“Sound magician”, “brilliant virtuoso of the highest level” and “Russian Eusebius” are some of the attributes the music critics like to describe Denys Proshayev’s piano playing.

Born in Brest, he studied with Prof. Vladimir Krainev, one of the best students of Heinrich Neuhaus, at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover. He also worked as Mr. Krainev’s assistant over a decade while undertaking conducting studies with Prof. Eiji Oue.

After extensive success in international competitions, among them Clara Haskil in Vevey, “Vladimir Horowitz in Memoriam” in Kiev, European Piano Competition in Bremen, his international breakthrough came with the win of the first prize at the International Competition ARD in Munich in 2002. Some additional prizes went on confirming the remarkable value of the artist. Among them the coveted Soloist Prize of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern International Festival, just as Julia Fisher, Daniel Müller- Schott and Daniel Hope.

Proshayev has collaborated with numerous wellknown orchestras, such as the Munich and Czech Philharmonic, Danish National Radio Orchestra, Radio Orchestras of Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hannover, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orquestra Sinfonica de Barcelona, St. Petersburg and Osaka Philharmonic. The pianist performed with a number of internationaly reknown conductors, among them Gerd Albrecht, John Neal Axelrod, Daniel Inbal, Alexander Dmitriev, Christopher Hogwood, Marek Janowski, Kirill Karabyts, Roman Kofman, Andrea Marcon, Eiji Oue, Michael Sanderling, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Stefan Solyom, Osmo Vänskä and appeares regularly in major concerts venues such as the Herkulessaal in Munich, Salzburger Mozarteum, Konzerthaus Berlin, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Baden-Badener Festspielhaus, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Mercatorhalle Duisburg, in Philharmonic Halls of Cologne, Warsaw, St. Petersburg and Kiev.

Proshayev is a dedicated chamber musician and versatile artist, working on new forms and projects connecting different fields of Art. Some of his chamber music partners were Veronika Eberle, Arabella Steinbacher, Daniel Müller-Schott and the Quarteto Casals. In 2011, following the invitation of Martin Schläpfer, he became part of the highly acclaimed project “b. 10” of the Ballet am Rhein in Düsseldorf, performing Alfred Schnittke’s concerto for piano and strings. A highly successful collaboration with Martin Schläpfer and the Ballett am Rhein continued in recent productions on piano works of J.S. Bach, L. van Beethoven, F. Liszt and A.N. Scriabin, including performances in Düsseldorf, Duisburg and at the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele.

Besides, Denys Proshayev devotes himself passionately to conducting, appearing as guest conductor with the Prussian Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra of Berlin, Osnabrücker Sinfonieorchester, National Philharmonic of Ukraine and Macedonian Philharmonic orchestras. Between 2011 and 2015 he held a position of the Lviv’s Philharmonic Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor. Proshayev‘s operatic repertoire includes W.A.Mozart‘s „The magic flute“, P.I.Tchaikovsky‘s „Pique Dame“, R.Wagner‘s „Lohengrin“, R.Strauss‘s „Elektra“, G.Verdi‘s „Rigoletto“ and „Simon Boccanegra“.

His recording of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s keyboard works, released in 2006 by Sony/BMG and highly praised by the press and public, was chosen by “Die Zeit” Edition as one of the best classic CDs, next to Evgeny Kissin, Midori and Mariss Janson. In 2013 Proshayev released his first recording by Piano Classics dedicated to Robert Schumann with “Papillons “, “Davidsbündlertänze” and “Arabeske” followed by the recording in 2014 dedicated to Alfred Schnittke with Concerto for piano and strings, “5 Aphorisms” and “Gogol Suite” for two pianos with Nadia Mokhtari which were warmly acclaimed a.o. by “The Guardian”, „Süddeutsche Zeitung” and Bayerischer Rundfunk. In 2019 the new recording will be released, including the world premiered „Suite in old style“ by Alfred Schnittke in a transcription for piano four hands by Alexander Shchetynsky with young french pianist Nadia Mokhtari, wich has been published by Hans Sikorski Edition in Hamburg at the end of 2017.

Among artist’s recent highlights and upcoming exciting projects are appearances with Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Kiev Chamber Orchestra, Staatsorchester Mainz, Ensemble Resonanz, Duisburger Philharmoniker, Züricher Kammerorchester, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Ukrainian National Philharmonic, a number of recitals in Europe, among others in Berlin, St.Petersburg, Moscow, Vienna, München, Lyon and Kiev.

2018 Denys Proshayev became an artistic director of the Musikfest Wasserschloss Gesmold, the first and only international piano festival in Lower Saxony (Germany) and started his collaboration with the Royal Conservatoire The Hague as a visiting professor.

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