Anna Tsybuleva (also Tcybuleva; born 12 August 1990
) is a Russian classical
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
. She won the
Leeds International Piano Competition
The Leeds International Piano Competition, informally known as The Leeds and formerly the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, takes place every three years in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1961 by Marion, Countess ...
in 2015. As of 2022, she has released two recordings, including a performance of the
Brahms Piano Concerto no. 2 with the
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German broadcast orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra performs its concerts principally in the Philharmonie Berlin. The orchestra is administratively based at the ''Rundfunk Berlin-Branden ...
.
Early life and education
Tsybuleva was born in 1990.
Her mother, Svetlana Tsybuleva, was a musician and art historian, and her father, a radio physicist.
Tsybuleva was raised in
Nizhny Arkhyz
Arkhyz (also Nizhny Arkhyz russian: Архыз; krc, Ырхыз, ''Irxız''; "mudflows") is a Types of inhabited localities in Russia, village in the valley of the Bolshoy Zelenchuk River, in the Republic of Karachay–Cherkessia, Greater Caucasu ...
in
Karachay-Cherkessia
The Karachay-Cherkess Republic (russian: Карача́ево-Черке́сская Респу́блика, ''Karachayevo-Cherkesskaya Respublika''; krc, Къарачай-Черкес Республика, ''Qaraçay-Çerkes Respublika''; Cir ...
, Russia. She played the piano from the age of six, at first taught by her mother, and also briefly played the violin.
She attended the Shostakovich Music School in
Volgodonsk
Volgodonsk ( rus, Волгодонск, p=vəlgɐˈdonsk) is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located in the east of the oblast on the west bank of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir. Population: 28,000 (1970).
History
Volgodonsk was founded in 1950 as ...
(2000–3) and the Moscow Central Music School (2003–9). In 2009, she went to the
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...
(in the class of professor Ludmila Roschina), graduating in 2014 and starting post-graduate study there, as well as at the
City of Basel Music Academy
The City of Basel Music Academy (german: Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel) is an institution for music education, located in Basel, Switzerland. It comprises a music school, college of music, and a center for early music research and performance. ...
(in the class of Claudio Martinez Mehner) in Switzerland. Her teachers include Elena Vorobyova, Ludmila Roschina and the Spanish pianist,
Claudio Martínez Mehner
Claudio Martínez Mehner (born in Bremen, 1970) is a Spanish piano soloist and pedagogue.
Biography
Martinez-Mehner studied at Madrid Conservatory, the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid, the Peabody Institute, the Moscow Conservatory, the I ...
.
Career and awards
Tsybuleva has won several Russian piano competitions including the Russian National Piano Competition at
Rostov
Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population:
While t ...
(2001), the International Piano Competition at
Murmansk
Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...
(2002) and the Nasedkin International Piano Competition at
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence ...
. She won the International Piano Competition SEILER at
Kitzingen
Kitzingen () is a town in the Germany, German state of Bavaria, capital of the Kitzingen (district), district Kitzingen. It is part of the Franconia geographical region and has around 21,000 inhabitants. Surrounded by vineyards, Kitzingen County i ...
, Germany (2003) and the International Piano Competition at
Ibla
Ragusa (; scn, Rausa ; la, Ragusia) is a city and ''comune'' in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Ragusa, on the island of Sicily, with 73,288 inhabitants in 2016. It is built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valley ...
, Italy (2011).
In 2012, she won the Emil Gilels International Piano Competition at
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
, Ukraine, and also came fourth in the
Hamamatsu International Piano Competition The Hamamatsu International Piano Competition has been held every 3 years since 1991 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan, and is open to pianists up to 30 years old.
History
The Piano Competition was inaugurated in 1991 to commemorate the 80th anniversar ...
in Japan.
In 2015, she won the
Leeds International Piano Competition
The Leeds International Piano Competition, informally known as The Leeds and formerly the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, takes place every three years in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1961 by Marion, Countess ...
in the UK, the second woman to do so.
She has performed internationally with orchestras including the
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
The or TSO, was established in 1946 as the Toho Symphony Orchestra (東宝交響楽団). It assumed its present name in 1951.
Based in Kawasaki, the TSO performs in numerous concert halls and serves as pit orchestra for some productions at Ne ...
