“Eleonora Bekova is fantastic. She balances emotion,
intellect and style beautifully and her touch can transform
the piano into an instrument that sings like a human voice.
Her brilliant technique is true to the Russian school
of pianism from which she springs.”

Martha Argerich

Eleonora Bekova first came to prominence as the pianist in the renowned Bekova Piano Trio but this consummate musician has developed a growing reputation for her work in accompanying leading operatic singers and has released her first solo CD on the Chandos label- a collection of piano works by Martinu with a second solo project under preparation.

The Bekovas have performed at all the most prestigious chamber music venues in London, has toured Canada and appeared in New York and at leading Festivals throughout the UK and Europe, and have been amongst the principal artists at the Albustan and Melbourne Festivals. 2008 engagements include several Festival appearances in France.

The repertoire of the Bekova Piano Trio is extensive and includes all the major piano trios from Haydn to Schnittke. Eleonora and her sisters have successfully arranged solo, duo and orchestral music for piano trio including Tchaikovsky’s ‘the Seasons’ and Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures from an Exhibition’. Arrangements of Russian encore pieces “Elegy” were published by Boosey and Hawkes in two volumes.

The Bekovas´ recording work as a Trio now extends to over twenty CDs currently available in the catalogues making them the second most recorded piano trio after the Beaux Arts. These include the complete cycles of trios by Franck, Brahms and Martinu, and trios by Clarke, Grechaninov, Ives, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich including the latter’s Song Cycle to the poetry of Blok with the soprano, Joan Rodgers. The Bekova Piano Trio has achieved critical acclaim as being in the first rank of chamber ensembles and their recordings have been adjudged to be amongst the CDs of the year by Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. The Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Martinu recordings in particular, are regarded as benchmarks against which all other recordings are measured.

Eleonora and her sisters have either commissioned or been dedicatees of several new works by composers such as David Heath, Michael Finnissy, Timur Tleukan, Stephen Gerber and Sergei Zhukov and more new compositions are in progress. The triple concertos by Zhukov have been played to rapturous audiences in Moscow and have been recorded on CD.

Eleonora has, in addition to her work with the Trio, recorded the Brahms, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich Cello Sonatas with Alfia Bekova and six CDs of songs by Russian composers with the globally-acclaimed tenor, Sergej Larin. Together with Larin she appeared at the Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and in Moscow, St Petersburg, Brussels and Berlin. Concerts with Larin have included the Louvre International Concert Series in Paris and a performance in Vilnius, Lithuania, both of which were transmitted live on national television and subsequently broadcast across Europe.

Eleonora has appeared in concertos performing under the direction of Rozdestvensky with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Alexeyev with the St Petersburg Philharmonic and Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra in addition to appearances with the Lithuanian State Symphony, Queensland Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

She frequently appears in the broadcast studios both as a performer and featured interviewee and Bekova recordings are played by radio stations across the world, particularly frequently in the USA, Brazil and Australia.

In 2001, Eleonora Bekova gave the world premier performance of the Zhukov Piano Concerto of which she is the dedicatee. The concert with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ponkin was a highlight of the 23rd Moscow Autumn Festival.

Recent projects have included trio appearances at festivals in Britain, France and Italy. Eleonora has been the Artistic Director of the Malta International Summer Festival which she helped to revive in 2004 and at which she has appeared with many different international chamber musicians and singers. She has also been the inspiration and driving force behind the annual Kazakh Gala which will have its fifth edition in December 2008 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Cadogan Hall in London.

Eleonora Bekova is both eye and ear catching with an intriguing provenance. She is a truly virtuoso pianist who possesses an exceptional talent for playing in chamber ensemble. With a compelling and beautiful stage presence, she is intensely musical in a way which is true to the composer and to the Russian tradition whilst playing with a timbre and expression which is uniquely her own.