Anatoly Larkin

Bio

Born in 1979, Russia, Dr. Anatoly Larkin has been studying and making music from around the age of 4. After studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in UK, Anatoly completed his doctoral studies in Piano Performance at the University of Minnesota under the advice of Alexander Braginsky. In Minnesota, he was a member of the new-music ensemble, Zeitgeist, fulfilling his passion for contemporary and avant-garde music. With Zeitgeist, Anatoly had premiered works by Paul Dresher, Scott Miller, Amy Wurtz, Jerome Kitzke, Bill Banfield, Anthony Gatto, Kathy Jackanich, Justin Rubin, Michael Wittgraf and many others. He continues to be an active improviser, having collaborated with trombonist Patrick Crossland, clarinetist Pat O’Keefe, violinist Yuri Merzhevsky and other artists.

In 2005, he moved to Raleigh, NC, to join Zenph, a music technology company. There he developed a software/manual process, subsequently trademarked as Re-Performance®, that made it possible to hear performances of golden age pianists in famous audio recordings (such as those on wax cylinders, or from 78s) live again, with the help of state-of-the-art reproducing piano technology. He oversaw the recordings of critically acclaimed albums such as, for example, “Bach: The Goldberg Variations 1955 Performance”, “Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff” or “Oscar Peterson: Unmistakable”. He also oversaw the use of this technology in collaborations with live artists, like violinist Joshua Bell and HK Philharmonic. Currently, he is involved in creating Re-Performances of “Steinway Immortals” for Steinway and Sons in New York.

Anatoly continues to perform, teach, and, occasionally, compose music. In his teaching studio, he employs the successful ear-training methods of his first music teacher, Nadezhda Matsayeva. He also teaches music courses at the North Carolina State University. His recent projects include a presentation of piano works by “Russian Composers In Their Early 30s” (featured as a radio special on “The Classical Station”, 89.7FM), piano recordings with piano technician Marc Wienert, chamber performances with cellists Jonathan Kramer and clarinetist Fred Jacobowitz, as well as the continuing collaboration with living composers, including John Starosta and Craig Bove.

Area(s) of Expertise

Piano performance