay as well as concerts with the Malaysian Philharmonic and Yan Pascal Tortelier, the Latvian National Orchestra and Hartmut Haenchen, the Shanghai Philharmonic and Zürcher Kammerorchester both with Muhai Tang and the Netherlands Philharmonic with Alexander Lazarev.
After a conducting fellowship at the Guildhall School of Music and winning the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Young Conductor scheme, Maxim Rysanov also has a burgeoning career as a conductor. This season he was invited to conduct the Basel Sinfonie Orchester for a second time and conducted the Swedish premiere of a cello concerto by Dobrinka Tabakova with Kristine Blaumane and the Dala Sinfonietta.
Maxim Rysanov’s last three solo recording projects have all won Gramophone Editor’s Choice: a double CD of Johannes Brahms viola repertoire (Onyx), a concerto disc of Tavener and Kancheli (Onyx) and a recital disc with Evelyn Chang (Avie). A disc of J.S. Bach's Inventions with Janine Jansen and Torleif Thedéen on Decca reached number 1 in the I-Tunes charts in the USA. Other recording plans include a two-disc project of unaccompanied J.S. Bach Suites on BIS and a further disc of J. Brahms Chamber Music to include the Clarinet Quintet in the viola arrangement on Onyx and the Two Songs with Alice Coote. A further recent disc comprises Giya Kancheli Styx and John Tavener Myrrh Bearer on the Onyx label.
Maxim Rysanov is now based in London. He playes on a Giuseppe Guadagnini (1780) viola on extended loan from the Elise Mathilde Foundation. |
