Evgeni Petrichev - Royal College of Music

Dear Mrs Grahame and Members of the Honourable Society of Knights of the Round Table,

My name is Evgeni Petrichev, I am 20 years old, and I come from Germany. Music has always been a big part of my life and the piano has become a true friend of mine so every minute we spend together is a pure joy. To me it is important that the performer has a very special connection to her or his instrument in order to develop as a good musician. I see every single performance as an opportunity to share love and warmth through the music and my playing as I strongly believe that music is the greatest gift you can give to someone.

2014 is the year when I first saw the famous Royal College of Music as I visited London. I was standing on the steps leading to the Royal Albert Hall and I looked up to the towers of the College where you could hear the students practising. I immediately knew that it is my dream to study there. I found out about the Junior Department. I auditioned one year later and spent three amazing years surrounded by an inspiring and motivating atmosphere and warm-hearted people. And after the audition for Senior College my dream has come true, and I am very happy and even more motivated. This is the place where the piano and I can connect even more and where I can grow as a musician, performer and person.

The first two years of undergraduate studies have been an amazing experience for me. I have learned so many new things and made new, fantastic friends who are great musical colleagues. Due to Covid19, I had online classes and lessons beginning from March 2020, but I have still learned a lot, and the RCM has done everything possible for us students. I had many concerts already set for winter 2020 but all events were cancelled due to various lockdowns. Nevertheless, I have stayed informed about competitions and masterclasses for the time everything opens up again.

I cannot tell you how delighted and grateful I am to be a Knights of the Round Table Award Holder and I and my parents are enormously happy about your support. Thanks to this support I can fulfil my dream of studying at the Royal College of Music and follow all my future dreams and goals – thank you so much. Your support will have an enormous impact on my musical career.

Yours sincerely,

Evgeni Petrichev

Biography

Born on 5 November 2000 in Würzburg, Germany, Evgeni Petrichev had his first piano lessons at the age of five. Evgeni has won top prizes at the international piano competitions including many first places in New York such as the Young Gifted Musicians Festival “Passion of Music“ (Gold Medal and the Scholarship for Vianden International Music Festival & School) and the Steinway Piano Competition in Hamburg.

Evgeni has performed in recitals at the Royal Albert Hall, the Laeiszhalle-Musikhalle Hamburg, the Weill Recital Hall at the Carnegie Hall, Toscanasaal of the Residence in Würzburg. In 2014 Evgeni played Beethoven’s Piano Concerto Op.15/1 with the Glinka State Chapel in St. Petersburg under Viktor Sobolev and Rachmaninov's second Piano Concerto in 2017.

Evgeni has given many recitals in order to donate the earnings to an NGO helping refugees and to a project that builds a school-complex in Accra (Ghana). He also supported an educational programme for children in need at a recital he gave at Jesus College in Cambridge (UK). In 2018 he was reinvited to give recital in the castle of Bad Mergentheim. In May 2019 he gave a recital at the Royal Albert Hall Elgar Room.

Evgeni studied with Neil Roxburgh at the Royal College of Music Junior Department from 2016 to 2018, and in 2019 he was awarded the Constance Poupard Memorial Prize for Piano. He is continuing his studies as a Knights of the Round Table Award Holder at the Royal College of Music towards an undergraduate degree with Professor Andrew Zolinsky.