Biography
About Maria Vekilova
Maria Vekilova was born in Moscow in 1992. From the age of five, she studied the piano with her mother. She started do give concerts early in her childhood and took part in lots of festivals in Moscow as a solo pianist as well as in chamber music.
She graduated with distinction the music school in 2006 as a pianist. The same year, Maria started to play the organ.
Between 2008 and 2012, she studied at the Music Central School near the Conservatory of Moscow and studied organ under the leadership of Alexei Parshyn as well as musical theory and musical literature as her specialty.
From 2012 until 2018, she was student at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels specializing in organ with Professor Bernard Foccroulle and his assistents Yoann Tardivel and Ghislain Leroy. In June 2017, Maria graduated from Master 2 with the greatest distinction and in June 2018 from specialized master (the North-German organ style) with great distinction.
In 2008, she was an award winner at the 9th International Organ Competition in Saint Petersburg. The same year, she was awarded with the third prize at the International Musical Competition «Don Vincenzo Vitti» in Castellana Grotte, Italy. In 2009, she won the first prize at the Russian National Competition «Organo Duo» in Kondopoga, Russia. In 2010, she won the first prize at the Sancta Caecilia russian National Competition and also was a winner in the 4th Valery Kikta International Organ Music Competition in Moscow.
In October 2014, she won the 5th Pierre de Manchicourt International Organ Competition which takes place in Béthune and Saint-Omer on two different istruments of baroque and romantic styles. She also received an additional prize from the audience for her performance of baroque music.
Since 2016, Maria has been titular organist of St. Marc’s church in Uccle/Brussels.
In September 2018, Maria joined young talents of Belgium by taking part in organ concert sequence ORGAN NIGHT FEVER playing on a new organ in the Grand Hall Henry Le Boeuf of BOZAR Philharmony in Brussels.
Today, Maria performs a lot of chamber music with singers and musicians such as Andreas Scholl, Asmik Papian, Priscila Olegario, Sergei Suvorov and others. She played also with the Russian National Orchestre, « Musica Viva », ensemble « InAlto » and others.
Maria performs concerts and recitals all over Europe (Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany, Finland, etc.) and of course in Russia.