"What a magnificent instrument that allows a dynamic and tone range hardly imaginable... From the slightest ppp to fff and back."
Ekaterina Mechetina
Ekaterina Mechetina is one of the most famous Russian pianists of her generation. Born into a family of musicians, she was accepted into the Moscow Conservatory early on and won the Mozart Prize in the junior competition at the age of ten, the first in a long string of successes in major competitions (Busoni Cincinnati, Pinerolo and Vercelli), in each instance winning first prize.
Performing around eighty concerts per year, Mechetina has already played with the greatest orchestras at the most prestigious venues in the world, including the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Scala in Milan.
Besides performing, she also gives regular masterclasses, teaches at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and is frequently invited to appear on judging panels at major international competitions. She has recorded contemporary works by Rodion Chtchedrine and Tolib Shakhidi, transcriptions and variations of Rachmaninov, and a CD featuring works by Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky and Rachmaninov.
"I had an outstanding experience today playing at Bechstein’s! What a magnificent instrument that allows a dynamic and tone range hardly imaginable... From the slightest ppp to fff and back. It made me think of the old good Bechsteins of the 20s-30s that I’ve seen in Moscow, we admire them greatly. Pianos of the Golden Age. Today I heard the new contemporary sound but still bearing the signs of those old days. Let Bechstein start the New Golden Age again! Thank you so much!" (2017)
Photos: © C. Bechstein Archiv
