Little Lord of the Big Style

However hard it might be for you to imagine anything in the world of piano music that could still amaze audiences, this is exactly what you will have to do. Listen and give yourself to twelve-year-old Dmitry Ishkhanov.

One might easily think that the boy with a radiant smile made a name for himself by becoming the youngest finalist of Eurovision Young Musicians 2016, but things are not that simple. He received awards at many European competitions and was the winner of some of them. For instance, at the age of seven, he won the first prize at the Golden Key Piano Competition in Frankfurt. Recently, he swept the awards at the 3^rd edition of il Pozzolino International Competition for Young Pianists in Italy taking both the first prize and the Absolute First Prize.

His performances are aurally and visually enchanting, far removed from the mass produced music of today. His innate technique overcomes all difficulties; his disarmingly sincere interpretations prove that content is as natural as form. He is a pianist who thinks in emotions without any contrivances. His music comes from deep within; he plunges into the sounds headlong and swims at incredible depths; he is fully immersed; he lives within the sound created, sharing with it the most interesting the sheet music could offer.

His mesmerized audiences discover the birth of musical matter that is as alive and spontaneous as this bright child himself. He senses the immediate life of the music and gives himself to it with the immediacy of Saint-Exupéry’s character. And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: it is only with the heart that one can see rightly.

Not long ago he performed Kabalevsky’s Third “Youth” Concerto at the Smetana Hall in Prague. It was a Concerto in a new format he had invented himself. He pushed the boundaries of the first and third movements letting the lyricism of the second movement sneak into its prehistoric past “Our Land”. Once again, his performance was stunning in its impeccable taste. He never has any doubts, yet why should he if he knows the secrets of sophisticated sound, the logic of both their monologue and their dialogue with the orchestra, being a perfect romantic with lofty ideals who nonetheless has not lost touch with reality? If you command unbearable lightness and the alchemy of sound, spontaneity and instinctiveness – this is the way the Little Prince thinks, the way his heart tells him to. This is the only way to see the essential.

As a baby, Dmitry was falling asleep to the music of Bach and Mozart. At four, he already played the piano. He gave his first concert at six and, at nine, he became the youngest student at Hochschule für Musik Köln. Today, at thirteen, he shares his time between Malta and Germany, speaking Russian, English, German and Spanish. He performs with renowned orchestras, participates in famous festivals and demonstrates his understanding of music from deep within.