Croatian born pianist Maksim Mrvica is one of the first pianists to successfully tackle classical crossover in earnest. His edgy take on the classics, gothic allure and his bad boy, roguish good looks have won him many fans in Asia and all over the world. Maksim is known for infusing beats and dance with classical. In 2008 Maksim was invited by the Chinese Government to perform at the Three Gorges Dam as part of the Beijing Olympic Celebrations. Don’t miss out on the first time ever Maksim plays live in Hong Kong. Maksim Mrvica Maksim Mrvica is a Croatian pianist. He plays classical crossover music. Mrvica was born in Šibenik, Croatia. He took up piano lessons from the age of nine from Marija Sekso and gave his first public performance in the same year. Just three years later he gave his first concert performance of Haydn’s Piano Concerto in C major. When war broke out in 1991, both Mrvica and his professor were determined that this would not disrupt his music studies. In spite of the war and surrounding turbulence, Mrvica entered in, and won, his first major competition in Zagreb in 1993. Mrvica went on to study at the Music Academy in Zagreb where he spent five years under Professor Vladimir Krpan, who himself was a pupil of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. He then spent a year at the Franz Liszt Conservatoire in Budapest and during this year he won first prize at the Nikolai RubinsteinInternational Piano Competition. In 2000, he moved to Paris to study with Igor Lazko and gained first prize in the Pontoise Piano Competition in 2001. When he returned to Croatia he found himself to be the focus of intense media interest and he made frequent television appearances as well as giving a great number of interviews. He soon found himself recording his first CD, Gestures, an album of contemporary Croatian piano pieces. Gestures became one of the fastest-selling classical recordings to be released in Croatia, and Mrvica was even invited to officiate the Porin award ceremony, an honour not usually granted to a classical artist.