Maksim Mrvica

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Maksim Mrvica
Country	Croatia
Years active	1999-2006
Genres	Classical Crossover / Techno-Classical
Labels	EMI Music / Lisinski Studios

Album cover of The Piano Player (2003)

Maksim Mrvica (pronounced "Mrvitsa") (born May 3, 1975) is a popular pianist from Croatia.

1 History
2 International appeal
3 Adaptations and Arrangements
4 Trivia
5 Discography
- 5.1 Albums
6 External links

[edit] History

Mrvica was born in Šibenik, a town on the Adriatic coast in Croatia. He started taking up piano lessons at the age of nine from Marija Sekso and gave his first public performance in the same year. Just three years later he gave his first concert performance of Haydn’s Piano Concerto in C major. When war broke out in 1990, both Mrvica and his professor were determined that this would not disrupt his music studies. In spite of the war and surrounding turbulence, Mrvica entered in, and won, his first major competition in Zagreb in 1993.

Mrvica went on to study at the Music Academy in Zagreb where he spent five years under Professor Vladimir Krpan, who himself was a pupil of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. He then spent a year at the Franz Liszt Conservatoire in Budapest and during this year he won first prize at the Nicolai Rubinstein International Piano Competition. In 2000, he moved to Paris to study with Igor Lazko and gained first prize in the Pontoise Piano Competition in 2001.

When he returned to Croatia he found himself to be the focus of intense media interest and he made frequent television appearances as well as giving a great number of interviews. He soon found himself recording his first CD, Gestures, an album of contemporary Croatian piano pieces. Gestures became one of the fastest-selling classical recordings to be released in Croatia, and Mrvica was even invited to officiate the Porin award ceremony, an honour not usually granted to a classical artist.

[edit] International appeal

Soon after this launch Mrvica was spotted by the musician, author and manager Tonči Huljić, who composed several tracks for the crossover string quartet, Bond, and it was Tonči who put Mrvica in touch with British impresario Mel Bush. Mel had, by chance, been looking for a new pianist for some time and he recognised Maksim's potential to appeal to a wide range of audiences. EMI Classics was also interested in Mrvica and soon a new album was underway. This album was The Piano Player, which gave a new spin to compositions by Handel and Chopin. Since its release in 2003 it has been very successful, particularly in Asia, where it has achieved Gold status in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and China, Platinum in Taiwan and Croatia and Double Platinum in Hong Kong. It was also in the number 1 slot in the HMV international pop chart in Hong Kong for twelve consecutive weeks.

Mrvica has performed in a couple of international beauty pageants and MTV awards. His image and charisma has also attracted the interest of global brands such as American Express, who sponsored him in Singapore, and automobile giants Chevrolet and BMW, for whom he performed at their respective Colombian and Malaysian car launches.

[edit] Adaptations and Arrangements

There is a Chinese-lyrical version added to the non-lyrical song of Maksim Mrvica's "Claudine" and this musical piece was sung and written by singer Edmond Leung from Hong Kong. According to Boxup.com, Edmond was so captivated by Maksim's performance of "Claudine" that he asked Maksim's permission to do a lyrical version in Cantonese. Thus, Maksim accompanies him on the piano. As a result of that collaboration, a bittersweet ballad called Xin Wang Ai, or "Trust in Love" was produced and this music track is still currently out in the market (only available in some Asian countries).

[edit] Trivia

Maksim's favourite colour is black, as is his wife's. Also, on almost every one of his (world tour) concerts or piano performances, his attire he is dressed in black.
So far, Maksim owns 3 pianos and one electronic keyboard for recording purposes at home. The first is a grand piano in London, United Kingdom, and is the same the piano on which he performed his first piano concert before his world tour. The other two pianos are his own custom grand piano, and a Petrof upright piano on which he used to play with when he was younger.
His favourite piano makers are Fazioli, Steinway, & Petrof. ^{[citation needed]}
His daughter's name is Leeloo, and she is the inspiration for the track Leeloo's tune in his album Variations Part I&II.