RUSSIAN pianist Nika Shirocorad will play a piano recital at the National Centre for Early Music, York, on October 18 in support of the Young Talents Music Foundation.

Born in St Petersburg in 1979 into a family of well-known artists, Nika has lived in many places since leaving Russia, such as Paris, Stockholm, London and Manchester, but has decided to make more of her life in York. Here she has a weekend retreat to provide an escape from a high-pressure life in London and keeps her piano at a house in Haxby.

In June, she graduated with a PhD in music at the Royal Academy of Music, an award that rewards her for 30 years of intense practice and performance in Russia, Japan, Sweden and Britain.

At the age of six, Nika had received the Diploma for Children’s Musical Compositions from the Union of Composers in Moldova. By 16, she had won two international piano competitions and she went on to have careers in music, art and acting.

"I'm now working on growing my own fledgling academy in London for teaching classical music," she says. "As part of that process, I've written a musical, retelling the story of Alice In Wonderland and incorporating classical music."

The piano is a character in the musical and the other parts are played by young musicians taught by Nika, along with herself playing the part of Alice. "The Alice In Wonderland project will offer some of York’s young musicians the chance to perform alongside me and I hope that this will become a regular opportunity, one which could develop in really exciting ways, potentially also inviting collaborations from theatre and visual artists," she says.

Funds raised at Nika's concert will support the development and delivery of the project, offering young people opportunities to gain musical experience through productions of Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass in York, Leeds and London.

Next month's concert is the last in a series of four by Nika that takes the audience through four periods of classical music. The 7.30pm programme covers the Modern period, taking in French Impressionism and Russian classical music, which Nika will explain and demonstrate through her recital of Debussy's Preludes Book 1 and Estampes ("Pagodes"); Ravel's Oiseaux Tristes (Sad Birds); Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux (Catalogue Of Birds) and Rachmaninoff's Preludes Opus 23 and Etude Tableau Opus 33.

The event is organised and sponsored by Pyramid Gallery, Terry Brett's art and jewellery gallery on Stonegate. "This is the ninth recital evening that Pyramid has promoted and, on this occasion, I've decided to give the tickets away in advance and invite the audience to make donations on the night," he says.

"I want to make sure that Nika, who is giving her time, has the capacity crowd that she deserves. So I made the decision that Pyramid Gallery would sponsor the cost of the hall and piano tuner, in the hope the audience will be so enamoured by the performance that they'll happily donate money, in the knowledge that all the proceeds will be used towards giving our young musicians really special and memorable opportunities to support their development.

"If you would like a ticket, all you need to do is go into Pyramid Gallery and collect it or they can be reserved for free by phoning 01904 641187. There'll probably not be any seats to buy at the door, but if there are, these will be priced at £20 each."