Ksenia KOGAN
Amaro
concert pianist
versatile artist
BIOGRAPHY
Pianist Ksenia Kogan is recognized as one of the brightest artists to emerge from Russia. Ksenia performs in the most prestigious concert halls all over the world, such as Theatre “La Fenice” in Venice, Palais des Beaux-Arts (BOZAR) in Brussels, Queen Elizabeth hall in London, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Great hall of Moscow Conservatory, Seoul Arts Center in Seoul, Salle Philharmonique in Luxembourg, Salle Cortot and UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, Teatro alla Pergola in Florence, Real Alcazar in Seville, Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, Duke’s Palace in Dubrovnik, etc. Her solo performances as well as collaboration with leading orchestras, such as “Sinfonia Varsovia”, Belgian National Orchestra, Russian Symphony Orchestra of Cinematograph, Lisbon Metropolitana Orchestra, and conductors, such as Walter Weller, Sir Christopher Warren-Green, Julian Kovatchev, Dirk Brosse, bring her to the USA and Mexico, China and Japan and all over Europe. Her partners in chamber music are violinists Dmitry Kogan, Soyoung Yoon, Michael Guttman, Augustin Dumay, Nikita Boriso-Glebsky, a winner of the Queen Elisabeth competition in Brussels pianist Abdel Rahman El Bacha, cellists Kirill Rodin and Nina Kotova, Spanish guitarist Angel Romero, a winner of Eurovision 2009 Alexander Rybak, Hollywood actor John Malkovich.
Ksenia Kogan was born in Moscow and graduated with the highest distinction from the legendary Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Then she moved to Brussels and completed her professional studies at Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium.
A winner of the important international competitions Ksenia had an honor to be introduced and perform for the Royal Family of Belgium in Brussels and the Royal Family of Spain in Madrid. Her performances win the hearts of the audience all over the world and receive an enthusiastic acclaim by the press. Ksenia Kogan is a genuine representative of the Great Russian tradition of the performing art.
She is a frequent guest of the famous festivals in Europe, such as “The Festival of Radio France in Montpellier” and “Menton Festival” in France, “Placido Domingo Festival” in Seville, “Tuscan Sun Festival” in Florence and “Armonie Sotto La Rocca” in Italy, festival “Moscow Autumn”, performing her vast repertoire that consists of works by composers of different styles and ages, from early Baroque to a contemporary music.
She participates in UNESCO musical projects for Peace and cooperates with TV and radio stations. Together with a South Korean violinist Soyoung Yoon they recorded Mendelssohn Double concerto on DUX label on occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Korean Chamber Orchestra.
Coming from a family of professional musicians, Ksenia was surrounded by great artists from early childhood and had an opportunity to learn from musicians of different profile: conductors, composers, instrumentalists, singers and jazz musicians. Thanks to such an experience she has grown up in a versatile education in the performing art, which helps her now to collaborate with artists of different background and style and to participate in any kind of artistic project.
Being not only a performer but a creator of the projects where music, literature, theatre and dance are bonded together, Ksenia collaborates in a duo projects with American actor John Malkovich. In January 2015 Kogan and Malkovich presented their new show “Report on the Blind” in Seoul Art Center. A world premiere has been followed by performances in the leading concert halls of Europe. Upcoming engagements bring the “Report on the Blind” to the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Japan during 2017-2018.
Recently Ksenia has also accepted a proposal to act in a movie based on Dostoyevsky’s work as a leading female character (in a role of a pianist and a ballet dancer) along with Hollywood actor of Italian origin Franco Nero.
Ksenia Kogan dedicates a significant part of her time and attention to the development of the young musicians taking care of an education and career of talented children. She gives master-classes and summer seminars in several places in Europe. During her recent visit in Zagreb Ksenia also gave a master-class in Zagreb Music Academy.
Often she takes part in the international competitions as a jury member or a president of the commission. Ksenia is an artistic director of the piano section and the vocal section of “Gianluca Campochiaro” International Music Competition that will celebrate its 25th edition in Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania (Sicily) in December 2016.
Ksenia is based in Brussels holding both Belgian and Russian citizenships.
REPERTOIRE
Ksenia's repertoire includes almost all important Piano Concertos. Among her favorites are Brahms no.2, Rachmaninoff no. 2 and Rhapsody on Paganini's theme, Schumann and Grieg concertos, Prokofiev no.3, Tchaikovsky no. 1, both concertos of Chopin, Gershwin's Rhapsody in blue. She performes some rarely interpreted concertos such as Bartok Concerto for two pianos, percussions and the orchestra. Her preferred masterpieces with the chamber orchestra are Mendelssohn Double concerto for violin, piano and strings and Alfred Schnittke Concerto for piano and String orchestra. Kogan offers various programs for solo recitals that might also be specially selected for a certain theme of the event, either the significant date or particular occasion.