Maxim Rysanov
Ukrainian-British violist and conductor Maxim Rysanov has established himself as one of the worlds most vibrant and charismatic musicians. He is principally known for his performances as a violist, guest of the crème of international music scene such as BBC Last Night of the Proms, Verbier, Great Mountain, Tran Siberian and Edinburgh Festival, Salzburg Festival among others. After having completed a conducting fellowship at The GSMD he started to combine his viola performance with a career as a conductor.

Conducting engagements include the Spanish Radio Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Riga Sinfonietta, London Mozart Players, Russian National Orchestra, and Moscow Musica Viva, Kiev Soloists, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Georgian National Symphony Orchestra, Częstochowa Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Chaarts, Detmold Chamber Orchestra, Dala Sinfonietta, Southbank Sinfonia, Voronezh Youth Orchestra, Danubia Symphony as well as conducting at festivals in Dubrovnik (with Roger Moore as narrator), Utrecht (with Janine Jansen), Boswil (with Vilde Frang), Surrey Hills (with Nicola BenedettI), Budapest Festival Orchestra (Kelemen Quartet), and the finale of the Beijing Viola Festival, Plovdiv Philharmonic (Kristina Blaumane), Sofia Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Bulgarian premier of Cantata by Dobrinka Tabakova), Sofia Philharmonic, Royal College of Music String Orchestra, Lviv Philharmonic, Detmold Chamber Orchestra, Lepaje Symphony Orchestra (soloist David Geringas) and the Pforzheim Stadtsorchester.

As a conductor Maxim worked with such soloists as Mischa Maisky, Nicola Benedetti, Vilde Frang, Janine Jansen, Boris Brovtsyn, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Sergei Krylov, Kristina Blaumane, Ashley Wass, Benjamin Yusupov, Leonard Elschenbroich, Dora Kokas and Kelemen Quartet among others. Among his concerto highlights are Mariinsky Orchestra (Valery Gergiev), Russian National Orchestra (MikhailPletnev), BBC Symphony Orchestra (Jiří Bělohlávek), Seattle Symphony (Andrey Boreyko), Orquesta de Castilla y Leon (Vasily Petrenko), DSO Berlin (Tugan Sokhiev), Moscow Philharmonic (Yuri Simonov), BSO (Vladimir Fedoseev), Gurzenich Orchestra (Sir Mark Elder), Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (Philippe Herreweghe), NDR Philharmonic Orchestra (Eivind Gullberg Jensen), Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (Juraj Valcuha), RTE Symphony Orchestra (Olari Elts), the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (Arvo Volmer), the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (Vladimir Verbitsky), Auckland Symphony Orchestra (Eckehard Stier), Danish National Symphony Orchestra (Michael Schoenwandt), Malaysian Philharmonic (Yan Pascal Tortelier), Shanghai Symphony (Long Yu), Orquesta Sinfonica de Euskadi (Diego Matheuz), Ulster Orchestra (Paul Watkins), European Union Youth Orchestra (Matthias Bamert), Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg (Michal Dworzynski), Kazan Symphony (Alexander Sladkovsky) and Strasburg (Vasily Sinaisky). Maxim has long been recognised by the international music scene and his list of prizes affirm that status. These include the Classic FM Gramophone Young Artist of the Year Award and the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Award, as well as the Geneva, Lionel Tertis and Valentino Bucchi competitions. Maxim is a keen promoter of new music. Recently he conducted the Russian premier of the Piano Concerto by Benjamin Yusupov. His enthusiasm for new music has generated collaborations, which have extended the viola repertoire. This includes world premieres by Dobrinka Tabakova, Richard Dubugnon and Sergei Akhunov. Other composers with whom Maxim has developed a close working relationship include Benjamin Yusupov, Leonid Desyatnikov, Giya Kancheli, Artyom Vassiliev and Elena Langer. In 2014 Maxim presented the Penderecki's double concerto in a Russian premiere. In 2016 he premieres a new viola concerto by Peteris Vasks that was co-commissioned by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Vale of Glamorgan Festival and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg. Further performances include Turku Philharmonic, Riga Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Wurttemburgisches Kammerorchester Heilbron and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra.

Maxim's commercial CD have continually gained awards including Gramophone Editor's Choice and ECHO, ICMA, Gramophone and Grammy nominations as well as reaching the top of the iTunes charts in the USA. His recent recording of the Martinu Rhapsody – Concerto was shortlisted for the Gramophone Award. He is delighted to have a Giuseppe Guadagnini viola (1780) on extended loan from the Elise Mathilde Foundation.