Maksim Barbash

Biography

Maksim Barbash is a winner of many international competitions including the Grand Prix at the «Young Talents of Belarus» in Belarus and second prize at the E. Coca competition in Moldova.

As a soloist with orchestra Maksim has appeared with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus, the Symphony Orchestra of the National Television and Radio Company of Belarus, the Metamorphose string orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra Budweis CR and others. Most recently he performed Schelomo Hebrew Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra by E. Bloch with the Symphony Orchestra Basel under the direction of Tarmo Peltokoski.

Maksim took part in many international festivals: Harp Festival Zurich (Switzerland), Révélations - Jeunes Interprètes (Switzerland), Festival momentum (Germany), Cello Festival in Rutesheim (Germany), Festival Cirque au Sommet (Switzerland). He was invited by several international institutions and famous foundations, such as the BOG Stiftung (2nd prize), Lyceum Club and Swiss Foundation for Young Musicians. Maksim gives solo and chamber concerts with a rich and varied repertoire in Belarus, Russia, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. 

Recently well-known harpist Alexander Boldachev and Maksim performed at the festival in Zurich world-premiere piece called "Fondamenta della Misericordia", written for them by Belarusian composer Valery Voronov.

Maksim was born in 1996 in Dzerzhinsk, Belarus. He began his musical studies at the age of seven at the Dzerzhinsk Music School. In 2015 he graduated from Glinka Music College in Minsk (class of Natalia Slonevskaya) and later in 2020 Maksim graduated from Moscow State P. Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the guidance of Prof. Alexey Seleznev. Wen-Sinn Yang influenced his further development through master classes and private lessons. In 2022 he graduated with a Master in Solo Performance under Prof. Thomas Demenga at the Academy of Music in Basel, Switzerland, and was awarded for both the best Master recital as well as for the best appearance as the soloist with orchestra of his entire graduation year. Currently, he is pursuing his Post-Graduate Studies in Basel under Prof. Danjulo Ishizaka. 

He also took part in master-classes given by David Geringas, Antonio Menesis, Julian Steckel, Giovanni Sollima, Anssi Karttunen and Steven Isserlis. 

Maksim is also an avid performer and interpreter of contemporary music and has performed in Ensemble DIAGONAL, took part in «Nachtstrom 101» – Hommage an Erik Oña, playing his piece «Das Gold des Rheins», several performances of «Fracking» by composer Hans Thomalla and participated in various projects with the Zone expérimentale. In 2021 he recorded Stravinsky’s septet in the Grosser Saal of the Musik-Akademie Basel.

Maksim plays a modern cello (Thiemo Schutter and Rahel Widmer, Bern 2020) offered to him by Musik-Akademie Basel.