2016 Mixon First Prize winner Nikita Mndoyants has released a new recording on the Steinway & Sons label. Available in multiple formats at Amazon and iTunes, the disc includes Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6; Beethoven’s Bagatelles, Op. 126; and Prokofiev’s Sarcasms, Op. 17.
Mr. Mndoyants performed the first two of these works at his Carnegie Hall debut on June 7, earning outstanding critical reviews. “There comes a time when a rising talent comes onto the scene so polished that there isn’t much to say other than to simply applaud it,” wrote Donald Hunt for Pianist magazine. “Such is the case in the Carnegie Hall debut of Nikita Mndoyants, the winner of last year’s Cleveland International Piano Competition.” Mr. Hunt praised the Beethoven, in which the pianist “seamlessly made dynamic switches from technical flair to sensitive phrasing at the drop of a hat,” and the Schumann, during which “Mndoyants created extra space in each line that felt similar to the stylistic traditions of great jazz pianists of the past and present.”
The CD is included in the prize package presented to Mr. Mndoyants as the winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Additional prizes include the Mixon First Prize cash award of $75,000, a Carnegie Hall debut, management services for four years, and concert engagements worldwide.