Russian-born piano maestro Konstantin Shamray is returning to Lucas Parklands in Montville on September 14 for what’s touted as a ‘monster’ recital that includes three huge 30-minute Russian sonatas.

Shamray is now among Australia’s premier classical pianists and, combined with his physical stature and strength, is regarded as one of very few who could ‘pull off’ such a demanding program.

“It's an incredibly difficult, long, unusual program; it's Russian music, played by a Russian monster,” promoter Ian Lucas, of Lucas Parklands, said.

“If Konstantin was a car, he’d be a Hummer, if he was a plane, he’d be an A380, because the works he is playing are really big, there’s no little seven-minute pieces here.”

Konstantin will present the all-Russian program, highlighting three monumental Russian piano sonatas: Tchaikovsky–Piano Sonata, Scriabin–Piano Sonata No. 2, and Medtner–Piano Sonata “The Night Wind”.

“He can cope with the enormously long, hard work that some of the Russian works are; they demand extraordinary technique, virtuosity and stamina to get through them. To play, say 32 minutes or 33 minutes in a single piece, it's a marathon.”

Mr Lucas and his wife Lee have a long friendship with Mr Shamray, stemming from his first arrival to eventually settle in Australia.

“When I first met him in 2008, he was new to the country and we were the first family he met in Australia, which was just a pure coincidence,” Mr Lucas explained.

“And then we grew to watch him develop his career within Australia, and now of course, we are lucky he can actually spare the time to come back up here because, if you look at his schedule of performances, he's a very busy artist.”

Mr Shamray will perform at the Lucas Parklands concert hall, at Montville, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, on Saturday, September 14 at 3pm. For tickets, please phone 0409 623 228 or 54785667 Email: lucasparklands@bigpond.com. For info go to www.lucasparklands.com.au.