Good to have [Medtner’s] Sonata-Ballade […] in a performance rivalling that of Hamelin’s — Colin Clarke, International Piano

…groundwork reading no pianist should miss — Ates¸ Orga on New Light on Nikolay Medtner

…an avid Medtner crusader — Gramophone

Alexander is an internationally recognized expert on the music of Russian composer-pianist Nikolay Medtner  (1880-1951). His doctoral thesis New Light on Nikolay Medtner: Edna Iles Medtner Collection at the British Library is widely accessed and downloaded worldwide.

In 2013, Alexander participated in the international conference ‘Medtner Family in the Russia and World Culture’ at the Glinka Museum in Moscow.

The following year, in 2014, he organised Medtner Day, a one-day festival held at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.

In 2016 and 2017 Alexander launched the first-ever international Medtner festivals in the UK. These events took place at prestigious venues, including the Royal College of Music, the British Library, Pushkin House, City, University of London, and Merchant Taylor’s Hall. The festivals featured some of the world’s leading  Medtner scholars and performers, including Professors Dmitry Alexeev, Christoph Flamm, Hamish Milne and Francis Pott, alongside emerging musicians and musicologists from around the globe.

In 2017, Alexander recorded Medtner’s Sonate-Ballade, Op. 27 for Claudio Records.

A year later, in 2018, he collaborated with internationally acclaimed Russian soprano Sofia Fomina to record a selection of Medtner’s finest songs. This recording was released by Chandos Records in 2021 to widespread critical acclaim.

In 2018, Alexander performed at the International Medtner festival in Berlin, organised by Internationale Nikolaj Medtner Gesellschaft.

In 2019, he delivered a keynote lecture-recital, Perspectives on re-interpreting Nikolai Medtner, at the University of Surrey. This event was part of the New Takes on Recorded Music, Performance Studies Network Research Forum, organised by Dr Georgia Volioti.

In 2020, Alexander performed Medtner’ Second Concerto at St John’s Smith Square in London. The following year, an article discussing this concerto was published by Olms Verlag as part of the festschrift Nikolai Medtner: Music, Aesthetics, and Contexts, edited by Christoph Flamm and Wendelin Bitzan.

In 2023 Alexander’s second all-Medtner CD was released by SOMM Recordings., receiving praise in American Record GuideBBC Music magazineFanfare magazinePizzicato.luMusic Web, Opera TodayThe Quarterly Review and Podbean.com.

Additionally, Alexander was featured in Great Canal Journeys (Series 13, Episode 3) on Channel 4, where he discussed Medtner with Dame Sheila Hancock and Gyles Brandreth and performed excerpts from Medtner’s Third Concerto.

 

#MedtnerFest 2016

With the support of the British Library, British Library Sound Archive, Royal College of Music, Royal Musical Association, Pushkin House, Russian Embassy, Dutch Embassy, GB-Russia Society and Musica Nova Academy

28-30 January 2016, London

Honorary Patron  Nikolay Lugansky

Artistic Director  Dr Alexander Karpeyev

Academic Advisor  Dr Anastasia Belina-Johnson

Thursday 28 January

Medtner Masterclass with Dmitry Alexeev at the Royal College of Music 

Concert at the Pushkin House with Dr Cahill Smith, Alexander Karpeyev and Elena Mindlina

Friday 29 January

RMA International Study Day ‘Revealing Medtner: Emerging Research and Repertoire’ at the British Library

Film screening ‘Mystery of Medtner’ by Aida Soboleva at the Musica Nova Academy

Saturday 30 January

Trip to Medtner’s grave at the Hendon Cemetery, London. Meeting by Finchley Central Underground

Pre-concert discussion at the Royal College of Music (Corelli Room) with Hamish Milne and Christoph Flamm. Chair: Dr Anastasia Belina-Johnson

Closing concert at the Amaryllis Fleming Hall with RCM students Tamara Bakoch, Lucy Colquhoun, Alexey Demchenko, Djumash Durusaliev, Eunsley Park, Victoria Skornyakova, Varvara Tarasova and Veniamin Zhukov, and Caspar Vos

#MedtnerFest 2017

With the support of the Eastern Seasons, Pushkin House, Russian Embassy, GB-Russia Society, Rossotrudnichestvo and City, University of London

26-27 November 2017

Honorary Patron  Nikolay Lugansky

Artistic Director  Dr Alexander Karpeyev

Sunday 26 November

Conversation and Medtner masterclass by Iain Burnside

Opening concert with Alasdair Beatson, Matthew ChanVasily GvozdetskyFrank HuangAlexander Karpeyev (piano), James Boyd (viola), Sofia Fomina (soprano),  John Myerscough (cello) and Beatrice Philips (violin) at the Pushkin House

Monday 27 November

Lunchtime concert with Marcus AndrewsVasily Gvozdetsky, Yuri Paterson-OlenichMaki SekiyaMaya SoltanEvgenia StartsevaDrew SteansonElena Toponogova (piano), Ilona Revolskaya (soprano)  and Elisabeth Turmo (violin)

Dmitri Alexeev‘s Medtner masterclass

Closing concert with Alexey VolodinEdith Peña (piano) and members of the London Chamber OrchestraVasko Vassilev, Kathy Shave (violins), Rosemary Warren-Green (viola), Julia Graham (cello) in Merchant Taylors’ Hall

This concert was organised and presented by Eastern Seasons

Report on the festival was published by Internationale Nikolaj Medtner Gesellschaft in German and Russian