Russian-born pianist and harpsichordist Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya is in great demand both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. 

 

Alexandra graduated from the Faculty of Historical and Contemporary Performance at the Moscow Conservatory from the class of Olga Martynova in 2009, where she studied piano, harpsichord, and fortepiano.  Alexandra continued her studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Richard Egarr and Menno van Delft, gaining a Master’s degree.  In July 2015 Alexandra graduated with the Zertifikatstudium Meisterklasse Degree from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in München under Christine Schornsheim.

 

Alexandra has won top prizes at competitions including the Prague Spring International Competition in 2012, and the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition Leipzig in 2014. 

 

Her love for chamber music and solo performance has brought her to premier venues and festivals all over Europe, Russia, and Asia. She has appeared at Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Barbican Centre in London, as well as in the Utrecht Early Music Festival, Prague Spring International Festival, Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival among others.  She also appeared in Lapland with The Lapland Chamber orchestra playing harpsichord and modern piano in repertoire spanning four centuries. She works regularly with the Residentie Orkest in Den Haag, and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.  She recently performed as harpsichord soloist in Frank Martin’s Petit Symphonie Concertante with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Lübeck to huge critical acclaim.

 

Alexandra also works at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag as a keyboard repetiteur and coach.

 

Alexandra’s debut recording on fortepiano was released in 2009, featuring Mozart sonatas for piano and violin with violinist Sergei Filchenko.

 

She and her husband Richard Egarr formed Duo Pleyel in 2017 to explore the exciting world of 4-hand keyboard repertoire that is so often unjustly ignored.  Their repertoire includes J.C.Bach, Dussek, Czerny, Hummel and Liszt, alongside Mozart, Schubert and later 19th and 20th century composers. 

Forthcoming concerts take them to Innsbruck, Madrid, Ghent, Köln and Namur.  

Duo Pleyel records for LINN/Outhere Records, and their releases of Schubert, Dussek, J.C.Bach and Mozart have received glowing international reviews. Their latest recording, “Yuletide Treats” was BBC Music Magazine’s Instrumental Recording of the Month in December 2024, describing it as ‘Piano Treats that go straight to the heart’.  The recording is a feast of music for the Christmas Holiday season, including Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and the Blue Danube by Strauss.  Their recording project of the complete Beethoven Symphonies in extraordinary 4-hand arrangements by his undervalued student Carl Czerny began in 2023.  Symphonies 3, 5, 6 and 8 are in the can.  Symphonies 1 & 2 will be recorded in October 2025; 4, 7 and 9 in 2026, and the complete cycle will be released in 2027.  These transcriptions are fascinating and hugely important for both historical and musicological  reasons, as well as from a purely musical perspective.

 

Duo Pleyel is honoured and excited to collaborate with the Chris Maene Piano Collection, and uses several of its fabulous 19th century instruments.

 

Other upcoming projects include performing and recording music by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Mahler and Stravinsky, as well as the Yuletide Christmas programme from their last CD.

 

For Brilliant Classics label Alexandra has recorded music by F.Geminiani (released in 2022) and L.Boccherini (released in 2023) with violinist Igor Ruhadze, which received glowing critical praise.

 

Alexandra’s first solo recording for LINN of Gottlieb Muffat’s extraordinary ‘Componimenti Musicali’ was released in March 2024 to huge critical acclaim in the musical press.  Her second solo harpsichord recording of music by JS Bach will be released in 2026.