Erik Byurkland

10-year-old pianist Erik Byurkland, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has been studying piano since 2019 under the instruction of Dr Jordan Rashkov and Oksana Tsarevska. Erik has participated in numerous local and international music competitions. Some of his recent achievements include 1st prize in the 4th Fujairah International Piano Competition 2023; 3rd prize in the Junior Category of the 2022-2023 Young Talent Music Competition; 1st prize in the 2nd Four Notes International Piano Competition 2022; 2nd prize in the Junior Category of the 2021-2022 Young Talent Music Competition; 1st Prize in the 2021 International Distance Competition “Talents of Europe”; and Silver Award in the 2021 WPTA Singapore International Piano Competition. In December 2022, he performed in a masterclass led by the acclaimed pianist and multi-prize winner, Sergey Belyavsky. In the future, Erik is determined to further improve his technique and progress to another level of musicianship as well as to explore musical composition even more. Aside from music, he enjoys studying math and playing video games and chess.