Leeds International Piano Competition winner plays Petworth Festival

He will be offering a recital in St Mary’s Church on Friday, July 29 at 7.30pm when his programme will feature Haydn – Variations in F minor Hob 17/6; Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op 111; and Liszt – From 12 Etudes d’exécution transcendantes S 139.

For the competition last year, Alim performed Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In a remarkable clean sweep, he also took home the medici.tv Audience Prize and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society Prize for contemporary performance.

“Leeds was an incredible experience,” he says. “It was so rewarding especially after the lockdowns. So many people of my age thought what is going to happen in the future and so many people lacked motivation. But I think really you just had to keep on hoping for things to get better. And really I used the time to prepare. I didn't know during the first lockdown whether I would be preparing for Leeds but I was always preparing for my dream which is to be a concert pianist. I really took the chance to learn some of the goal pieces that I knew I would need. It was a case of staying positive.”

As for success on the day: “It was a mixture of things. Music is so subjective and there are so many strong people out there. The level is so high. You can't possibly say that somebody is the best because that will change every day but really I think for me the stars were just aligned. I think it depends on so many things. I think it depends on the repertoire but it also depends on the jury members and also on the other competitors but I think it also helps the fact that Leeds required so much repertoire. I just think that seemed to work for me. And during the actual performance you forget about the competition. I do usually subconsciously get nervous in competitions because there is so much pressure but you've just got to listen to yourself and just adapt to how things are going and enjoy it if you've got a really beautiful piano.”

And then of course comes the pressure of having won: “I thought to myself that I would never be nervous again after the semi-finals. What else could be this pressurised? But I do always feel slightly nervous ever since winning. The title changes everything. It opens so many doors. And you've got to keep up the reputation and keep up the standards and remember everyone else that has won the competition previously – and that brings its own pressure as well.”

Born in Kazakhstan, Alim said: “I moved to the Purcell School from when I was 12 and then I went to the Royal Academy and the Royal College from 18. But I was studying in Moscow for two years before that because my parents were always trying to find something more. They were always striving for more. I grew up in Kazakhstan and my mum and I went to Moscow because they heard good things about the Moscow teaching. And then somebody told us about London and we thought we should try it. I went to auditions.”