Osip Nikiforov is a Siberian pianist who studied under the tutelage of the world-renowned pianists－Alexander Braginsky, Yefim Bronfman, and Jon Kimura Parker. He is also a Third Prize winner of 2016 San Antonio International Piano Competition.
Born in the city of Abakan in Siberia to a family of musicians, Osip started studying piano with his father at age 6. In 2026, Osip Nikiforov was awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant for a series of solo piano concerts in Minnesota dedicated to Tchaikovsky and Liszt’s anniversaries. In 2024, he recorded a series of folk tale inspired piano pieces for children by the Ukrainian composer Aida Isakova, which was broadcast nationally on Minnesota Public Radio and is now available online as part of the "Folk Classics from Across the Globe" radio special. In 2020, he was awarded First Prize at San Antonio Young Artist Tuesday Musical Competition. Osip is regularly invited to perform at concert series as well as festivals, including the Minnesota Orchestra Summer Festival in Minneapolis, the Schubert Club Courtroom Concert Series in St. Paul, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago, the Memorial Classical Music Series in Houston, and the Mozart Festival Texas in San Antonio. Besides the United States, he has given solo recitals in Spain, Germany, Israel, South Africa, Russia, and Japan. Osip has also frequently collaborated with national and international orchestras, including the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Khakass Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Mississippi Valley Symphony Orchestra among others. He is also the Second Prize winner of 2014 Music Teacher National Association Competition in Young Artist Division in Chicago.
Osip Nikiforov is an Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Previously, he was on the Piano and Keyboard Skills Faculty of Macalester College. Osip is a graduate of University of Minnesota, Manhattan School of Music, and Rice University. He has also appeared on Minnesota Public Radio, WFMT Radio, GetClassical, Classical Connect, Star Tribune, Austin Daily Herald, and Houston Press. In Fall 2021 Osip’s first piano solo album “Russian Elegie” was released by Orpheus Classical on all major digital platforms.