[On Stage]Shishkin: "I Will Tell You Stories Through the Piano"

Solo Recital at the Seoul Arts Center on March 8
Suites from "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Nutcracker," among Others
"An Artistic Journey Is Closer to the Work of a Craftsman Than to an All-Out Sprint"

Russian pianist Dmitry Shishkin describes himself as a "musical storyteller."

Wanting to tell stories through the piano, he will return to Korea for the first time in two years to give a solo recital at the Concert Hall of the Seoul Arts Center on March 8. In this concert, he plans to unfold the narratives embedded in music, focusing on works that contain explicit storylines. Suites from the ballet music "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Nutcracker" form the core of the program.

In a written interview with The Asia Business Daily ahead of the recital, Shishkin said, "In this performance, I want to convey the stories and drama within the music even more vividly," adding, "I would like to share with the audience the experience that a single piano alone can fill the entire stage."

Shishkin Dmitry (Photo by Aksentieva Alexandra)

Both works are orchestral pieces originally written for ballet. For "Romeo and Juliet," there is a piano version arranged by the composer Sergei Prokofiev himself, while "The Nutcracker" was reborn as a piano solo suite by the great Russian pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev. Shishkin emphasized, "I want to explore how it is possible to realize such dramatic orchestral works with just one piano," and added, "I want to show how much a pianist can truly play like a 'one-man orchestra.'"

Before the ballet suites, he will also perform works by Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt. Liszt arranged twelve of Schubert's songs for solo piano, and Shishkin will open the recital with two of them: "Auf dem Wasser zu singen" ("To Be Sung on the Water") and "Gretchen am Spinnrade" ("Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel"). The first half will conclude with the "Romeo and Juliet" suite, and the second half will begin with Schubert's Impromptus and culminate in "The Nutcracker" suite.

Influenced by his mother, who was a piano teacher, Shishkin naturally came into contact with the keyboard around the age of three. "My mother is the one who led my siblings and me into the world of music," he said. "Thanks to her teaching, I discovered the beauty of music, and I still receive important advice from her to this day."

Born in 1992 in Chelyabinsk, Russia, he studied under Eliso Virsaladze at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He gained international recognition by winning first prize at the Geneva International Music Competition in 2018 and taking second prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition the following year.

This recital marks his first visit to Korea in two years since 2024. In July last year, he performed Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the KBS Symphony Orchestra. He remembers that concert as one "where the energy on stage was exceptionally intense." "I felt the audience's immersion being transmitted directly to the stage, and that energy coming back into the performance. Korean audiences are passionate, have a deep understanding of music, and possess remarkable concentration."

Shishkin says he wants to walk the path of a performer without haste, slowly and steadily. "I increasingly realize that an 'artistic journey' is closer to the work of a craftsman than to an all-out sprint," he said. "My vocabulary of emotions has become much broader, but at the same time I have become more acutely aware of the importance of managing my physical stamina."

He also said he dreams of being a performer who can display both sensitivity and virtuosity. "I want to handle the piano as if it were a complete orchestra in itself, and become a pianist who naturally bridges dazzling technique and pure lyricism."