Annual scholarship for HfMT pianist

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The Russian-born pianist Daria Parkhomenko, a student in Prof. Stepan Simonian's piano class, was selected from over 90 applications for a one-year scholarship from the Carl Bechstein Foundation

In February 2021, the Carl Bechstein Foundation announced a total of ten scholarships for outstanding young pianists under the age of 30 who are pursuing a solo career in the classical field and currently reside in Germany or Austria. They had to have at least a Master's degree. When it became clear that almost all applicants were in a similarly precarious situation due to the lack of performance opportunities caused by the pandemic, the number of scholarships was increased from 10 to 18. In addition, all 68 applicants who were not selected and whose applications formally met the application criteria will each receive a one-off payment of 2,000 euros.

The annual scholarship, which is being offered for the first time in this form and is worth 12,000 euros each, will be awarded as a monthly grant of 1,000 euros.

Vita
The Russian pianist Daria Parkhomenko was born on April 28, 1991 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. She received her first lessons at the age of four and won first prize at a piano competition for young pianists just two years later.
From 2003, she attended the primary music school of the Rostov State Rakhmaninov Conservatory, where she was taught by Professor Sergei Osipenko. Since 2013 she has been studying with Prof. Stepan Simonian at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama and at the same time with Prof. Eliso Virsaladze at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy.

Her most important prizes include 1st prize at the George Enescu International Piano Competition in Bucharest in 2018, 3rd prize with audience prize at the Sendai International Piano Competition in Japan in 2019, and 2nd prize at the International M.K. Ciurlionis Piano Competition in Vilnius in 2015. In addition to the above-mentioned awards, the young pianist is a multiple prizewinner at numerous national and international piano competitions.

Daria Parkhomenko has performed at famous international music festivals such as the International Music Festival "The faces of modern pianism" in the Mariinsky Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia, the George Enescu Festival in Romania, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The young pianist has also performed as a soloist in various major concert halls in Europe, Asia and the USA.

As a soloist, Daria Parkhomenko has performed with various major orchestras, including the North German Philharmonic Orchestra Rostock, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Orchestra Vilnius, the Kaunas Philharmonic Orchestra, the Taiwan Artists Orchestra, the Estonian National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rome Tre Orchestra. She has performed with conductors such as Wojciech Rajski, Vassily Sinaisky, Junichi Hirokami, Arvo Volmer, Ching-Ming Lu, Modestas Barkauskas, Jung Hung Park and Mikhail Kirchhoff.

She has also performed live on Deutschlandradio Kultur, Radio NDR, 2RStudio (Italy), LRT Klasika and Delfi (Lithuania).