
«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
«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
Polina Ushakova has given recitals at prestigious venues such as Gasteig in München, Carnegie Hall in New York, Musiikkitalo in Helsinki, and Salle Cortot in Paris.
The pianist made her debut as a soloist at the age of 10 with the Symphony Orchestra of Nizhny Novgorod State Rostropovich Philharmonic under the baton of Alexander Skulsky. In 2013 her interpretation of the Liszt Concerto in E flat major with the Basel Symphony Orchester in Switzerland 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.
Her international 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), Singapore Piano Island Competition, 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.
Born in Gorky Oblast, USSR, Polina began her musical training at the age of four,
and went on to attend the Sibelius Academy in Finland and the
Hochschule der Künste Freiburg, Germany, before receiving the master's degrees
with distinction from the Basel Musik-Akademie and the Conservatorio
della Svizzera italiana in Switzerland, as well as the
Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste (Artist Diploma)
at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot in France.
She has studied with Nataly Fish, Matti Raekallio, Vitaly Berson, Adrian Oetiker,
Vovka Ashkenazy and Marian Rybicki.
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