Marianna Shirinyan

Winning five prizes at the 2006 ARD International Music Competition in Munich kickstarted Marianna Shirinyans international career as soloist and chamber musician and it has developed impressively steadily since. She is a welcome guest at a string of international festivals, among them the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Schwetzingen Festival, Festspillene i Bergen and the Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival in Norway, and the MDR Summer Music Festival.

Simultaniously she has won the reputation of being one of this generations leading pianists through solo appearances with such leading Scandinavian orchestras as the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Göteborg Symphony, Trondheim Symphony, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Umeå Symphony Orchestra as well as Odense, Århus and South Jutland Symphony Orchestras.

Outside Scandinavia, she has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Potsdamer Kammerakademie, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Würzburg Philharmonic, Hof Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, under the baton of such conductors as Zoltan Kocsis, Simon Gaudenz, Antonello Manacorda, Thomas Søndergård, Krysztof Urbanski and Joshua Weilerstein. Future engagements include debut concerts with Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburger Camerata, Helsinki Philharmonic and Tapiola Sinfonietta.

Since 2004 Marianna has been teaching at the chamber music summer academy of the 'Jugend Musiziert' in Schloss Weikersheim, Germany. In addition, in the period 1998 to 2006, she held a part-time position as a teacher/coach of piano accompaniment at the Musikhochschule Lübeck in Germany. Between 1999-2003 Marianna returned regularly to the Orchestra Academy of the Schleswig Holstein Music festival as a coach for piano chamber music. From 2003-2011 she has been a member of the Esbjerg Ensemble in Denmark and from 2007-2010 she taught at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen. Marianna has received high acclaim in many national and international competitions. In 1994 she placed 1st in the 'Youth Chamber Music Competition' in Paderborn, Germany(Junge Ensembles Musizieren). She was also a prizewinner in the 'International Competition for Young Pianists' in Ettlingen, Germany, 'Gaillard', France, and twice in Spain - 'Maria Canals' and 'C.I.P.C.E.'.

In 2001 Marianna received the prize in both 'the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival' and 'the Possehl Music Award' in Lübeck. In 2002 she won 1st Prize in 'the International Lion's Competition'. And in 2004, playing together with Finnish violinist Laura Vikman in the chamber music competition 'Premio Vittorio Gui' in Florence, Italy, she won 1st prize once again. In the ARD Music Competition in Munich she took home Second Prize, 'the Audience Prize', 'the Special Prize of Münchner Kammerorchester', 'the Brüder-Busch Prize' and finally 'the Prize of Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks'. The Association of Danish Music Critics awarded Marianna Shirinyan their Annual Prize in 2009. In 2010 she received Danish Radio's P2 Artist Prize for her contributions to the musical and artistic life in Denmark.

She will be featured as Carl Nielsen Artist during the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition and Festival 2012 in Odense. Then from 2013 she will embark on a two-year term as Artist in Residence with the Odense Symphony Orchestra in Denmark. Mariannas first CD was released by EMI in January 2010, presenting chamber music by Frédéric Chopin, and also featuring Danish cellist Andreas Brantelid and Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang. The CD has been very positively received by listeners and reviewers alike, winning the Danish "Grammy" (P2 Prize).

Marianna was born in Yerevan, Armenia. She commenced her musical studies at the age of seven, when she attended the Tchaikovsky music school in her home town, under the guidance of Margarita Hakobian. In 1997 she went on to study with Igor Javrian at the Komitas Music College in Yerevan, and two years later with Mathias Weber in Hamburg. Marianna completed her studies at the Musikhochschule Lübeck with Konrad Elser in 2007, with top grades. Mariannas artistic advisers in recent years have been Elisabeth Leonskaya and Leif Ove Andsnes.