Maxim Lando
“A very bright individualist with an over-the-top charisma.” – Musical Life Magazine
21-year old American pianist Maxim Lando has been described as a “dazzling fire-eater” (ARTS San Francisco) and as “a total musical being” (The New Criterion). He was lauded by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times as displaying “brilliance and infectious exuberance” combined with “impressive delicacy” and a “wild-eyed danger.”
Maxim first made international headlines performing together with Lang Lang, Chick Corea, and The Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall’s 2017 Opening Night Gala. Since then, he has performed with major orchestras around the world including Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, and many others.
A recipient of the Gilmore Young Artist Award and named Musical America‘s New Artist of the Month, Maxim was also awarded the 2022 Vendome Grand Prize. That same year, he won First Prize in the New York Franz Liszt International Competition and returned to Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium to perform with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s led by Gabor Hollerung. He made his Alice Tully Hall debut with the Juilliard Orchestra led by Xian Zhang as winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition in 2021. Maxim’s burgeoning career was fully launched after winning First Prize at the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions at the age of 16. His following sold-out recital debuts at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater included Liszt’s complete Transcendental Etudes and were hailed by the New York Times as a concert “You Won’t Want To Miss!”
Maxim partners frequently with violinist Daniel Hope, and is passionate about chamber music and unusual repertoire. He has collaborated with Lynn Harrell, Julian Rachlin, and the Danish String Quartet among others, and plays regularly with Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City. Together with his German friend and violinist Tassilo Probst, his album Into Madness, recorded by Bavarian Radio on Berlin Classics, was awarded a 2023 International Classical Music Award (ICMA) as best chamber music recording of the year. It also received a double nomination for Opus Classic, and the duo was honored at the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, Poland.
A frequent Guest Artist on the music festival scene, recent appearances have included The Gilmore, Aspen, Caramoor, Dresden Music Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Stars and Rising Stars Munich, Musical Olympus International Festival in Russia, Vilnius Piano Festival, Gower Festival in Wales, and Lednice-Valtice Music Festival in Czech Republic. Recital highlights include performances at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, Carnegie Hall Presents, Symphony Hall in Shenzhen, Chicago’s Millennium Park, Lied Center of Kansas, Beethoven Haus in Bonn, GRAMMY Salute to Classical Music, and University of Georgia Athens Presents. He was invited by Lang Lang to perform for the historic opening of Steinway and Sons in Beijing, and performed Rachmaninoff 3rd Concerto for an outdoor audience of 50,000 people with Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in Madison, Wisconsin.
Dedicated to making classical music accessible to his own generation, Maxim has been featured on CNN’s Best of Quest, NPR, BBC Radio, WQXR, Bavarian Radio, Israel’s “Intermezzo with Arik”, and Russia’s TV Kultura.
Earlier awards that greatly impacted Maxim’s musical life with support and opportunities include Gold Prize at the 16th International Television Competition “The Nutcracker” in Moscow, and Second Place at the 2015 Kissingen Piano Olympics in Germany. He has also received an Audience Award along with continued support from the Musical Olympus Foundation, and was selected as the Laureate of Artemisia Foundation since 2019. Maxim is a proud alumnus of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, and studies with long-time mentor Hung- Kuan Chen at The Juilliard School.