Ukrainian-British violist and conductor Maxim Rysanov, has established himself as one of the world’s most vibrant and charismatic musicians. He is principally known for his performances as a violist, and guest of the crème of the international music scene at: the BBC Last Night of the Proms, Verbier, Great Mountain, the Tran Siberian and Edinburgh Festival, and the Salzburg Festival, among others. After having completed a conducting fellowship at the GSMD he started combining his viola performance with his career as a conductor.

His conducting engagements include: the Spanish Radio Orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the Riga Sinfonietta, the London Mozart Players, the Baltic Neopolis, the Scottish Ensemble, the Russian National Orchestra, and Moscow Musica Viva, the Kiev Soloists, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, the Georgian National Symphony Orchestra, the Częstochowa Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra Chaarts, the Detmold Chamber Orchestra, the Dala Sinfonietta, the Southbank Sinfonia, the Voronezh Youth Orchestra, and the Danubia Symphony. He has aslo conducted at festivals: Dubrovnik (with Roger Moore as narrator); Utrecht (with Janine Jansen); Boswil (with Vilde Frang); Surrey Hills (with Nicola BenedettI); the Budapest Festival Orchestra (Kelemen Quartet); and the finale of the Beijing Viola Festival.  

Conducting appearances this season include: the Plovdiv Philharmonic (Kristina Blaumane); the Sofia Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Bulgarian premier of Cantata by Dobrinka Tabakova); the Sofia Philharmonic, the Royal College of Music String Orchestra, the Lviv Philharmonic, the Detmold Chamber Orchestra, the Lepaje Symphony Orchestra (soloist David Geringas); and the Pforzheim Stadtsorchester.

 As a conductor, Maxim has worked with solists including: Mischa Maisky, Nicola Benedetti, Vilde Frang, Janine Jansen, Boris Brovtsyn, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Sergei Krylov, Susanna Yoko Henkel, Sergei Suvorov, Kristina Blaumane, Ashley Wass, Benjamin Yusupov, Leonard Elschenbroich, Dora Kokas and Kelemen Quartet, among others. Maxim featured as both conductor and soloist on the debut disc of composer Dobrinka Tabakova (ECM) in 2013 - a disc that reached number 2 in the UK classical charts and was shortlisted for a Grammy Award.

His concerto highlights include: the Mariinsky Orchestra (Valery Gergiev); the Russian National Orchestra (MikhailPletnev); the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Jiří Bělohlávek); the Seattle Symphony (Andrey Boreyko); the Orquesta de Castilla y Leon (Vasily Petrenko); the DSO Berlin (Tugan Sokhiev); the Moscow Philharmonic (Yuri Simonov); the BSO (Vladimir Fedoseev); the Gurzenich Orchestra (Sir Mark Elder); the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (Philippe Herreweghe); the NDR Philharmonic Orchestra (Eivind Gullberg Jensen); the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (Juraj Valcuha); the RTE Symphony Orchestra (Olari Elts); the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (Arvo Volmer); the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (Vladimir Verbitsky); the Auckland Symphony Orchestra (Eckehard Stier); the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (Michael Schoenwandt); the Malaysian Philharmonic (Yan Pascal Tortelier); the Shanghai Symphony (Long Yu); the Orquesta Sinfonica de Euskadi (Diego Matheuz); the Ulster Orchestra (Paul Watkins); the European Union Youth Orchestra (Matthias Bamert); the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg (Michal Dworzynski); the Kazan Symphony (Alexander Sladkovsky); and Strasburg (Vasily Sinaisky).

Maxim has long been recognised by the international music scene and his list of prizes affirm his status. His awards include: the Classic FM Gramophone Young Artist of the Year Award; and the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Award; as well as the Geneva, Lionel Tertis and Valentino Bucchi competitions.

Maxim is a keen promoter of new music. He recently conducted the Russian premier of the Piano Concerto by Benjamin Yusupov. His enthusiasm for new music has generated collaborations, which have extended the viola repertoire.  This includes world premieres by Dobrinka Tabakova, Richard Dubugnon and Sergei Akhunov. Other composers with whom Maxim has developed a close working relationship include: Benjamin Yusupov, Leonid Desyatnikov, Giya Kancheli, Artyom Vassiliev and Elena Langer. In 2014, Maxim presented Penderecki's double concerto in a Russian premiere. In 2016, he premiered a new viola concerto by Peteris Vasks that was co-commissioned by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Vale of Glamorgan Festival and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg. Other performances include: the Turku Philharmonic, the Riga Sinfonietta, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta,  the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Wurttemburgisches Kammerorchester Heilbron, and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra.

Maxim's commercial CDs have continually gained awards that include the Gramophone Editor's Choice and ECHO, ICMA, Gramophone and Grammy nominations, as well as reaching the top of the iTunes charts in the USA. His recent recording of the Martinu Rhapsody – Concerto was shortlisted for the Gramophone Award. Maxim also featured as both soloist and conductor on the debut disc of composer Dobrinka Tabakova (ECM) in 2013 - a disc that reached number 2 in the UK classical charts and was shortlisted for a Grammy Award.  In 2017, Onyx released a double CD devoted to music, by and inspired by Schubert.

Originally from the Ukraine, Maxim has made London his home. He studied viola with Maria Sitkovskaya in Moscow and John Glickman in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He studied conducting with Alan Hazeldine at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and has taken part in several masterclasses including with Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Jorma Panula.