Biography

Born in 1977 in Russia, Irina Lankova began studying the piano at the age of 7. She graduated in 1996 with the highest honours from the famous Gnessin State College of Music in Moscow in the class of Irina Temchenko.

Accepted by the Royal Brussels Conservatory into the class of Professor Evgeny Moguilevsky in 1996, Irina was awarded the 'Premier Prix' for Piano with the Highest Distinction (Master of Music with Honours) at the end of her first year. She consecutively obtained Diplomes Superieurs for Piano, Chamber Music, Musical Theory and Musical Pedagogy as well as studying conducting.

Irina specialised further by participating in master classes with Vitaly Margulis and Vladimir Tropp.

Irina became Laureate of the Fonds Wernaerts, the French-speaking Community of Belgium, for her piano studies, and was awarded the Prix de la Fondation Horlait Dapsens (Belgium) for her numerous chamber music performances. She has appeared in major festivals and concert halls in Belgium: Festival Midi-Minimes, Festival de Wallonie, Festival d'Enghien, Festival de Silly, Festival Monteverdi, the Flagey concert hall and the Grande Salle of the Brussels' Conservatory. Her recital at the Europalia-Russia in Brussels (2005), transmitted live by Radio Klara, was highly acclaimed by the media:

"Irina Lankova performed an accomplished recital where the music had an exceptional intensity. The pianist created a distinct and delicate ambience in her own way by giving to the music an improvised character, driven by a pure inner desire, unpredictable, new and all the more captivating."
La Libre Belgique

Irina has released 3 compact discs. Her first CD, featuring works of Rachmaninov and Liszt (2004) brought her public acclaim and her first national press reviews:

"The eloquent, colourful and dynamic sound of the piano enables the listener to sense in an exceptional way the personal feelings of the interpreter, particularly in the Rachmaninov, where the music is passionate, extremely Russian, but never sugary. A beautiful temperament!"
La Libre Belgique

Her second CD (2006) "Alexander Scriabin - from Romantic to Mystic" has received excellent international critical reviews:

"It is a progression in a particular world, where Lankova, in perceptible harmony with the composer, joins the sonorous and the mystic, the form and the spirit. The play is clear, the lead is natural, the colors are infinite."
La Libre Belgique

"Lankova’s Scriabin CD is very fine indeed. A first–rate recording does justice to the wonderful rich array of sounds that she coaxes from her instrument."
International Record Review

"This fine Russian pianist presents a sequence of pieces which illustrate Scriabin’s progress from Chopin-influenced Romanticism to full-blown mysticism, asserting that this too has been her chosen course in life. But even without that ideological underpinning, it makes an unusually effective CD: her touch is genuinely poetic, and she works on a large tonal canvas, conjuring moods and atmospheres with compelling authority."
The Independent, UK

In February 2008, Irina recorded her third, an all Chopin disc, released to coincide with her triumphant Wigmore Hall debut in July 2008:
"The Wigmore Hall debut of Russian-born pianist Irina Lankova was marked by a programme judiciously chosen and extremely well played. Lankova's control of line was exceptional, at the same time as producing a fine depth of tone. This notable recital ended with a totally convincing and intensely musical account of Chopin's B minor Sonata."
Musical Opinion, UK

In February 2009, Lankova performed as a soloist with the Royal Holloway University of London orchestra conducted by Neil Ferris featuring Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.3.

Irina is an authentic Russian talent specialising in the musical Romanticism and her reviews generally praise her passionate yet feminine interpretation of the great romantic composers.

In 2009, Irina was invited to become one of the elite worldwide ‘Steinway Artists’.

Commissioned to play across Europe, Irina lives in France since 2010.

In March 2011, Irina fills the St-Martin-In-The-Fields for her recital including The Appassionata by Beethoven.

New CD featuring last Schubert's Sonatas is expected for 2012.

To read more reviews of Irina Lankova's performances and recordings: Reviews