
Swiss pianist of Russian descent Polina Ushakova gives recitals at prestigious venues such as Gasteig in München, Carnegie Hall in New York, Musiikkitalo in Helsinki, and Salle Cortot in Paris. Polina Ushakova gives recitals at prestigious venues such as Gasteig in München, Carnegie Hall in New York, Musiikkitalo in Helsinki, and Salle Cortot in Paris.
Polina Ushakova made her debut as a soloist at the age of 10 at the Concert Hall
of the Rostropovich State Academic Philharmonic in Russia. In 2013 her interpretation
of the Liszt Concerto in E flat major under the baton of Ari Rasilainen with the Basel Symphony Orchester was assessed by critics as a mature, outstanding performance. In 2017, she was invited to open the New York Piano Festival at the DiMenna Center, performing Bach Concerto in D minor conducted by Guerguan Tsenov. For the past ten years, she has given numerous solo and chamber concerts
and has been invited to festivals in the United States, Russia, Finland, Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland.
Polina has won international music competitions and awards. Her successes include Grand Prizes in Val Tidone Piano Competition (IT), Suisse concours national du jura (CH), Münchner Klavierpodium Wettbewerb (DE), second-prize and the special Karl Heinz Kämmerling Award of the Grotrian Steinweg Wettbewerb (DE), V Krystian Tkaczewski International Piano Competition (PL) and Nicati-de-Luze Competition (CH). She won first prizes in the Kiefer Hablitzel Music Competition (CH), Adilia Alieva Concours International Musical Annemasse Genève (FR/CH), Belgrad Piano Competition (RS), New Century Talents Competition (RU), as well as Fritz Gerber Award (CH) and Clavarte Foundation Award (DE).
She collected two top prizes at the inaugural New York Piano Competition (USA), winning the Virtuoso Award as well as the first-prize.
Polina received the master's degrees with distinction from the Basel Musik-Akademie
and the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana in Switzerland, after studying
at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot in France,
the Sibelius Academy in Finland and the Hochschule der Künste Freiburg, Germany.
She has studied with Nataly Fish, Matti Raekallio,
Vitaly Berson, Adrian Oetiker, Vovka Ashkenazy, and Marian Rybicki.
«Crystalline clarity, elegance and sparkling diamond piano playing»
– Marcus Vitolo, Music Critic
«Leggerissima. Polina Ushakova offre subito un’impressione di grande leggerezza e fragilità. Eppure si tratta di una delle più promettenti e volitive virtuose della sua generazione.»
– Ufficio stampa, Palermo Classica
«Imaginative performance, its sound conveys the entire spectrum of color shades. That's a reflection of this fascinating natural condition of synesthesia, which made her associate musical notes with colours...»
– Homero Francesch, pianist
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