Interview with Concert Pianist Asiya Korepanova: Practicing, Performing, and Giving Back

Asiya Korepanova is a concert pianist, composer, visual artist, and poet. She’s known for her massive repertoire, including over 60 concertos, and for performing the complete solo piano works of Rachmaninoff during his 150th anniversary year. Her work spans everything from original transcriptions of major symphonic pieces to interdisciplinary projects that combine music, poetry, and visual art. Asiya also founded Music for Minds, a nonprofit that brings classical music into classrooms.

She maintains an active presence on Instagram @pianist_asiya, and you can find her website

here.

During our conversation we discussed her artistic journey, creative process, thoughts on music education, and more!

Sarah Kisin: My first question is: could you briefly introduce yourself and talk about your musical experiences, going back to your childhood in Russia?

Asiya Korepanova: I'm a pianist and composer, and I’m also involved in other arts such as visual arts and poetry. These have all been very intertwined artistic experiences for me since early childhood. I started playing piano when I was four, composing music at around six, and writing poetry when I was about five. I went to a special music school under the Moscow Conservatory that combines in-depth music training with regular academic subjects. Later, I studied at both the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories, focusing on piano and composition. I was fortunate to study composition with a student of Dmitry Shostakovich. I moved to the United States in 2012 and studied with Professor Santiago Rodriguez at the University of Miami for my doctoral degree. It was an amazing experience.

Sarah Kisin: Can you talk a bit about how you combine art and poetry with your music? What’s the connection between those three?

Asiya Korepanova: I’ve always done these things separately—drawing, writing poetry, playing, and composing. But in my early 20s, I started having vivid visual and thematic ideas around the Transcendental Etudes by Franz Liszt, which I was performing at the time. I thought, “Why not create illustrations and write what I feel about these pieces?” This became a project where I created an artwork and a poem for each etude. I performed the etudes while projecting the artwork and narrating the poems on stage. It was an unusual but fulfilling experience, and the audience really enjoyed it.

After a couple of years, I did something similar with Tchaikovsky’s 18 Pieces, Op. 72. Each of those character pieces has a programmatic title, like Liszt’s etudes. For that project, I used mixed media—watercolor, oil pastel, colored pencils—unlike the black-and-white ink of the Liszt project. Both had poems, and since then, I’ve done several more. My most recent one was artwork for Pictures at an Exhibition.

Sarah Kisin: Would you say this helps you communicate better with audiences, especially those without a musical background?

Asiya Korepanova: In a sense, yes. I see my art and poetry as extensions of what I do musically—not literal translations, but alternative perspectives. When we listen to music, especially instrumental music, we all have our own associations. My poems and illustrations are just mine—my own commentary. Sometimes the poem and artwork don’t even match each other, but they both match the music. They were created at different times, in different moods. I hope they inspire the audience to have their own interpretations. I’m just saying, “Here’s what I imagined—now you imagine your own.”

Sarah Kisin: What’s your general approach to performance and collaboration? How do you manage nerves?

Asiya Korepanova: That’s a great but broad question. I love chamber music and try to play with as many different musicians as possible. Next week, I’m opening a six-concert series in NYC that I’m directing. I’ll play with incredible colleagues—a recital with a bassoonist, another with a classical saxophonist, piano trios, and Chopin concertos with string quintet.

In chamber music, you may have strong ideas, but it’s important to communicate them, listen, and support your partners. You may say, “We’ll do your idea here, mine there,” and still stay in sync. It’s a different art form from solo or orchestral playing.

As for nerves: if I’m not nervous, it usually means a bad performance is coming. Nerves mean vulnerability and care. I’m not talking about crippling nerves—I’ve had that too—but a certain edge helps you focus. I always remind myself: someone in the audience is hearing this piece for the first time. They don’t care about perfection—they want to be moved. So I think, “How do I introduce this marvel to them?” That mindset pulls you out of the pressure to be flawless and into the joy of sharing.

Sarah Kisin: Can you talk about your Midnight Pieces series on YouTube? I really enjoyed it.

Asiya Korepanova :It started as a form of protest. I was frustrated that encore pieces are often just virtuosic and flashy, not musically deep. So I curated pieces that were suitable for nighttime—thoughtful and nuanced.

