Popular classical-crossover pianist Maksim enthralled Malaysian music lovers at an intimate concert on Valentine’s Day, where he performed a collection of his greatest hits on the first stop of his 2023 The Collection Asia Tour.
The Croatian musician, who returned to perform in Malaysia after almost 20 years (his first concert was in 2004), is recognised as the world’s highest-selling crossover pianist, having sold over four million copies of his albums throughout 57 countries.
Maksim’s concert, held at Plenary Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, attracted a crowd of 2,500 attendees, many of whom were youths and young children.
The day before, at a press conference, the 47-year-old musician spoke to members of the media about the importance of encouraging and inspiring young children to take up classical music, and how he finds it rewarding to be regarded as a role model.
“I realise the potential problem, that if we don’t continue the tradition of classical music to younger generations, one day, there will be no one to continue this tradition,” said Maksim, who has been playing the piano since he was nine years old.
“So as a classical musician, when I see parents coming after the show, leaving messages that their children are playing my repertoire and have the motivation to practise more and more, it feels very rewarding.”
“Sometimes young people see classical music as too serious, and the way it’s presented in a concert hall can be a little cold for them.
“So, crossover which fuses classical and other types of music is more interesting to them.
“I always say I’m such a lucky person to be doing what I’m doing, to have art as a job is very rewarding and beautiful,” he continued.
“I always say to kids, that to become a professional instrumentalist it’s a lot of sacrifice, it’s a lot of practising and when you’re a child it can be sometimes really difficult. In the end it pays off, it’s such a beautiful job, it’s very creative and very rewarding in the end.”
Maksim’s first album, The Piano Player, released in 2003, sold more than four million copies, achieving double platinum in Hong Kong and Gold status in Singapore and many other countries.
This featured The Flight Of The Bumblebee (an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov), a fast-paced track played at frantic speed, which is to date his most recognisable hit.
Widely regarded as one of the most successful classical-crossover artistes, having broken down boundaries between music genres, Maksim has played sold-out concerts all over the world, including a 20-city tour in Japan.
Proof of his enduring popularity, two decades into the business, were several sold out concerts held in 2021 and 2022, when Covid-19 restrictions made movement complicated, yet he still managed to hold three concerts in Taiwan, and six concerts in New Zealand and Australia.
Jokingly, he expressed that he had never spent so much time in hotel rooms, without seeing a single person for weeks. (This was during the quarantine period.)
But it was bearable as “I had a piano in my room”, he quipped.
Maksim was a teenager when the Croatian War of Independence started in 1991, but he persevered with his music studies, going on to win his first major competition in 1993 in Zagreb.
“Music can be an escape from the harsh realities, which was the case for me,” he said.
“My teacher and I, we used to practise for hours, it was a kind of oasis, so you can remove yourself from that situation.”
Eleven albums later, he is still making waves in the music scene, possessing the ability to draw an audience in with his incredible talent and unwavering charisma.
At the KL concert, he gave the audience an energetic and exciting performance, playing a variety of songs including The Flight Of The Bumblebee, Nostradamus, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Croatian Rhapsody, and the theme songs from Game Of Thrones, Mission Impossible and Pirates Of The Caribbean.
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