Nikita Lukinov

Nikita is an exceptional pianist that I was so lucky to have for my private birthday party! He blew away the roof of the restaurant with his playing and the evening was truly mesmerising thanks to his playing. A real master who is so sensitive and professional in his work.

Market Drayton Festival Centre Twenty-four-year-old pianist Nikita Lukinov brought star quality to the Festival Centre stage and gave a performance which was both a technical and emotional triumph. It began with an unusual introduction, as Lukinov explained that his opening piece was described by Clara Schumann as ‘nothing but blind noise’. Lukinov looked nonplussed then added, “A top critic at the time said whoever has heard it and finds it beautiful is beyond help.” He held his palms out in entreaty and shrugged his shoulders. Then he sat down in front of the keys and played Liszt’s B minor Sonata, which has become one of the most popular works for the piano. The sonata opened, as it ended, with a profoundly restful deep bass note. Lukinov commanded the audience’s attention and held it captive for the thirty minutes of compelling, impassioned, and yes, beautiful, music which filled the space between them. His playing of this technically very challenging piece was riveting. He brought to it an overarching grace that subsumed the sense of wonder at how it was being achieved. He was there to take his audience on an emotional journey via a magnificent piece of music, and he did just that. It was thrilling and deeply affecting. And that was by way of a warm-up, Lukinov half-joked as he introduced the second half of his programme. This was Robert Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, played with no significant breaks, dedicated to Liszt and widely considered to be one of the most difficult works for the piano. Schumann was bipolar and described these ‘piano poems’ as reflecting opposite and complementary sides of his personality: one extrovert and excitable, the other more introverted, lyrical and melancholic. Lukinov called the five etudes apparently discarded by the composer initially “arguably the finest romantic music ever written.” The more ‘introverted’ etudes evoked the richest feelings and thoughts, but seemed magnified by their juxtaposition with the dynamic outbursts. Lukinov made a beautiful whole of the differing passions, seeming transported by them as he played. His obvious love of the music was infectious. It is rare for a classical music audience at the Festival Centre to show its appreciation by augmenting applause with the stomping of feet on the sounding-board-floor of the raked seating. Lukinov responded with a perfectly chosen encore: Tchaikovsky’s Meditation.