Internationally recognised pianist Nikolai Saratovsky will showcase his musical talent in two Wairarapa shows.
Saratovsky, who has visited Wairarapa several times, said he already has a small following of about 100 people.
“Masterton seems a lovely town and many people like classical music,” he said.
“The music scene in New Zealand is very high quality; chamber music is very strong.”
The Russian classical pianist has won several major international piano competitions, received international recognition and filled prestigious concert halls in Europe and the Far East.
“I played piano from a very young age, it comes naturally to me,” he said.
“At 15 years, I left home to study in Moscow with very famous people.
“I am looking forward to being at Rathkeale College very much.”
Saratovsky has been an academic professor in the music department at the University of Taiwan since February 2020.
His mentor, Mary Gow, a veteran concert tour arranger from New Zealand, first met him in Brussels while on tour.
“I knew right away that this young man was very special,” she said.
She said Saratovsky has an encyclopaedic knowledge of classical piano and impeccable technique and is in demand for student masterclasses worldwide.
“He has such fire and dynamism in his playing, and he demonstrated such an understanding of the great composers.”
Saratovsky has performed solo and with orchestras in 24 countries from Russia to Belgium, Luxembourg, USA, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, Japan, and New Zealand.
He became a member of the International Certificate for Piano Artists program based in Brussels in 2015.
His concerts are at the ANZAC Hall in Featherston on Sunday, March 3, at 3pm and at Rathkeale College Masterton on Tuesday, March 5, at 7.30pm.
The concert programme ranges from Chopin’s Preludes, Brahms’s Opus 76, Debussy’s Preludes and Rachmaninoff’s Musical Moments OP 16.
Tickets are $35 for adults and $15 for students from the website www.mulledwineconcerts.com or for more information contact Mary Gow at [email protected].