The idea was to introduce rarely played repertoire. Each month, I uploaded four pieces: one famous work (like Chopin’s Ballade), one obscure piece (like Bruckner’s Erinnerung—who even knew Bruckner wrote piano music?), one by a Russian composer, and one of my own transcriptions. It was a mix of education and personal joy. I was happy to hear from colleagues saying they wanted to learn pieces they discovered through the series.

Sarah Kisin: Is the “midnight” theme personal to you? Do you like practicing at night?

Asiya Korepanova: Absolutely. I love practicing at night. I don’t get to do it now because I have too many daytime responsibilities, but as a student, I used to pull all-nighters. There’s something magical about nighttime—quiet, solitude, inspiration. Most of my drawing, writing, and composing bursts came in the evening. It’s always been a creative time for me.

Sarah Kisin: Can you talk about your experiences teaching young musicians? And maybe compare the music education systems in Russia and the U.S.?

Asiya Korepanova: Sure. Russian music education emphasizes early and rigorous training in theory, ear training, and history. It’s like training a young athlete—you start early, practice daily, and progress quickly. By 4th grade, we’d finish a full course of music theory. By 10th grade, we’d played huge amounts of repertoire.

In the U.S., sometimes students prepare one recital program all year. It doesn’t teach the skill of learning new music quickly, which you need as a professional musician. But the U.S. system is more open-minded and less rigid. In Russia, you’re expected to master tradition before developing personal interpretations. You’re also under constant pressure—you can be dismissed from school if your grades drop. It’s intense.

But I’ve really enjoyed teaching in the U.S.—from young kids to college students to adult amateurs. Adults who play for love, not competition, are often the best audience members. They understand music deeply and bring so much appreciation.

Sarah Kisin: Can you talk about the Music for Minds program?

Asiya Korepanova: It started with a visit to St. Andrew’s School in Jackson, Mississippi. I was there to play a recital and was asked last-minute to play for the kids. I had no time to prepare something “kid-friendly,” so I just played selections from my evening program—Balakirev’s Islamey, Beethoven’s 32 Variations—with more explanation.

The kids were silent and totally engaged. Their teachers were shocked. It made me realize that kids can handle serious repertoire—they just rarely get to hear it. So I started Music for Minds, a nonprofit that helps me organize more school visits. I’ve played in classrooms, art classes, and invited students to draw in real time while I performed. It's been eight years now, and it's one of my most meaningful projects.

Sarah Kisin: When you do transcriptions, what’s your process? What’s important to preserve from the original piece?

Asiya Korepanova: Transcriptions used to be a way to share music without the original instrumentation. For example, Liszt played Beethoven symphonies on the piano for towns without orchestras.

For me, transcription lets me engage with music that wasn’t written for piano—like Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata or Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony. These works are deeply personal, and I want to experience them directly.

My process depends on the piece. With chamber music, it's clearer what to preserve. With symphonies, you need to decide what voices, harmonies, and textures are essential and find a way to fit them into two hands. It’s part musical analysis, part puzzle-solving.

Sarah Kisin: For big projects like learning all the Liszt etudes or your Rach 365, how do you manage the mental and physical demands?

Asiya Korepanova: With Liszt, I learned a few etudes at a time and gradually built up to the full cycle. But with Rachmaninoff, I committed to learning all his solo works—and at the time I only knew about 20%. It was intense.

My practice method is analytical—I study structure, harmony, and motifs, not just notes. That strengthens memory. The more you play from one composer, the more you recognize their patterns.

Physically, I often practice harder than I perform. I’ll play passages meant to be pianissimo at fortissimo to build endurance—like lifting weights. Pattern practice also builds security.

And naps! I learned to nap on demand as a teen. Practicing, then napping, then practicing again helps consolidate memory.

Sarah Kisin: One last question: what’s your strategy for memorizing long programs?

Asiya Korepanova: Rhythmic drills help with motor memory. I also color-code sections, write in harmonic analysis, and used to write detailed fingering notes. Sometimes I memorize one measure at a time—play it 10 times, gradually with eyes closed—then build from there. It’s tedious but effective.

With tonal music, especially in sonata form, repetition and transpositions help. Once you know the structure, it's easier to keep everything organized in your head.

Sarah Kisin: Thank you so much for your time today! This has been super interesting and informative!

End of Interview