BIOGRAPHY

Grammy-nominated Ukrainian-British violist and conductor, and Principal Guest Conductor of I Musici de Montréal, Maxim Rysanov has an established reputation as one of the world’s most vibrant and charismatic musicians.

Both as a conductor and a violist, he frequently visits prominent orchestras – often in programmes where he both plays and conducts. He begins 2025 performing as a soloist with Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc and in February he will direct a tour with the Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra, which includes Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola alongside Alexander Sitkovetsky.

Through much of the first half of 2025, he will appear throughout Europe and also New York as part of the Evgeny Kissin Shostakovich Project. This initiative also involves Gidon Kremer and Gautier Capucon. The three Shostakovich sonatas – one each for violin, viola and cello – will be performed together in one concert with Kissin in Lucerne, Eindhoven, Munich, Vienna, Luxembourg, Paris, Toulouse, London, New York, and Ruhr. Maxim is also undertake a tour through China.

Maxim’s passion for new music has led to world premières by Dobrinka Tabakova, Peteris Vasks, Richard Dubugnon, and Valentin Bibik. He debuted as a conductor with the world première of Gabriel Prokofiev’s viola concerto with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, co-commissioned with the Symphony Orchestra of Milan. Maxim has collaborated closely with composers including Benjamin Yusupov, Leonid Desyatnikov, Giya Kancheli, Artem Vassiliev, and Elena Langer.

As a soloist, he has performed with the Mariinsky Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orkest the Hague, Seattle Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Moscow Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic, Turku Philharmonic, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, European Union Youth Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Brno Philharmonic, CSO Presidential Orchestra in Ankara, and Real Orquesta Sinfónica Sevilla. As a conductor, Maxim has appeared with the Svetlanov State Symphony Orchestra, the Milan Symphony Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Tatarstan State Symphony Orchestra, Spanish Radio Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Dala Sinfonietta, London Mozart Players, Southbank Sinfonia, Riga Sinfonietta, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Detmold Chamber Orchestra, Kiev Soloists, Czestochowa Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Chaarts, Budapest Festival Academy Orchestra, and Classic FM Orchestra.

A past winner of Gramophone Young Artist of the Year Award and the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Award, Maxim is also a prize-winner at the Geneva, Lionel Tertis and Valentino Bucchi competitions.

Maxim’s recent highlights include performing debuts with Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and a performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko at the Ljubliana Festival, and conducting the Milan Symphony Orchestra, and Croatian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Pannon Philharmonic in Budapest. He also toured Europe with the Yehudi Menuhin Orchestra where he conducted, recorded and performed. Other studio recordings include collaborations with the Hallé Orchestra, and the release of the Tabakova Viola Concerto original version in 2023. Invitations to festivals have included Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Carl Nielsen Festival, OModernt Stockholm, Moritzburg Festival, Lundsgaard Festival and Westport Festival. A keen chamber musician, Maxim has partnered in chamber music projects with Maxim Vengerov, Janine Jansen, Mischa Maisky, Gidon Kremer, Nicola Benedetti, Vadim Repin, Augustin Dumay, Viktoria Mullova, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Sol Gabetta, Leif Ove Andsnes, Denis Matsuev, Alessio Bax, Michael Collins, Martin Frost, Alice Coote, Freddy Kempf and Yeol Eum Son, Nikita Boriso-Glebsky and Dora Kokas, among others. He has toured Ireland with chamber partners Nikita Boriso Glebsky and Dora Kokas.

Maxim is an Associate Artist at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and he makes several annual visits to the school to conduct, perform, and give masterclasses. Last season, he undertook a European tour and went into the recording studio with the YMS Orchestra. He also has an ongoing relationship with the Royal College of Music and gives masterclasses in other establishments including the RNCM, Hochschule fur Musik Berlin, and the Chopin University.

His recordings have gained numerous award nominations including Gramophone Editor’s Choice, ECHO and ICMA. Maxim featured as both soloist and conductor on the debut recording of composer Dobrinka Tabakova (ECM) in 2013, which reached number 2 in the UK classical charts and was shortlisted for a Grammy Award. His album In Schubert’s company was selected as Gramophone Critic’s Choice of the Year. Also released to great critical acclaim, was the BIS recording Voices with Riga Sinfonietta featuring the music of Peteris Vasks, on which Maxim conducts Vasks’ Symphony No. 1 and performs the viola concerto written for and dedicated to him. October 2024 will see the release of his latest disc on the Onyx label, a collection of Schumann viola works in which he is joined by Julian Bliss and Dasol Kim.

Maxim plays a 1780 Giuseppe Guadagnini viola known as ‘Il Soldato’ on private loan arranged by Premiere Performances Hong Kong.

PRESS QUOTES

« Maxim Rysanov brings a terrifically full-bodied performance to the concerto’s powerful outer movements, while adventuring deep into the timbral possibilities of the instrument in the work’s more mysterious inner movements.»
Kate Wakeling, BBC Music Magazine

« Agile, expressive and with a mastery of line and dynamics, Rysanov is a prince among viola players, and this is one of his finest albums to date. »
Rob Cowan, Gramophone

« I fell in love with the incredibly beautiful sound of his instrument. In his playing I could feel an uncommonly high emotional tension. »
Pēteris Vasks (composer)

« Rysanov let the music speak for itself. His sound was very natural. It may sound exaggerated, but Kissin and Rysanov were really two kindred spirits in this music. »
Hugo Jager, Trouw