Marianna Shirinyan

From the upcoming academic year 2021-2022, the internationally recognised pianist Marianna Shirinyan has been appointed visiting professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM), and will thereby become a central part of the Academy’s high-profile teaching staff.

“My main motivation is to help students to achieve high professional quality, musical sincerity and openness, and the basis for this is the student's curiosity and musical knowledge. It is my task to equip each student with the best possible tools, and that requires me to make efforts to perceive and find their personal and professional strengths. In addition, the recruitment of talented students from both Denmark and abroad is important in creating a diverse study environment. A healthy sense of competition can also be encouraging and motivating for students. And it is also important for me to prepare them for life after the Academy,” says Marianna Shirinyan.

Armenian-born Marianna Shirinyan (b. 1978) is one of the most creative and sought-after pianists in Europe today. Her lively and virtuoso music has made her in great demand, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. Shirinyan plays with great sensitivity, understanding, technical brilliance and a beautiful tone, which allows her to embrace a wide repertoire.

She has also gained a reputation for being one of the leading pianists of this generation through solo performances with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestras, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, to name just a few. Shirinyan has worked with such conductors as Michael Balke, Lawrence Foster, Zoltan Kocsis, Antonello Manacorda, Jun Märkl, Eva Ollikainen, Daniel Raiskin, Lan Shui, Thomas Søndergård, Marc Soustrot, Krysztof Urbanski and Joshua Weilerstein.

The rector of RDAM, Uffe Savery, sees great potential in the upcoming collaboration:

“In figurative terms, Marianna’s own upbringing as a pianist is like a plant growing up through asphalt. Where there’s a will, there’s a way; and Marianna’s fantastic talent, combined with her enormous will, diligence, imagination and insistence on life as a musician, regardless of the physical conditions that may be available, has made her the exceptional pianist she is today – both as a chamber musician and as a soloist. It is clear that this ballast means that Marianna has an incredible amount to pass on to the next generation of pianists. Her open mind and her sense that a musician can go in many different directions means that the student’s special talent is placed in the centre, and from there the musician’s personality, technique and musicality can be developed – something that we value very highly at the Academy.

We are therefore very much looking forward to Marianna becoming a visiting professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, which will thereby have three professors in piano: Niklas Sivelöv, Jens Elvekjær and Marianna Shirinyan as the mainstay of the piano department, supplemented by highly competent part-time teachers. The teaching staff is absolutely central to the Academy’s quality, teaching and study environment – and we are very proud of this new appointment.

Congratulations to Marianna – congratulations to the Academy – and congratulations to future piano students.”

MARIANNA SHIRINYAN

Born in 1978 in Armenia.

Trained as a pianist at Komitas State Conservatory of Music in Yerevan, Armenia, and at Lübeck Academy of Music, Germany.

Has performed as a soloist with, amongst others, the DR Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Danish Orchestra and the Danish regional orchestras. Abroad, she has performed with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestraof Taiwan, the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, and many others.

She has received the prestigious DR P2 Prize for her contribution to Danish musical life, and the Critics’ Award from the Association of Danish Music Critics. She is a frequent guest at a number of international music festivals, including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Bodensee Festival, the Schwetzinger Festival, the MDR Summer Music Festival and Bergen International Festival.