Recognised as one of the world’s best and most charismatic viola players, Maxim Rysanov is the current recipient of the Classic FM Gramophone Young Artist of the Year Award and is a current member of the BBC New Generation programme.
Originally from the Ukraine, Maxim is now based in London.
He is regularly invited to perform as a soloist and chamber musician in the UK and abroad and has been a guest of many festivals and venues worldwide working with Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Augustin Dumay, Martin Frost, Vadim Gluzman, Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, Viktoria Mullova, Eldar Nebolsin, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Mark Padmore, Julian Rachlin, Maxim Vengerov, Denis Matsuev and Ashley Wass among others.
The orchestra season 2008-09 has included concertos with a clutch of UK orchestras including the BBC Symphony (Schnittke), the BBC Philharmonic (Berlioz), the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (Tabakova and Schubert), the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations), the Ulster Orchestra (Martinu) as well as a tour with the Britten Sinfonia (Britten and Woolrich) and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Sinaisky (Berlioz). Early in the season he also made his US concerto debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York (with Jiri Belohlavek) and at the Grand Teton Festival (with Donald Runnicles). He also made his debut with the Residentie Orkest and Neeme Jarvi (Britten and Kancheli Double Concertos with Janine Jansen). He performed the viola arrangement of the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Cape Town Philharmonic, the Belgrade Philharmonic, and the Lithuanian National Symphony. This work is being recorded with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Muhai Tang in early 2010 for release on the BIS label.
Highlights of the forthcoming seasons include tours with the European Union Youth Orchestra with Sir Colin Davis, the Philharmonia with Christoph von Dohnanyi, Sinfonia Varsovia with Augustin Dumay as well as concerts with the Malaysian Philharmonic and Yan Pascal Tortelier, the Latvian National Orchestra and Hartmut Haenchen, the Shanghai Philharmonic and Zurich Chamber Orchestra both with Muhai Tang and the Netherlands Philharmonic with Alexander Lazarev.
Other orchestras which have recently invited him as soloist include Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Orchestre Royale de Chambre de Wallonie, China National Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, Bayerischer Rundfunk Kammerorchester, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Basel Sinfonie-Orchester, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra among others. Additionally he has also worked with conductors of note such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Stefan Solyom, Tamas Vasary and Long Yu.
Maxim’s interest in new music is strong. He premiered a new BBC commission by Dobrinka Tabakova at Bridgwater Hall in Manchester. Concertos dedicated to him include works by Tabakova, Artyom Vassiliev and Elena Langer. A worldwide tour is planned for the posthumous premiere the Viola Concerto by Valentin Bibik.
His last three solo recording projects have all won Gramophone Editor’s Choice: a double CD of Brahms viola repertoire (Onyx), a concerto disc of Tavener and Kancheli (Onyx) and a recital disc with Evelyn Chang (Avie). A disc of Bach Inventions with Janine Jansen and Torleif Thedéen on Decca reached number 1 in the I-Tunes charts in the USA. Other recording plans include a two-disc project of unaccompanied Bach Suites on BIS and a further disc of Brahms Chamber Music to include the Clarinet Quintet in the viola arrangement on Onyx and the Two Songs with Alice Coote.
This season Maxim was invited to conduct the Basel Sinfonie Orchester for a second time and conducted the Swedish premiere of a cello concerto by Dobrinka Tabakova with Kristine Blaumane and the Dala Sinfonietta.
Maxim is delighted to have a Giuseppe Guadagnini (1780) viola on extended loan from the Elise Mathilde Foundation./p>