,
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works.
The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...
and
The Hallé
The Hallé is an English symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It supports a choir, youth choir, youth training choir, children's choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasiona ...
, as well as with Russian orchestras including the
Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra
The Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (russian: Симфонический оркестр Санкт-Петербургской филармонии, ''Symphonic Orchestra of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia'') is a Russian orchestra based ...
.
Critical reception
The British conductor,
Mark Elder
Sir Mark Philip Elder (born 2 June 1947) is a British conductor. He is currently music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.
Life and career
Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of a dentist. He played the ba ...
, called Tsybuleva "a truly exciting winner" of the Leeds competition.
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''s music critic, Andrew Clements, considered that her "success certainly raised a few eyebrows" and criticised her performance of
Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...
's
Piano Concerto no. 2, writing that "for all the fluency of her playing, she often seemed incapable of seeing the overall shape of the work, and her role in projecting it, rather than the detail of each passing moment."
Erica Worth, editor of the magazine ''Pianist'', considered her performance failed to deliver the "warmth, gravitas, a certain humility, a feeling that one has lived, not to mention a velvety rich tone and utter command over the keyboard" that the concerto requires. The
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
commentator, Lucy Parham, praised her "mature, elegant and communicative reading of this hugely demanding work".
Murray Mclachlan, writing in the ''International Piano'' magazine, described her as a "born performer" with "unquestionable qualities as an artist"; he considered that her performance of the Brahms concerto "perhaps lacked gravitas" but added: "there was no doubt that she was thoroughly enjoying every minute. The work was taken by the scruff of the neck and executed with energetic elan, bravura and heart-on-sleeve communication." Mclachlan also praised "her spellbinding, exquisite sounds" in performing
Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
's ''
Préludes''.
Commenting on a 2016 recital, the British pianist,
Peter Donohoe, called Tsybuleva "one of the very finest young musicians of her generation". He commented on her "unerring sense of breathing and space and an instinct for tempo-appropriatenes in relation to her approach to sound and phrase", and praised the "imagination and integrity" of her interpretations of
Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
's ''Etudes Symphoniques'' and
Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer ...
's ''10 pieces'' Op 12.
In a ''
Telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
'' review of a 2018 performance of Schumann's piano concerto with the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmon ...
,
David Fanning writes that Tsybuleva can "float long, lyrical lines with a cushioned singing tone" and "blend rippling passagework with the orchestra", but characterises her playing as "predictable and short on fantasy", and concludes that she "could benefit from scaling up her musical intentions".
Recordings
Tsybuleva's debut recording of fantasies by
C. P. E. Bach
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...
,
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
,
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
and Brahms was released in 2017. Jed Distler, in a review for ''
Gramophone
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
'' magazine, praises her "superb pianism and intelligent musicianship", although notes "a little more drive and ferocity" would have improved the fugue of Schubert's ''
Wanderer Fantasy
The Fantasie in C major, Op. 15 ( D. 760), popularly known as the ''Wanderer Fantasy'', is a four-movement fantasy for solo piano composed by Franz Schubert in 1822. It is widely considered Schubert's most technically demanding composition for th ...
''.
Peter Burwasser, in a review for ''
Fanfare
A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets, French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introduction to an instrumental perfo ...
'' magazine, describes her playing as "thoughtful, elegant, yet exciting".
In 2021, Tsybuleva released a recording of Brahms' second piano concerto; Huntley Dent, in a review for ''Fanfare'', notes a lack of power compared with some male pianists, but praised the "unflagging momentum and powerful technique" of the Scherzo, the "poetry" of the faster-than-usually paced Andante, and the "especially animated reading filled with brio" of the finale.
Donald R. Vroon, in a more-critical review for the ''
American Record Guide
The ''American Record Guide'' (''ARG'') is a classical music magazine. It has reviewed classical music recordings since 1935.
History and profile
The magazine was founded by Peter Hugh Reed in May 1935 as the ''American Music Lover''. It chang ...
'', states that her playing lacked "weight and grandeur" and was instead "almost French and delicate".
Discography
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsybuleva, Anna
1990 births
Living people
21st-century classical pianists
Women classical pianists
Russian classical pianists
Russian women pianists
Moscow Conservatory alumni
Prize-winners of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition
21st-century women pianists