New Piano Generation : Alim Beisembayev

New Piano Generation

Alim Beisembayev, born in Kazakhstan in 1998, won First Prize at the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in September 2021. Today, at just 24 years of age, all eyes in the piano world are upon this young musician, who is on the cusp of a dazzling career, both in concert and on disc. Having mastered very diverse repertoires, Mr Beisembayev consistently generates dialogues between eras and styles, as evidenced by his first CD, devoted to Scarlatti, Ligeti and Ravel, released by Warner Classics in September 2021. He forms a similar dialogue in the programme he is presenting at the Fondation Louis Vuitton Auditorium: the timeless French Suites of Jean-Sebastien Bach respond to the melancholic, romantic grace of Franz Schubert and the stunning whirlwind of virtuosity of the Transcendental Etudes by Franz Liszt.

The concert is available on live stream and replay on medici.tv, Radio classique and FLV Play.

The artist

Alim Beisembayev won First Prize at The Leeds International Piano Competition in September 2021, performing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Manze. He also took home the medici.tv Audience Prize and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society Prize for contemporary performance, with The Guardian praising him as a “worthy winner” with a “real musical personality”.

Highlights of the 2021/22 season include debuts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (under Case Scaglione), BBC Symphony Orchestra (Clemens Schuldt), RCM Symphony Orchestra (Sir Antonio Pappano) and SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart (Yi-Chen Lin). Recent and forthcoming recitals include the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, Oxford Piano Festival, Bath Mozartfest, St George’s Bristol, and Chopin Institute in Warsaw, in addition to a tour of Europe, in association with the Steinway Prizewinner Concerts Network, and Korea, with the World Culture Network. His debut release with Warner Classics was released in September 2021 — an EP featuring Scarlatti, Ligeti and Ravel.

Born in Kazakhstan in 1998, Alim has already performed with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov”, Moscow State Symphony and Fort-Worth Symphony, and at Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall. During his time at the Purcell School he won several awards, including First Prize at the Junior Cliburn International Competition. Alim was taught by Tessa Nicholson at school and continued his studies with her at the Royal Academy of Music. He is currently completing his master’s degree at the Royal College of Music with Professor Vanessa Latarche. He is generously supported by numerous scholarships such as the ABRSM, the Countess of Munster, Hattori Foundation, the Drake Calleja Fund trusts, and belongs to the Talent Unlimited charity scheme.