Irina Lankova

Irina Lankova was born in a family of engineers [1] and started playing piano in the age of seven.[2] She was graduated with highest honours from Gnessin State Musical College in Moscow with Irina Temchenko, studying also with Lev Naumov and Vladimir Tropp.[3] In 1996 she moved to Brussels to continue her studies at Royal Conservatory of Brussels with Evgeny Mogilevsky. At the end of her first year at the Conservatory she was awarded the ‘Premier Prix’ for Piano with the Highest Distinction and consecutively obtained Diplômes Supérieurs of Piano, Chamber Music, Music theory, Music pedagogy and studied Conducting.[2] Furthermore she received personal musical guidance from Vladimir Ashkenazy.

International critics describe Irina Lankova as a pianist with ‘genuinely poetic touch’ and ‘infinite palette of colours’. [4] In 2008, Irina Lankova was invited to join the worldwide piano elite ‘Steinway Artists’.[5] Known for her ‘very personal and sensitive’ interpretations and recordings, but also for her innovative projects such as ‘Piano Unveiled’ and ‘Goldberg Mirrors’, Irina Lankova popularise classical music worldwide[6].

Irina Lankova performs in most prestigious concert halls such as Wigmore Hall in London, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Flagey, Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and La Monnaie in Brussels, Cidades das Artes in Rio and in St Martin-in-the-Fields in London.[2]. She is invited to play in many international festivals: Piano Folies Touquet, Académie d'Été de Nice, Sagra Musicale Umbria, Schiermonnikoog Kamermuziekefestival, Festival de Wallonie, Brussels Summer Festival, Fortissimo d'Orleans, Berlin Summer Festival etc.

Her albums dedicated to Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Chopin and Schubert are highly acclaimed by critics for their ‘great sensitivity’ (Pianiste), ‘very personal narrative’ (La Libre Belgique) and ‘compelling authority’ (The Independent).[7]

Passionate by chamber music repertoire, Irina Lankova performs with many great artists including Tatiana Samouil, Frank Braley, Michael Guttman, Lorenzo Gatto, Michel Lethiec, Philippe Graffin, Jeroen Reuling, Pascal Moraguès, Marie Hallynck and others.

Inspired by other forms of art and always in search for new ways of presenting the classical music, Irina Lankova develops innovative projects. Following the success of her ‘Goldberg Mirrors’ that first took place in Brussels’ St Michel & Gudule Cathedral in 2014[8] and has been reproduced in Französischer Dom in Berlin in 2015, she continues to work on Bach’s masterpiece and will present her new original collaboration in March 2020.

Willing to communicate more with her audience, Irina Lankova launches 'Piano Unveiled' [9] in 2016, an informal concert, enriched with her personal comments and destined to various publics. The concept meets a big success, also on the Internet in a form of short series. The artist’s YouTube channel counts over a million views.[10]

Irina Lankova is also a concert producer and the artistic director of International Music Festival Max van der Linden in Belgium.

Irina Lankova is married to a Belgian architect and has two children (*2007 and *2009). She has a younger brother (*1985).[1] She lives in Belgium (Brabant Wallon).[11]

• Sergei Rachmaninov, Franz Liszt (2004, CD): Rachmaninov Preludes Op. 23, Liszt Rapsodie No. 2 with cadence by Rachmaninov
• Alexander Scriabin (2006, CD): Sonates No. 2 & No. 9, Pieces Op. 32, Op. 57
• Frédéric Chopin (2008, CD): Sonata No. 3, Ballade No. 1, Scherzo No. 2, Nocturnes
• Franz Schubert (2013, CD Indésens): Drei Klavierstücke D. 946, Piano Sonata D. 959, Impromptu D. 899 No. 3
• “Caprice” (2015, CD Indésens): Fritz Kreisler (Caprice Viennois, Praeludium and Allegro, Liebesleid, Liebesfreud, Schön Rosmarin), Camille Saint-Saëns (Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso), Georges Bizet (Carmen, Fantaisie de concert Op. 25), Niccolo Paganini/Mario Pilati (Capriccio No. 24), Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Meditation in D minor, Scherzo in C minor, Melodie in E flat major). With violinist Tatiana Samouil

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