Dr Kirill Monorosi

Kirill Monorosi is an Australian pianist, musicologist, composer and teacher.

Prior to completing his PhD in 2014 at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, he completed a professional training course at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatorium and studied at the Franz Liszt Hochschule für Musik in Weimar, Germany, where he received Diplom and Aufbau A degrees in piano performance.
Kirill was a Finalist and Diploma Prize-Winner of the 2010 J. S. Bach International Piano Competition in Würzburg, and has been awarded numerous other awards, including the Australian Postgraduate Award (APA), two Robert Hatherley Scholarships and a J. S. Bach Foundation Research Grant (Germany). In 2014, he was awarded the prestigious Churchill Fellowship to continue his research in European archives. This resulted in the discovery of numerous previously unpublished and uncatalogued works by a member of the ‘Mighty Handful’ – César Cui, and unpublished works by other composers, including J. C. Bach, Nikolai Medtner, Alexander Glazunov. Works Kirill has since edited for publication and is in the process of recording.
As a performer, Kirill has given recitals with solo, chamber music and concertos in Asia, Europe, Latin America, Australia and Russia, with repertoire ranging from the English virginalists to works produced in collaboration with contemporary Australian composers. In 2009, he was invited to perform a solo recital on Liszt’s piano in the Liszt Museum, Weimar. In 2012, in a series of lecture-recitals he performed the world premiere of César Cui’s Variations-Preludes Op. 104.
Kirill recorded the first book of J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, and released a live recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. Recently released recordings include his own arrangements of J. S. Bach’s 6 Trio sonatas for organ – recorded together with Mark Walton on clarinet / soprano saxophone, and the premiere recording of Nikolai Medtner’s 6 Preludes.
Kirill is passionate about music education, and participates in and organises numerous events, including masterclasses and festivals. He maintains a busy teaching schedule at his studio in Sydney. A number of his students have won full music scholarships at leading schools in Sydney, and have achieved success in local, national and international competitions, performing in venues such Carnegie Hall (New York), the Mozarteum (Salzburg), and the Sydney Opera House.
From 2016, Kirill is the Artistic director and Co-chair of the Jury of the International Piano Competition J. S. Bach in Memoriam Walter Blankenheim, Germany, and has been invited to the jury of other major competitions, just as the 2024 Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition in Brisbane, Australia.
In 2021, he published his Op. 1 – 24 Etudes for piano, one of the first collections of piano work in all 24 keys by an Australian composer. In 2022, he completed his Op. 2 – Clavier-Büchlein (Little piano book) with numerous solo and duo works composed specifically for children, and in 2023, a set of Arabesques for piano.
Links to recordings and Live-concerts:

Live Recordings

CDs


Prof. Inge Rosar

Prof. Inge Rosar, Germany

Inge Rosar studied music education in the piano class of Prof. Walter Blankenheim at the University of music in Saarbrücken, Germany and completed her studies with the concert exam. She won awards in many competitions, such as: 1st prize in the International Bach Competition, Paris, France (1983); 1st prize for two pianos in the International Piano Duo Competition “Carlo Soliva”, Moncalieri, Italy, 1986; the Master Players Prize in the International Piano Duo Competition, Lugano, Switzerland, 1989.

She has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and Lied accompanist in Europe, Russia, the USA, Argentina, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia.
In 1992, together with Prof. Walter Blankenheim, Inge organised the 1st International Piano Competition J. S. Bach, Germany (which took place at the University of music in Saarbrücken). In 1998, Inge was asked to become a jury member of this competition. From 2007 to 2016, she was artistic and administrative director and chair of the competition jury. Since 2016, the International Piano Competition J. S. Bach in Memoriam Walter Blankenheim, Germany has been jointly organised by Inge Rosar (Co-chair of the Jury) and Dr Kirill Monorosi (Artistic director and Co-chair of the Jury). In 2020, Inge and Kirill founded the International Online Play Bach Competition for children and students.

From 2001 until her retirement in 2020, Inge was Professor of Piano and Didactics/Methodology at the Würzburg University of Music. In April 2020, together with Kirill and Olaf Krüger, she founded the International Johann Sebastian Bach Academy in memory of Walter Blankenheim, which offers online seminars on Bach interpretation and online lessons.

In January 2012, her article “Problems and Opportunities: Designing the Piano Works of
J. S. Bach on the Modern Piano” was published and was featured in the book The Pianist’s Craft. Mastering the Works of Great Composers published by Scarecrow Press in the USA.
From 2012 Inge Rosar and Dr Kirill Monorosi gave a number of master classes and lectures in universities in Europe, Russia, USA, Argentina, South Korea, and Australia. From 2012 Inge Rosar began recording piano works by J. S. Bach, and has so far recorded 12 CDs, some of which appear with an interpretive edition of J. S. Bach’s scores, indicating structures, articulations, fingerings, and dynamics. The scores are published by La Folia Music Publications, Sydney.