an interview with Nikita Lukinov
adapted from an interview for the Loaningdale Spring Piano Festival, 2023
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You received your early training in a country far from the UK. Can you tell us anything about these early years and how they shaped your approach to playing?
My father was a musician in the “Balalaika” Russian folk group, which performed traditional Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian music. From the age of four, I loved attending their concerts. This music inspired and fascinated me, and I soon realised that I wanted to be able to create music too. When I was six, my parents and I decided to try auditioning for a music school. I passed the entrance exams with distinction and, surprisingly, my score was high enough to be accepted at the Voronezh Specialist Central Music School. I was convinced to start with the piano because it gives the best overall musical awareness and knowledge of harmony. After one year of studying piano I simply refused to start learning any other instrument! There are only ten specialist music schools for children in the whole of Russia. In my opinion, these schools provide the most well-rounded and advanced music education for children under the age of sixteen. Reaching the equivalent of Grade 8 in one’s first study and music theory by the age of thirteen is a standard programme. So I was fortunate to have the best teachers in every aspect of my musical education from the age of six. |
It is remarkable that, at the age of eleven, only five years after starting your studies, you gave your first performance with a symphony orchestra. Three years later, you left your native country and came to study in the UK, a brave step for someone so young.
I was fourteen years old when I was offered a full scholarship to study in Britain’s oldest music school. My studies at The Purcell School in London between 2013 and 2017 were a life-changing experience that transformed my personality and professionalism to an international level.
I came to the UK alone. The whole experience was a big and uneasy change for me because it happened very fast and almost everything was different from what I was used to. Boarding students at the Purcell have a busy timetable and a strict set of boarding-house rules. I still remember the typical schedule for the day! On one hand, it helps to form real discipline and perseverance, but some moments outside the education curriculum were too intense and unusual for me, especially in the first few months. The Purcell School offers an exceptional teacher-to-student ratio in general education disciplines. Depending on the level of English, foreigners are also offered two to four hours of English as a second language with a teacher who specialises in working with foreign students. Thanks to this incredible arrangement, I picked up the language relatively quickly.
Alongside musical disciplines, I studied all core secondary education subjects including German, Art & Design, and Theatre Studies. All the subjects offered at Purcell are taught at a very high level. This allows students to get into non-musical universities too, including Oxbridge. One of the best things the Purcell offers is an opportunity to perform at Wigmore Hall, Milton Court, Cadogan Hall, and even the Royal Festival Hall. These are truly extraordinary opportunities for young musicians. I am very grateful to have had the Purcell School experience because it helped me to form the mindset of a world-class professional and led to full scholarship offers from the UK’s leading schools of music.
From the many offers you received, you chose to continue your studies in the UK, coming north to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), where you have completed both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree, and are now studying for an Artist Diploma.
The RCS offers everything that a classical musician could ever want: an outstanding level of practice facilities, a world-class faculty, and never-failing respect and connection between students and staff. This is why I think RCS genuinely deserves its ranking as one of the best music institutions in the world (No.3 in the 2021 QS rankings). In 2021, despite receiving scholarships from the Juilliard and Manhattan Schools of Music, I decided to continue my Master of Music Degree at RCS, with generous support from The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. This academic year I was entrusted with a supplementary class for first-study pianists at the RCS, where we focus on solving technical difficulties. This made me the youngest senior staff in all Royal Music Schools in the UK.
Those students are very fortunate! There is no underestimating the importance of good teachers and the legacy they pass on to their pupils. Two of your teachers, in both Voronezh and London, were themselves students of one of the masters of the Russian school of playing.
Yes, both my school teachers, Svetlana Semenkova and Tatiana Sarkissova, were students of the legendary Dmitri Bashkirov, who made a significant contribution to the legacy of piano history. Bashkirov also taught Daniel Barenboim, Dmitry Alexeev, and Murray Perahia, to name a few. I was very fortunate to be a disciple of these traditions from the age of ten. Being exposed to world-class teaching on a weekly basis led to a constant elevation of my pianistic abilities and overall artistry. At the RCS, I study with Petras Geniušas—a student of Vera Gornostaeva who brought up pianists such as Sergey Babayan, Vadim Kholodenko, Ivo Pogorelich, and Lukas Geniušas. She was another person who made history in the piano world.
