Peta Stewart
Everyone has a eureka moment and for Anna Geniushene, the pianist coming to perform the Second Piano Concerto by Brahms with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra on 17 September 2026, it was at the age of 14. This was when she tried to enter the Music College in Moscow and got the lowest mark. “That was the moment I realised that I so have some ambitions and wanted my own voice to be heard,” she says.
Well, that eureka moment has served her well and earned her the Silver Medal in the prestigious Van Cliburn Competition in 2022 in America. Her voice became heard, loud and clear and the young woman that critics had called a powerhouse with a forceful musical personality has simply soared.
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Artist in Residence
She is currently Artist in Residence with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with music director Nathalie Stutzmann and is about to embark on a career at the Royal College of Music in London. With this she combines motherhood (three children), a solo career and a duo career with her husband and duo partner, the Lithuanian pianist with Lukas Geniušas, with whom she recently released an album. She has also released several solo albums.
“Playing with Lukas is a very important part of my musical life. We perform together regularly, and the duo repertoire is something very special to me because there is a completely different kind of communication involved when you are making music with your husband.”
Working with one’s husband can be challenging for other reasons – child care. “ There are periods when we travel together and periods when our schedules take us in completely different directions. We have to plan quite far ahead and constantly coordinate who is where and who is looking after the children. It isn’t always easy, but we are both musicians, so we understand very well what the other person needs professionally. And we also try to protect our family time whenever we can.”
Having children has completely changed her relationship with time.
“Before children, I could spend an entire day thinking about one piece or one technical problem. Now, if I have even two free hours, I have to know exactly what I want to accomplish. In some ways children have also made me much more efficient and much less perfectionistic about things that don’t really matter. The boys are becoming interested in music, naturally, because there are five acoustic instruments at home and both parents play. But I don’t want to force them into anything. They are still very young, and for me the most important thing is that music remains something joyful for them.”
Anna also performs in recital and as a soloist with orchestras, “which probably takes the most of my time and energy”. Since the Cliburn win, invitations poured in and she has performed now with many of the leading international orchestras.
Brahms Piano Concerto
“It was certainly a major turning point for me. It gave me an international platform and opened many doors, but more importantly, it gave me the confidence to believe that I could be heard by many people.”
She is looking forward to playing the Brahms Piano Concerto very much.
“What fascinates me most about this concerto is the profound dialogue between the piano and the orchestra,” she says. “The piano is not a solo voice standing apart from the ensemble; it becomes part of a much larger conversation. Brahms combines the intimacy of chamber music with the scale and architecture of a symphony, creating a world in which every voice has meaning. His music has the rare ability to hold strength and vulnerability, warmth and depth, simplicity and complexity in perfect balance.”
Anna studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, having started with piano lessons at the age of five, influenced perhaps by grandmothers who had both attended music schools. She made her recital debut when she was just seven. Then, in 2017, she left Russia for London where she continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
A woman of many interests
“I’m very curious about people and about the world around me. I am devoted fan of DIY which gives me a pleasure to make something with my own hands or even give another birth to the old furniture or another outdated things.”
Anna came from Amsterdam having helped settle their children into a new international school and has brought her youngest child of eight months with her – before they settled in The Netherlands they have lived in London, Vilnius and Berlin. She goes back to pick up her heavy schedule with performances in the US, Europe and Asia.
The concert has an all-Brahms programme. Bernhard Gueller is on the podium and will direct musicians of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in a side-by-side performance with the CPO of two Hungarian Dances, then comes the Symphony No. 3. The Piano Concerto is after interval.
The pre-concert talk is at 18:45; the dress rehearsal is at 11 am at the City Hall.
Who: Anna Geniushene (piano) with the CPO/ Bernhard Gueller Conductor
Where Cape Town City Hall
When Thursday September 17 at 19:30
Concert tickets: Here, and Artscape Dial-A-Seat 021 421 7695
Dress rehearsal tickets: Here
WS
