Maxim Shatalkin was born and raised in Russia and now lives and works in Montreal, Canada.
A prizewinner of the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation (2004), the Rachmaninov International Competition in Saint Petersburg (2012), and the Vienna International Piano Competition (2013), Maxim is a core member of Trio Fibonacci and a collaborative pianist at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music.
He is a graduate of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, where he studied piano with Valery Kastelsky, Elena Kuznetsova, and Mikhail Voskressensky, and chamber music with Alexander Bonduriansky of the Moscow Piano Trio. In 2006, after winning the prestigious Swedish International Duo Competition with cellist Alexander Zababurkin, critics praised his performance, writing: “Shatalkin proved to be a pianist of remarkable command—nothing was overlooked. His interpretation showed rigorous stylistic fidelity, a perfectly balanced temperament, and dazzling virtuosity.”
As part of the Kudriakova–Shatalkin piano duo, he went on to win the Pietro Argento International Competition in Italy (2015) and the Boston International Chamber Music Competition (2016).
Since 2022, Maxim has been a featured artist with Trio Fibonacci. At Montreal’s Bourgie Hall, he performed in a multi-year concert series featuring over 30 piano trios. In 2023, the ensemble toured Quebec and British Columbia with a program dedicated to minimalist composers. In 2024, the trio toured the United States and represented Quebec in a gala concert at the Centre France-Amériques in Paris.
Maxim has appeared at major international festivals, including Sweden’s Julita Festival, Germany’s Science and Music concert series, the Sviatoslav Richter Festival in Tarusa (Russia), Ottawa’s Music & Beyond, the Banff Centre’s Summer Music Festival (Canada), and Brazil’s Concertos Didáticos in Belo Horizonte and Concertos para Belém series.
He has also given masterclasses at leading American institutions such as the Colburn School (Los Angeles), the Bob Cole Conservatory (Long Beach), the Jacobs School of Music (Indiana), and the University of Michigan, mentoring students in both piano and chamber music.
In the summer of 2023, he joined the Orford Music Academy as a guest collaborative pianist for the cello class of Natasha Brofsky, faculty member at the Juilliard School.