The Russian piano school has always been influenced by other countries and cultures. Liszt’s student Siloti taught Rachmaninov; Schumann was an idol for Tchaikovsky, who spoke French because it was the first language of the Russian aristocracy at the time; Medtner, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev had to emigrate because of the 1917 Revolution. But there is one thing that all alumni of the so-called Russian piano school have in common: they all have the most refined limitless technique that meets with genuine musicianship that is cultivated in every artist from the early stages. By looking at today’s young prodigy superstars, like Elisey Mysin, Eva Gevorgyan, and Alexander Malofeev, I think that the traditions of the “Russian piano school” remain as strong as ever.
For more information about Nikita’s life and career: www.lukinoff.com
I was fourteen years old when I was offered a full scholarship to study in Britain’s oldest music school. My studies at The Purcell School in London between 2013 and 2017 were a life-changing experience that transformed my personality and professionalism to an international level.
I came to the UK alone. The whole experience was a big and uneasy change for me because it happened very fast and almost everything was different from what I was used to. Boarding students at the Purcell have a busy timetable and a strict set of boarding-house rules. I still remember the typical schedule for the day! On one hand, it helps to form real discipline and perseverance, but some moments outside the education curriculum were too intense and unusual for me, especially in the first few months. The Purcell School offers an exceptional teacher-to-student ratio in general education disciplines. Depending on the level of English, foreigners are also offered two to four hours of English as a second language with a teacher who specialises in working with foreign students. Thanks to this incredible arrangement, I picked up the language relatively quickly.
Alongside musical disciplines, I studied all core secondary education subjects including German, Art & Design, and Theatre Studies. All the subjects offered at Purcell are taught at a very high level. This allows students to get into non-musical universities too, including Oxbridge. One of the best things the Purcell offers is an opportunity to perform at Wigmore Hall, Milton Court, Cadogan Hall, and even the Royal Festival Hall. These are truly extraordinary opportunities for young musicians. I am very grateful to have had the Purcell School experience because it helped me to form the mindset of a world-class professional and led to full scholarship offers from the UK’s leading schools of music.
From the many offers you received, you chose to continue your studies in the UK, coming north to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), where you have completed both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree, and are now studying for an Artist Diploma.
The RCS offers everything that a classical musician could ever want: an outstanding level of practice facilities, a world-class faculty, and never-failing respect and connection between students and staff. This is why I think RCS genuinely deserves its ranking as one of the best music institutions in the world (No.3 in the 2021 QS rankings). In 2021, despite receiving scholarships from the Juilliard and Manhattan Schools of Music, I decided to continue my Master of Music Degree at RCS, with generous support from The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. This academic year I was entrusted with a supplementary class for first-study pianists at the RCS, where we focus on solving technical difficulties. This made me the youngest senior staff in all Royal Music Schools in the UK.
Those students are very fortunate! There is no underestimating the importance of good teachers and the legacy they pass on to their pupils. Two of your teachers, in both Voronezh and London, were themselves students of one of the masters of the Russian school of playing.
Yes, both my school teachers, Svetlana Semenkova and Tatiana Sarkissova, were students of the legendary Dmitri Bashkirov, who made a significant contribution to the legacy of piano history. Bashkirov also taught Daniel Barenboim, Dmitry Alexeev, and Murray Perahia, to name a few. I was very fortunate to be a disciple of these traditions from the age of ten. Being exposed to world-class teaching on a weekly basis led to a constant elevation of my pianistic abilities and overall artistry. At the RCS, I study with Petras Geniušas—a student of Vera Gornostaeva who brought up pianists such as Sergey Babayan, Vadim Kholodenko, Ivo Pogorelich, and Lukas Geniušas. She was another person who made history in the piano world.
The Russian piano school has always been influenced by other countries and cultures. Liszt’s student Siloti taught Rachmaninov; Schumann was an idol for Tchaikovsky, who spoke French because it was the first language of the Russian aristocracy at the time; Medtner, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev had to emigrate because of the 1917 Revolution. But there is one thing that all alumni of the so-called Russian piano school have in common: they all have the most refined limitless technique that meets with genuine musicianship that is cultivated in every artist from the early stages. By looking at today’s young prodigy superstars, like Elisey Mysin, Eva Gevorgyan, and Alexander Malofeev, I think that the traditions of the “Russian piano school” remain as strong as ever.
For more information about Nikita’s life and career: www.lukinoff.com
