Ksenia KNORRE (Russia/Lithuania)

Ksenia Knorre was born into a musical family; her mother was a famous pianist Vera Gornostaeva. Knorre graduated from the Moscow Conservatory's Central Music School, where she studied under A. S. Sumbatian, a well-known teacher whose other students included V. Ashkenazi and V. Krainev. Knorre continued her studies at the Moscow Conservatory, eventually completing a post-graduate course under Professors Boris Zemlyansky and Samvel Alumian.

During her student days Knorre launched her career as a concert pianist, performing with the likes of celebrated violinist Gidon Kremer, as well as playing in a chamber ensemble. She played during Bach Week in Ansbach, Germany, at the Lockenhaus Festival in Austria and the Mozart Festival in St. Petersburg, among others. She frequently toured in Europe, the United States and Japan. And she has recorded for radio and television.

Music critics have often noted Knorre's incredible range as a musician, her flawless mastery of performance style and stage time, and the expressive plasticity of her sound. The work of Beethoven and the Romantics form the core of her repertoire.

Knorre also devotes much of her talent to teaching. She has taught at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory since 1982, and at present offers a special piano class as a professor. Her students have gone on to win piano competitions around the world. She often gives masterclasses over the Europe and Russia in different musical academies and summer festivals. Ksenija Knorre is awarded as Honoured Artist of Russian Federation.

"For anyone who has had the privilege of attending Ksenia Knorre's concerts in the Moscow Conservatory's Small Hall, Rachmaninoff Hall or elsewhere, listening to this compact disc will undoubtedly evoke the memory of her demeanor on stage, severe yet free, immersed in the music and utterly captivating. Those who have not heard Knorre in concert, and have no mental image of the musician at the piano, will be drawn in by the music itself. And the image of the pianist will arise on its own, naturally and irresistibly. For that image is present in her playing, though it never interferes with the listener's appreciation of Schumann or Liszt. This is one of the great strengths of this Moscow Conservatory graduate. Knorre is one of the stand-outs of a generation of well established Russian pianists who have never lost touch with the feeling they had when they were just getting started."