“Super-soloist” is the way France Musique introduced Dmitry Masleev when he appeared with the Orchestre National de France, playing the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, the work that helped launch his international career, when he won the 2015 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. Dmitry’s solo recital debut at the Philhamonie de Paris in March 2022 confirmed that a new phenomenon has emerged among the most interesting pianists of our time: “What an artist! Everything is so simple, so ingenious, without the slightest attempt to explain the music,” wrote Alain Lompech (Bachtrack).
The current season begins with the release of a new album on Europe’s leading labels Aparte. This time Dmitry Masleev is not only the soloist but also the conductor of the Svetlanov Orchestra, leading the legendary ensemble from the instrument. Together, they interpret Rachmaninov’s Variations of the Theme of Paganini and Liszt’s Totentanz, both inspired by the haunting Dies Irae chant from the Gregorian funeral mass. Liszt’s Spanish Rhapsody in an orchestral arrangement by Mikhail Petukhov completes this album focused on some of the most iconic piano repertoire.
Dmitry Masleev’s previous recording, The Seasons, released on Mirare, showcased Tchaikovsky’s eponymous piano cycle alongside rarely performed works by Glinka, Cui and Balakirev, as well as a riveting interpretation of Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bald Mountain. It has been featured by France Musique and praised by international press.
The highlights of the current season include a return to Paris for a recital at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on the prestigious series Piano 4 Étoiles, which exclusively presents pianists like Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Andras Schiff, and Arcadi Volodos, among others. Dmitry will perform in Russia, China, South Korea, Latin America, Italy and France, including at La Folle Journée and La Roque d’Anthéron International Piano festivals. His previous appearance at La Roque was described by La Provence as “a magical evening where virtuosity merged with the innermost workings of the soul… Masleev brings us, note by note, to the pure emotional reality of what life is all about.”
In the recent seasons Dmitry was also invited to perform at the Lucerne Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr, as well as at Verbier, Montreux, Rheingau, Bad Kissingen, Bodensee, Bergamo and Brescia, and Stars of the White Nights. Dmitry’s orchestral collaborations include the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquestra Cadaqués, Orchestra della Toscana, Tampere Philharmonic, Verbier Festival Orchestra, and many others. Last spring Dmitry resumed his collaboration with the Györ Philahrmonic Orchestra (Martin Rajna), performing the Prokofiev Concerto No. 3 at the sold-out Golden Hall of Musikverein in Vienna. He collaborates with the leading conductors of our times including Christoph Eschenbach, David Robertson, Mikko Franck, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Joshua Weilerstein, Robert Trevino, and Ariane Matiakh.
Dmitry Masleev’s very first album, launched with a performance at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and featuring solo and orchestral repertoire, has made the Spotify Top Classical 2017 charts and received the prestigious German Critics’ Prize (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik) in the solo piano category, where it was nominated alongside Krystian Zimerman’s Schubert album (DG). “One can only revel in the poetic spontaneity of this Scarlatti recording, not least because of the brilliance, precision and ease of Masleev's playing” (Westdeutsche Rundfunk).
“It is fascinating to witness his artistic development. One cannot be taught to play like this. It takes a lot of natural musicality… Masleev shows how within a small space one can open up an entire cosmos of a soul. That is great art and that is what you always want and rarely get as a listener: watching the artist looking for himself and listening to him find it,” wrote Helmut Mauró in Süddeutsche Zeitung in 2019.
North America fell in love with Dmitry Masleev when he made his Carnegie Hall recital debut at the Isaac Stern Auditorium in January 2017. In 2018, he toured coast-to-coast with the Moscow State Symphony and Pavel Kogan. In the summer of 2022 he performed at the Newport Classical Festival and the Festival Napa Valley.
Born and raised in Ulan-Ude (a Siberian town between Lake Baikal and the Mongolian border), Dmitry was educated at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Professor Mikhail Petukhov, and at the International Music Academy at Lake Como.