Dmitry Shishkin

Dmitry Shishkin is a Russian pianist who appears with the Columbus Symphony performing Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, a fast, percussive work full of rhythmic drive and lyrical contrast. He has built a career on the competition circuit, and listeners can expect a performance that leans into the concerto's energy and its brief moments of quiet reflection.

In this Columbus Symphony program, Shishkin plays Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, a piece that opens quietly on a clarinet melody before the piano crashes in with hard, rhythmic chords. Listen for the contrast between passages where the pianist's hands move very fast over the keys, almost like machine-gun fire, and slower sections where a simple tune is passed between piano and orchestra with more tenderness. The final movement returns to the driving energy of the opening, ending the concerto with a sense of triumph. Pianists who specialize in this repertoire tend to bring both stamina and clarity, since the fast passages can easily blur if not played with precision. Paired on the program with Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, this concert as a whole leans toward big, dramatic, twentieth-century Russian orchestral writing.