Konstantin Shamray

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Pianist, Konstantin Shamray was born in Novosibirsk and began studies at the age of six in the Kemerovo Music School with Natalia Knobloch. From 1996 he continued his studies in Moscow at the Gnessin Special Music School, in 2003 at the Russian Gnessin Academy of Music with Tatiana Zelikman and more recently with Vladimir Tropp. He has been the recipient of several Foundation Awards.

He has performed in many concert halls in Moscow and in many other cities in Russia as well as in Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, Belgrade, Austria, the Czech Republic, USA, Singapore and China. His solo recitals have varied programs and he has performed with international orchestras including the Prague and Moscow Philharmonic Orchestras, Maryinsky Theatre orchestra, Jena and the Sydney Symphony. He has recorded CDs in Holland and the Czech Republic.

Konstantin burst onto the Australian music scene in December 2008 as Winner of the Sydney International Piano Competition. He captured people’s attention as the first in the history of the Competition to take out all the eight special prizes, including the Peoples’ Choice Prize. Immediately after this event, he undertook a successful tour of 27 concerts in all states of Australia, receiving critical acclaim.

Konstantin has performed with the Australian String Quartet in Australian capital cities and in regional South Australia as well as given recitals in Adelaide, Melbourne, Geelong and Sydney, the Ruhr Festival in Dusseldorf and the Bochum Festival in Germany, with critical acclaim. In 2010, he performed the Ravel Piano Concerto in G, Rachmaninoffv Concerto No. 3 and Prokofiev Second and Third concertos with the Adelaide, Tasmanian, Canberra, Wollongong and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras and the world premiere of Daniel Rojas’ Second Piano Concerto with the Sydney Youth Orchestra. He has performed with distinguished conductors including Sebastian Lang Lessing, Nicholas Milton, Tugan Sakhiev, Alexandr Vedernikov, Jonas Alber, Kirill Karabitz, Kirill Petrenko, Dmitry Liss.

He continues to give recitals and concerto performances in many parts of Russia, including with the Maryinsky Theatre Orchestra in St Petersburg and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Konstantin recently undertook a concert tour in Russia of works that included J.S. Bach’s Concertos in D minor and F minor in the Tchaikovsky Hall with the Virtuosi of Moscow Chamber Orchestra, conductor Vladimir Spivakov. He also performed the Mozart’s Concerto No. 9 with the Virtuosi of Moscow in the Great Hall of St Petersburg Philharmony, Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in Nizhny Novgorod, Rachmaninovff Piano Concerto No. 3 with the State Symphony Orchestra in the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, as well as concerts and solo recitals in many cities of Russia. He has also performed recitals around Australia, Singapore and China.

In 2011 Konstantin performed Mozart’s rarely performed Concerto for Two Pianos in E flat major K 365 with Pianist Lucinda Collins and the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra under its resident conductor Keith Crellin. He also gained First Prize at the Bad Kissingen Klavier Olympiade and will perform at the 2012 Bad Kissingen Music Festival as a soloist with a major European orchestra. He has recorded for Naxos the last set of 18 piano works (Op 72) by Tchaikovsky. A compact disc for ABC Classics of works by Scriabin, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev will be released in February 2012.