Biography
Maria Nikiforov started her musical education and stage experience with singing in the Nieuw Amsterdams Kinderkoor in the Netherlands. She discovered the piano at age five at the Muziekschool Amsterdam.
She proceeded to audition for the Young Talent division of the Conservatory of Amsterdam and getting admitted to the Bachelors program in 2013. Maria continued her piano studies under the tutelage of Frank van de Laar and Frank Peters. She obtained her Bachelor of Music diploma in 2021 with excellent results, playing a program featuring both French and Russian composers.
She participated in festivals in Italy, France and Switzerland, receiving masterclasses from renowned pianists such as Enrico Pace, Michel Dalberto, Claire-Marie Le Guay, Edith Fisher, David Kuyken, Pascal Devoyon and Denis Pascal.
Having an affinity for languages and French culture, Maria organised an Erasmus exchange to Paris in 2019. She worked on oeuvres by M. Ravel, F. Liszt and F. Chopin with Michel Dalberto and Claire-Marie Le Guay at the Conservatoire National et Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. Over the last decade Maria has been performing on various stages, while also participating in various piano – and chamber music competitions, for example: Prinses Christina Concours (Diplôme d’Honneur) and the Young Pianist Foundation Competition.
During her years as a bachelor student at the Conservatory of Amsterdam (2017-2021) Maria’s interest sparked in the well-being of professional musicians. She’s made the conscious effort to engage in conversation with her international colleagues and teachers about mental health. She started putting her ideas on paper in 2020, which resulted in a fruitful collaboration with the editor in chief Eric Schoones of the international magazine PIANIST, in the form of published articles, columns and concert reviews (see writing).
Maria was awarded two esteemed scholarships, enabling her to start the next chapter of her professional life in France. In 2022 she became one of the first creatives to receive the Bourse d’Excellence Van Dongen, a scholarship by the Institut Français de Pays-Bas and Campus France. She was awarded the Dutch National Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds scholarship in 2023. The scholarship juries supported Maria in becoming a part of the Faculty of Arts at the Sorbonne Université as a musicology student. She is currently doing a Master of Artistic Creation at the Université Paris Cité, specialising in art therapy for musicians.
See below for a description of her current research.
Being born and raised in Amsterdam while having Russian-Ukranian roots has given Maria an affinity for languages and communication from early childhood. She considers herself lucky to be bilingual and believes that languages and the philosophical teachings of different cultures are paramount in creating a universal ‘togetherness’.
Her pedagogical engagements and proficiency in five languages are a testament to what she wants to leave behind: a universal awareness of ones musical- and mental development over the course of a long lasting career.
The Aware Musician
It is easy to forget about our own mental wellness when striving to give the best performance of our lives.
Artists are athletes, but on top of that they’re portraying emotions during their performance practice in front of an audience. In order for that demanding combination of skills to work, a space for reflection is needed from time to time.
Enter The Aware Musician.
This ongoing research is deeply rooted in self-awareness, mindfulness and psychopathology. It applies to young professionals and seasoned artists alike. By expanding upon it in the near future, Maria hopes to direct the attention of musicians towards any mental obstacles they could be facing during their (musical) development, in order to help cultivate long-lasting, balanced careers.
Being a musician herself, she finds it essential to also illuminate the backstage of a musicians mind: “If students don’t become aware of their eventual mental obstacles during their most formative years at a conservatory, this could result in a complicated relationship with being on stage. I would love for artists to become self-sufficient and pro-active in this regard.”
This ongoing research is meant for young professionals and/or seasoned artists and will be expanded upon in the near future.
