Maxim Lando (sponsored event)

OHIO University Keyboard Division Presents

Maxim Lando, piano

Sponsored in part by OHIO University Performing Arts Series

American pianist Maxim Lando was lauded by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times for his “brilliance and infectious exuberance.” He is hailed as “one of the most brilliant and imaginative young pianists to emerge in recent years” (Gower Festival), “a total musical being” (National Review), and “a soloist who never treats virtuosity as an end in itself, but places it in the service of musical storytelling” (Feuilletonscout). ‍

Maxim first made global 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 over 75 orchestras around the world, including The Cleveland Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. His performances have taken him to major venues including Alice Tully Hall, Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, Paris’s Fondation Louis Vuitton, Munich’s Herkulessaal, and Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, as well as leading festivals including the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, The Gilmore, Aspen, Caramoor, the Dresden Music Festival, and Kissinger Sommer.

Maxim approaches the established repertoire with the same curiosity he brings to new and overlooked works. Recent seasons have included his debut with the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, performing Brahms’s First Piano Concerto under Cornelius Meister and prompting the Frankfurter Neue Presse to hail, “A star is born. His name is Maxim Lando.” He also appeared with Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia, Belgrade Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic, Sinfonietta Cracovia, and the Baltimore, Buffalo, Columbus, Charleston, Anchorage, and Princeton Symphony Orchestras. In Prague, he gave the live premiere of David Chesky’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, which subsequently joined him for a nine-city U.S. tour featuring Dvořák’s Piano Concerto.

Deeply committed to expanding the piano repertoire, Maxim premiered and continues to champion Lowell Liebermann’s Three Dances from Frankenstein, Op. 140, a major new work for solo piano based on Liebermann’s ballet Frankenstein. Commissioned thorough generous funding from The Gilmore, the work received its world premiere at the Gower Festival in Wales in 2023, where BBC Music Magazine selected the performance as one of the month’s best concert highlights in the UK. Maxim has since performed the work extensively in the United States and internationally, including its New York premiere at Death of Classical’s The Crypt Sessions.

Maxim’s honors include the 2025 Khaledi Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Classical Music from Festival Napa Valley, First Prize at the 2022 New York Franz Liszt International Competition, and the 2022 Vendome Grand Prize. He is a laureate of the Cleveland International Piano Competition and the International German Piano Award, a recipient of the Gilmore Young Artist Award, and a three-time winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition. At age 16 Maxim won the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, launching his professional career. His following sold-out recital debuts at Zankel Hall and the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, featuring Liszt’s complete Transcendental Études, were highlighted by The New York Times as concerts “You Won’t Want To Miss!”

An active chamber musician, Maxim performs frequently with violinist Daniel Hope and is a regular artist with Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City. He has collaborated with artists including Lynn Harrell and Julian Rachlin and with ensembles including the Danish String Quartet. With violinist Tassilo Probst, he recorded Into Madness, released by Berlin Classics. The album won the 2023 International Classical Music Award for Best Chamber Music Recording and received a double nomination for the Opus Klassik. He has also recorded with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna for a forthcoming release.

The 2026–27 season brings a solo recital at the Lithuania National Philharmonic, in part marking the 150th anniversary of Lithuanian composer and artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, a debut with the Franz Schubert Filharmonia at Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana, and a duo appearance with Daniel Hope at Wolf Trap. Deeply committed to connecting classical music with new generations of listeners, Maxim’s performances have been featured by CNN, NPR, the BBC, WQXR, and Bavarian Radio. Looking ahead, he is developing the 50-States Concerto Project in honor of America’s 250th anniversary. Envisioned for the 2027–29 seasons, the project will bring concerto performances and collaborations to all 50 states, celebrating the diversity of American musical life and creating new connections among artists, orchestras, and audiences.

Maxim is a Laureate of Artemisia Foundation since 2019, an alumnus of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, and studies with long-time mentor Hung- Kuan Chen at The Juilliard School.