with which she embraces emotional extremes’
Alissa Firsova is a British-Russian pianist, composer and conductor. She made her Wigmore Hall and Proms debuts in 2009 and has performed in numerous concert halls and festivals throughout the world.
Alissa Firsova is a British-Russian pianist, composer and conductor. She made her Wigmore Hall and Proms debuts in 2009 and has enjoyed collaborations with Camerata RCO, Daniel Rowland, Tim Hugh, Andrew Marriner, Mark Padmore and many others.
Since winning the BBC Proms Young Composer Competition in 2001, she received three commissions for the Proms, writing for the Royal Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic and Southbank Sinfonia together with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. Her music was also performed by the NTO Mannheim, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Netherlands Blazer Ensemble, Dante and Tippett quartets, Henning Kraggerud, Imogen Cooper and conductors, Andrew Litton, Mark Wigglesworth, Alexander Soddy, Leo McFall and Jessica Cottis, to name a few.
Alissa recorded her debut solo piano (Russian Émigrés) and composer portrait (Fantasy) CD’s on Vivat and her Stabat Mater, recorded by The Sixteen, was featured in Gramophone’s Top 10 Compositions by Women. Her recital for the Amsterdam Piano Series, including her transcription of Mahler’s Adagietto, was released on Vinyl by Gutman Records in 2020. She enjoyed her triple debut with the English Chamber Orchestra as conductor, composer and pianist in 2013 in the Cadogan Hall and is currently Artistic Director of the Lincolnshire International Chamber Music Festival.
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Biography
High res images
Concerts
Burgundy Chateau Residency
A weekend of chamber music including world premiere of new song cycle for Alessia Schumacher soprano.
- Concert
- Chateau de Barres
Residency at Buxton Festival
D. Smirnov To Be Or Not To Be
D. Smirnov Ophelia Songs
Langer Stay O Sweet
A. Firsova To the Evening Star
D. Smirnov Piano Quintet
D. Smirnov Into the Light
Gubaidulina Pantomime
E. Firsova Hymn to Spring
Shostakovich Piano Quintet
Dan D’Souza, baritone
Jane Burnell, soprano
Will Duerden, double bass
Alissa Firsova, piano
Belinfante String Quartet
- Concert
- St. John’s Church, Buxton
Albums
Lugubre Gondola
Chopin, Bartók, Liszt, Wagner/Liszt, Mahler/Firsova, Beethoven
Fantasy – Alissa Firsova
Tippett Quartet, Mark van de Wiel clarinet, Tim Hugh cello, Ellie Laugharne soprano, Nicholas Crawley bass, Simon Mulligan piano, Alissa Firsova piano
Russian Visions
20th-Century Music for Cello & Piano
Bozidar Vukotic, cello - Alissa Firsova, piano
Songs of the World
Track 15, 16, 17. Alissa Firsova, Psappha, Stepen Barlow, Daisy Brown.
COMPOSITIONS
For copies of the scores and parts, please contact me.
Media
Click on the image to play the video.
News
Buxton Festival
Alissa is very honoured to make her debut in one of UK’s top festivals in July 2025: she will be teaming up with rising stars, double-bassist Will Duerden, the Belinfante String Quartet and singers, Dan D’Souza and Jane Burnell in two intense programmes dedicated to her father, Dmitri Smirnov, commemorating 5 years after his passing. As well as performing four of his works, including the world premiere of his To Be Or Not To Be setting, she is looking forward to performing Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet and Britten’s Song and Proverbs of William Blake, as well as her own setting of William Blake, To the Evening Star, adapted from her song-symphony, Spell of Creation, which saw its premiere at Manchester Festival in July 2023 by the BBC Phil.
Amsterdam Piano Series
After her Concertgebouw solo debut in 2018, recorded live onto double LP for Gutman Records - Alissa returns to the Amsterdam Piano Series next season for a Rachmaninoff feast, teaming up with one of the world’s most dazzling cellists, David Cohen. She was recently delighted to be part of a very unique and beautiful promotion event of the series along with four other APS colleagues, where a Steinway piano was placed in Five Ways café in Amsterdam - perfectly described here: Read more.
To purchase her Lugubre Gondola album on LP or digitally, please click here.
Back in Barcelona
After a most heart-warming welcome and response from the Spanish premiere of Die Windsbraut by the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra under Gemma New in Jan 2024, Alissa is welcomed back in L’Auditori, Barcelona in March 2025 by members of the orchestra, who give the Spanish premiere of her string quartet, Tennyson Fantasy. She is so excited to return to one of the most exciting cities in the world and build on this wonderful musical relationship.
Gemma New has since conducted Die Windsbraut in Indianapolis and brings it to Kansas City also in March 2025.
Contact
For bookings, information, copies of the scores and parts, please send a message.