Paul Mnatsakanov is an emerging young American-Russian-Armenian pianist, collaborative pianist/répétiteur, historical keyboardist and conductor based in London, UK. In his performances, he seeks to share with audiences an understanding of music as an art form that is all about meaning, storytelling and emotion. He will be a Young Artist at the National Opera Studio in London for the 2026-2027 season.
He has performed in numerous venues in London, including Wigmore Hall, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, St George’s Hanover Square, amongst other concert venues in England and Wales. Recent performances include Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 at Duke’s Hall, London with Hertfordshire Country Youth Orchestra; a program of English baroque music on the harpsichord for the finals of Lewis Memorial Prize competition at the Royal Academy of Music; conducting a performance from the piano of Mozart’s Keyboard Concerto No. 9 “Jeunehomme” and Concert aria “Ch’io mi scordi di te” at the Royal College of Music; a solo recital at St Mary’s Perivale; a concert as part of a Members’ Evening at the Victoria and Albert Museum, amongst others.
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Paul is a prize winner of multiple international piano competitions including “Silvio Bengalli Piano Prize” (Emilia-Romagna, Italy, 2025), “Beethoven Piano Society of Europe’s Senior Intercollegiate Piano Competition” (Birmingham, UK, 2025), “International Piano Competition Città di San Dona di Piave” (Veneto, Italy, 2024), “Kendall Taylor Beethoven Piano Competition” (London, UK, 2024), “Valsesia Musica International Competition” (Piemonte, Italy, 2023), “Città di Cantù International Piano and Orchestra Competition” (Lombardia, Italy, 2022, 1st prize and special prize for the best performance of a Beethoven piano concerto), amongst others.
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Paul has worked with singers on a wide range of repertoire, including on Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Così fan Tutte and Le Nozze di Figaro, Tchaikovsky’s Евгений Онегин, Puccini’s La Boheme, as well as on Russian and French song repertoire. In May-July 2025, he worked as Trainee Répétiteur at Garsington Opera on Beethoven’s Fidelio. In November 2024, he was the répétiteur for a production of La Boheme at the Shaw Theatre, London. In July 2024, he prepared singers and directed from the harpsichord a performance of Monteverdi, Rameau and Handel opera scenes. He fluently speaks English, Russian, French and Italian.
He graduated with a Master of Performance degree in Collaborative Piano from the Royal College of Music in London, United Kingdom, where he studied on a full scholarship with Head of Piano, Prof. Vanessa Latarche, Seb Wybrew, and Roger Vignoles, conducting with Peter Stark and Toby Purser, and organ with Charlie Andrews. Previously, he attained a first-class degree in his undergraduate studies at the RCM as a Joint Principal Study student with Prof. Vanessa Latarche, fortepiano professor, Dr. Geoffrey Govier, and Chair of Historical Keyboard Instruments, Prof. Terence Charlston. He is in the final year of his Artistic Diploma with Philippe Raskin at the Gulda School of Music in Vienna, Austria, and he continues his historical keyboard studies (harpsichord, clavichord, fortepiano and basso continuo) privately with Carole Cerasi and James Johnstone.