Petr Limonov

Born in Moscow in 1984, Russian-British pianist Petr Limonov started playing the piano at the age of 5. A year later he entered the prestigious Moscow’s Central Music School, where he studied under the guidance of Siavush Gadjiev, Valery Piasetsky and, later, Andrei Pisarev. After winning First Prize at the Nikolai Rubinstein International Piano Competition (Paris, 1998) he started giving concerts throughout Europe and Russia, supported by the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation. He went on to study with Hamish Milne and Alexander Satz at the Royal Academy of Music (London) on a full scholarship, followed by a year he spent at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot, where his teachers were Ramzi Yassa and Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy. In 2010 Petr returned to London to commence his postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music with Dimitry Alexeev, obtaining his Masters degree in 2012. During his studies Petr took part in masterclasses given by Alfred Brendel, Stephen Hough, Cristina Ortiz, Vitaly Margulis and Stephen Kovacevich; whilst in RCM he also studied conducting under Peter Stark. In November 2013 Petr made his conducting début at Cadogan Hall with London International Chamber Orchestra, directing works by Glazunov and Rachmaninov.

Petr frequently appears on UK and European scene as a recitalist, chamber musician and a conductor, collaborating, among others, with Nicola Benedetti, Laura van der Heijden, Jennifer Pike, Leonard Elschenbroich, Liana Isakadze and Alexei Grynyuk. His notable appearances include Wigmore Hall, La Roque d’Antheron festival (Boris Berezovsky’s Carte Blanche, broadcast by radio France Musique), iTunes Festival 2014, Cadogan Hall, Purcell Room, St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, a recital in The Duke’s Hall in the presence of HRH Prince Charles, CD recordings for Onyx, Deutschlandfunk and Decca labels; TV appearances for BBC Proms Extra and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and “Culture” TV channel (Russia). He has performed extensively with the Gagliano Ensemble, and has collaborated with the Van Kuijk Quartet. In 2017, his arrangement of the Auld Lang Syne (issued on Decca in 2014 as a part of Nicola Benedetti’s best-selling “Homecoming” album) was performed in the Albert Hall at the BBC Proms.