Biography
Nikita Khnykin was born in Norway in 2003 and started playing the piano at the age of nine. He is currently studying with Prof. Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist at the Musikhögskolan Ingesund and he’s artist-in-residence at the Ingesund Piano Center in Sweden.
Since 2016, Nikita has also been a member of the talent program at Prof. Jiri Hlinkas Piano Academy in Bergen, a mentoring program where he regularly receives lessons from leading Norwegian musicians such as Leif Ove Andsnes and Håvard Gimse and attends master classes with world-class pianists such as Bertrand Chamayou, Richard Goode, Jan Jiracek von Arnim, Marianna Shirinyan and Polina Leschenko. He is also a scholarship holder of the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein and takes part in the intensive weeks and activities that take place there.
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Nikita has won several important national and international competitions including several top prizes at the “Norwegian National Music Competition” where he won all sorts of prizes in 2020 such as the “Talent of the Year”, the “EMCY Prize” and the audience award. He also won the 2022 “Swedish National Music Competition Unga Solister”, the 2016 “Steinway Piano Competition” in Norway, the 2015 “Young Musician International Competition” in Estonia and the 2016 “Young Piano Competition” at the Prague Conservatory.
He has appeared as a soloist at concerts and festivals in Norway and abroad, such as the 2019 De Unges Konsert with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Cathrine Winnes, where he received the Audience Award and a scholarship from Kavlifondet. Other highlights include several performances with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK) of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Ari Rasilainen in 2018 and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 in 2020, broadcast live on TV and radio, as well as solo performances with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra. Recent achievements include a tour with the Ingesund Piano Center in late March 2022 for Dubai Expo 2020, presenting works by Nordic composers to an international audience.
In fact, Nikita has also worked with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, albeit as a composer. His work Poeme for orchestra was performed and recorded by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2021, conducted by Christian Eggen.
A passionate chamber musician, Nikita has played in a variety of ensembles, from string duets to wind sextets. Together with the clarinet trio DaNiBi he was part of the Norwegian mentoring program Crescendo in 2016, in which he worked together with Konstantin Heidrich. Other important teachers are Lars Anders Tomter and Henning Kraggerud.
As a chamber musician, he has performed at the Kavli Awards, Bergen International Festival, Oslo Chamber Music Festival and numerous other high-profile occasions, such as for Queen Sonja of Norway. In 2022, he played Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Oslo Symphony Orchestra and was subsequently awarded the prestigious Levin Prize. In 2023, Nikita performed at the Bergen International Festival, the Trelleborg Piano Festival, the Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival and the Helsingborg Piano Festival, where he made his debut with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra.
Nikita received a handful of grants from The Kavli Trust (Kavlifondet), Ånun Lund Rejs Minnefond and Drømmestipendet.