Meet Maya

London-based Maya Irgalina is a Belarusian pianist of Tatar origin. She performs internationally with the UK highlights including Barbican, Wigmore Hall, Machynlleth Festival, Oscar Wilde Weekend, and Cheltenham Jazz Festival.

Maya’s recent appearances include the Oxford Festival of Arts together with soprano Nicola Said, performances at Piano Week Festival in Rugby, UK, and in Quimper, France premiering the theatrical recital Who Does She Think She Is? together with mezzo-soprano Veronica Chacon.

Maya has won numerous prizes in piano competitions, including Dudley, Sydney, Maria Yudina and Scriabin. She is the winner of the RNCM’s highest accolade for solo performance, the Gold Medal, and had her Wigmore Hall debut as a winner of the Worshipful Company of Musicians auditions. Her playing was broadcast by ABC (Australia), BBC Radio 3 and Belarusian Radio.

As a soloist, she has played with orchestras including City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Belarusian Opera House Orchestra, RNCM Symphony Orchestra, Batumi Symphony Orchestra and others.

As a collaborative pianist, Maya has been selected as Britten-Pears Young Artist and was featured in Semyon Bychkov’s Beloved Friend project about Tchaikovsky. She regularly performs with such singers as Fleur Barron, Ruby Philogene and Nicola Said; she has received The Paul Hamburger Prize from Graham Johnson and is an alumna of Franz Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien, Austria.

Maya is a frequent guest in Piano Week as a performer and educator. In 2023 Maya became the ambassador of the PH Pianos, recording videos on the Danish design pianos.

Maya is very grateful to her professors Lilia Ter-Minasian, Graham Scott, Ronan O’Hora and Julius Drake. She holds the International Artist Diploma in Solo Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music and the Master’s degree in Music from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.