Asiya Korepanova – Piano Master Class

The only pianist currently performing Liszt’s 24 Etudes as a single program and one of few to tout a concerto list that features over 60 works, Asiya Korepanova is a pianistic powerhouse. Ms. Korepanova is recognized not only for her achievements as a pianist, but also for her work as a composer, visual artist, and poet, reflecting her uncompromising dedication to the arts.

Asiya’s contributions to the solo piano literature —including her historic solo piano transcription of Richard Strauss’ ‘Ein Heldenleben‘ and that of Rachmaninoff ‘s Cello Sonata and Mussorgsky’s ‘Songs and Dances of Death’ — have given her a place among today’s formidable transcribers.

Uninhibited in her artistic expression, Asiya’s communicative desires have culminated in several projects featuring original poetry and visual art that serve as an interpretive commentary to a particular cycle of works for the piano. These cycles include Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes, Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Tchaikovsky’s 18 Morceaux, Op. 72 and, most recently, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Asiya’s live performances of these compositions have astounded audiences and organizers alike.

In 2017, Asiya founded Music for Minds, a non-profit organization that serves to promote classical performances in classrooms as well as to found and support music festivals featuring unique programming. Asiya founded and held for three consecutive summers from 2017 through 2019 ‘Festival Baltimore’, a two-week chamber music series and summer academy dedicated to the performance and study of complete cycles, one of Music for Mind’s projects. In just three years, the festival solidified itself as a highly original music series and academy, presenting a wide array of styles and performers.

An avid chamber musician, Asiya enjoys making music with a wide array of musicians. Among her partners are David Shifrin, Hermitage Piano Trio, Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, Svetoslav Stoyanov, Giora Schmidt, and Alexander Fiterstein. She regularly performs as a ’88 by 20′ piano duo with her friend and former classmate Ilya Kazantsev.

Asiya was born in Izhevsk, Russia to a musical family. She began to learn piano when she was 4 years old from her mother Soreya, her first piano teacher. At the age 6, she was taught to read music in orchestral clefs by her father Sergey, an exemplary composer, and started composing her own music. At 9, she made her orchestral debut, playing Mozart’s Concerto No.8 with her own cadenza, and performed her first philharmonic recital.

The same year, she began studying composition with Albert Leman, the chair of Moscow Conservatory’s composition department and a student of Dmitry Shostakovich. She continued her study with him for 5 years until his passing in 1998 and that short period has influenced all aspects of her musical development and became a truly formative experience.

As a result of her early bond with composition, she also developed a strong interest in new music. In Russia, she premiered 3 piano concertos by Vladislav Kazenin and Shamil Timerbulatov, performing with the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Petersburg Capella Symphony Orchestra, the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra. In the U.S., she has premiered various works by Michael Daugherty, Thomas Sleeper, and Orlando Garcia, among others.

Throughout her early years in Russia, Ms. Korepanova received various awards for her prodigious abilities. These include the Russian Federation’s Presidential Award for Exceptional Achievement in the Arts, the National Award from the Republic of Udmurtia (2002), Germany’s Berliner Salon Award (2003), Russia’s Youth Triumph Award (2005), and the title of Honored Artist of Udmurtia (2009). 

In 2012, Asiya moved to the United States at the invitation of renowned pianist, maestro Santiago Rodriguez, to earn her Doctoral degree under his guidance at the University of Miami. Later that year, she was awarded the Gold Medal at the Nena Wideman International Piano Competition––an achievement that proved invaluable in the establishment of her concertizing career in the U.S.

She has since continued to garner national attention with performances at the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, the Bargemusic Series, the Phillips Collection, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series, the International Miami Piano Festival, and many others. Ms. Korepanova has been featured on CNN, NPR stations, WFMT, and WETA.

The most recent composition events include the world premiere recording of Asiya’s concerto for alto saxophone and piano, Poéme, performed by Thomas Giles and Liana Pailodze Harron; the publication of her transcription of Rachmaninoff cello sonata; the premiere of her Piano Quintet ‘I marvel at the sky’, commissioned by the Third Dimension Music Festival; and premiere of Con Brio for two pianos, performed with her duo partner Ilya Kazantsev as a part of Dranoff Two Piano Foundation series.

In the 2022-2023 season, Asiya embarks on a monumental project in celebration of Rachmaninoff’s 150th anniversary of birth, performing his complete solo piano music in 6 recital programs. She also eagerly anticipates the premiere of her latest transcription––the Manfred Symphony by Peter Tchaikovsky, and the release of scores of her compositions: the Poéme for alto saxophone and piano, and Con Brio for two pianos, as well as transcriptions of works by Mussorgsky, Franck, Amy Beach, Faure, Berg, and Bach.

​Asiya and her husband Dmitry reside in a forest-rich Boston suburb where she is unlimited in times and hours of the day when she can play or listen to music.