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Osip Nikiforov

piano

Osip Nikiforov is a Russian pianist who studied under the tutelage of two world-renowned pianists: Yefim Bronfman at Manhattan School of Music and Jon Kimura Parker at Rice University. He is also a third prize winner of 2016 San Antonio International Piano Competition.

Born in the city of Abakan in Siberia to a family of musicians, Nikiforov started studying piano with his father at age 6. While still living in Russia, Nikiforov participated and won numerous awards in national and international competitions, such as the Gold Medal at the Delphic Games in 2006 in Astana, Kazakhstan, and third prize at 2008 First International e-Piano Junior Competition in Minnesota, where at the age of 14 he shared the prize with Jan Lisiecki. A year later, he was the winner of Dorothy McKenzie Award in New York City at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival Competition. At just 14 years of age, Nikiforov performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Minnesota Orchestra.

Since 2010 Nikiforov has been residing in the United States. In February of 2024 he was part of the recording project Folk Classics from Across the Globe at Minnesota Public Radio, where he recorded a series of folk tale-inspired piano pieces for children by the Ukranian composer Aida Isakova. This recording, as part of a special podcast, was released in May 2024 on YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio. In 2023 Nikiforov performed a series of all-Rachmaninoff solo programs in Texas and Minnesota, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the composer. In 2020 he was awarded first prize at San Antonio Young Artist Tuesday Musical Competition. He is regularly invited to perform at concert series as well as festivals, including the Schubert Club Courtroom Concert Series in St. Paul, the Salon se Leve Concert Series in Minneapolis, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago, the Memorial Classical Music Series in Houston and the Mozart Festival Texas in San Antonio. Besides the United States, he has given solo recitals in Spain, Israel, South Africa, Russia and Japan. Nikiforov has also frequently collaborated with national and international orchestras, including the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Khakass Philharmonic Orchestra, Incarnate Word Symphony Orchestra and Golden Valley Symphony Orchestra. In 2016 he became a recipient of the Adopt a Young Artist award, given to a young classical musician in Minnesota. He is also the second prize winner of 2014 Music Teacher National Association Competition in Young Artist Division in Chicago.

Nikiforov graduated from Shattuck St. Mary’s School in Minnesota and the University of Minnesota, studying piano with Alexander Braginsky, the last student of Alexander Goldenweiser. In 2023 Nikiforov earned a doctor of musical arts degree at Rice University. He has also appeared on Minnesota Public Radio, Performance Today by YourClassical, WFMT Radio, GetClassical, Classical Connect, and in the Star Tribune and Houston Press. In fall 2021 his first piano solo album, Russian Elegie, was released by Orpheus Classical Label on all major digital platforms. Besides performing, Nikiforov also enjoys making his own transcriptions for piano as well as playing solo jazz piano.