Nikita Mndoyants wins Cleveland International Piano Competition

Congratulations to  Nikita Mndoyants, winner of the 2016 Cleveland International Piano Competition! Nikita spoke with WCLV's Mark Satola the day after prizes were awarded. 

27-year-old Nikita Mndoyants began to play piano and compose music at an early age. He has toured throughout China, Estonia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.S. Mr. Mndoyants won first prize at the Paderewsky International Piano Competition in 2007 and was a finalist at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He has performed in several festivals, including the Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdroj (Poland) and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York. He also has been artist in residence at the International Music Festival in Wissembourg (France) since 2012. Mr. Mndoyants has worked with renowned conductors including Leonard Slatkin, Eri Klas, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Charles Ansbacher, and Alexander Sladkovsky. Giving his first chamber performance with the Borodin Quartet in 2004, he has continued to cultivate his passion for chamber music, working with such ensembles as the Brentano, Eben, Zemlinsky and Szymanowsky Quartets. As a composer, Mr. Mndoyants received first prize at the 2014 Myaskovsky International Competition of Composers. His piano and chamber works are made available by publishing houses Composers, Muzyka, and Jurgenson, and have been performed by Daniel Hope, Nicolas Stavy, the Szymanowski and Zemlinsky Quartets, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, and others.  He has released solo and chamber recordings on the Classical Records and Praga Digitals labels.