Debut

The Greek-Russian pianist Sasha Stychkina was born in Moscow in 2003 into a family of musicians and filmmakers, and is the youngest finalist and winner in the history of the Marguerite Long International Piano Competition held in Paris in November 2019. Now, she presents her debut recital, which was recorded at the Teldex Studio in Berlin under the artistic direction of her teacher, the charismatic and renowned pianist Kirill Gerstein. The decidedly eclectic program – Weber, Bartók, Ravel, Chopin, Liszt – is by turns virtuosic, dance-like, and spiritual. Sasha Stychkina also introduces us to a little-known composer: Alexei Vladimirovich Stanchinsky (1888–1914), a mystical figure who was considered insane – he spent a year in a psychiatric institution – and drowned at the age of 26. As a student of Taneyev, encouraged by Scriabin, and introduced to Tolstoy, the composer would have had a promising future ahead of him. The Five Préludes (1907–1912, published posthumously in 1928) selected by Sasha Stychkina are particularly evocative and visionary.