Dmitry Shishkin, Lukas Geniušas

Born in Ulan-Ude.  Studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Prof. Eliso Virsaladze (2010 to present).  In 2004 he won the 5th International Nutcracker Television Competition for Young Musicians.  In 2013 he took third prize in the 59th Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano (Italy) and third prize in the Friuli Venezia Giulia International Piano Competition (Italy). In 2014 he came in second in the 4th BNDES International Piano Competition in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).  In 2010 he performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Gnesin Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra at the concert on Red Square to celebrate Russia Day.  He has appeared with the Tchaikovsky Large Symphony Orchestra and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra.  He has performed on tour in Europe and Asia.  In 2014 he became a recording artist for the KNS Classical label.

Russian-Lithuanian pianist Lukas Geniušas has firmly established himself as one of the most exciting and distinctive artists of his generation. 

Praised for his ‘brilliance and maturity’ (The Guardian) he is invited to give recitals in the most prestigious venues all over the world such as the Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salle Gaveau, Louvre Auditorium, Frick Collection New York, Phillips Collection, Teatro Carlo Felice, Sala Verdi in Milan and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. He is also regularly invited to festivals including La Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins, Rheingau, the Ruhr Piano Festival, Schloss-Elmau and the Lockenhaus Music Festivals.

Lukas Geniušas performs with numerous orchestras including Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, National de Lyon Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Kremerata Baltica, Russian National Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic under the batons of conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Mikhail Pletnev, Leondard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, Andrey Boreyko, Tugan Sokhiev, Saulius Sondeckis, Antoni Wit and Rafael Payare to name but a few. Recent highlights included Lukas’ debuts at the prestigious Gilmore Keyboard Festival and recitals at the Salle Gaveau, Auditorium de Lyon, as well as concerts with the St Gallen Symphony Orchestra, Bulgarian National Symphony Orchestra and the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. 

The 2020/21 season began with performances in Paris with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Orchestre de Paris. Lukas gave many performances in Russia, notably at the Moscow, St Petersburg and Novosibirsk Philharmonies, the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw and at the Nohant Chopin Festival. Highlights of 2021/22 include performances with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Maxim Emelyanchev, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Marta Gardolinska, the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and Andris Poga, a tour with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and Kristiina Poska, recitals at the Piano à Lyon series, the Folle journée de Nantes and for the Sociedad Filarmónica de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Later in the season, he gives concerts with the soprano Asmik Grigorian in some of Europe’s most prestigious halls including the Geneva and Frankfurt Opera houses, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg and La Scala Milan. 

Known for his innate curiosity and extensive musical interests, Lukas Geniušas explores a wide range of repertoire, from the baroque to works by contemporary composers. His repertoire spans from Beethoven Piano Concerti through to Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis and John Adams, as well as a strong interest in Russian repertoire such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and, of course, Prokofiev. He is an avid chamber musician and an extremely inquisitive performer and enjoys working on new works by modern composers, as well as resurrecting rarely performed repertoire. 

These aspects of his career are reflected in Lukas Geniušas’ critically acclaimed discography, which includes works by Beethoven, Brahms, Rachmaninov (the complete Preludes); Chopin (Etudes opus 10 and 25), and recordings of chamber music (Ravel, Stravinsky, Desyatnikov, Shostakovich and Tchaïkovsky with Aylen Pritchin and Alexander Buzlov for Melodiya. His first recording on MIRARE Prokofiev Sonatas was awarded the ‘Choc’ de Classica and the Diapason ‘Recital CD of the Year’ in 2019, whilst his second CD for the same label, dedicated to Chopin (Sonata no. 3 and a selection of Mazurkas) was released digitally in May 2020. 

Born in Moscow in 1990, Lukas Geniušas graduated from the Chopin Music College Moscow, in 2008. He is the laureate of several prestigious international competitions, notably Silver Medalist at the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and at the 2010 International Chopin competition. 

Since 2015, Lukas Geniušas has been a featured artist of "Looking at the stars" a philanthropy project based in Toronto, whose purpose is to bring classical music to institutions and organizations (prisons, hospitals and shelters) where people may not have an opportunity to experience it live in a traditional setting.