Polina Leschenko
Polina Leschenko was born in St Petersburg into a family of musicians and began playing the piano under her father’s guidance at the age of six.
Two years later she performed with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra in St Petersburg. In 1991 Polina moved with her family to Europe where she studied with Pavel Gililov and Vitaly Margulis. At the age of 12 Polina made her UK debut at the Barbican Hall in London playing Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ piano concerto.
Leschenko has worked with such prominent orchestras as the Salzburg Camerata, Hallé Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Britten Sinfonia, Bern Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, Orquesta de Euskadi and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Polina has given critically acclaimed solo recitals and chamber music concerts at such renowned venues as the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Cité de la musique in Paris and the Opera House in Sydney. An accomplished and admired chamber musician, Polina Leschenko also performs frequently at many festivals, including the Salzburg Festival, Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, Verbier, Risor, Stavanger, la Roque d’Anthéron Aldeburgh, Oxford, Cheltenham, Stift, Istanbul, and Musiktage Mondsee.
Regular collaborations with artists have included Martha Argerich, Ivry Gitlis, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Ilya Gringolts, Julian Rachlin, Heinrich Schiff, Mischa Maisky, Torleif Thedéen and the Auryn Quartet.
In 2003 Polina Leschenko recorded a début CD for EMI Classics in the series ‘Martha Argerich presents…’ with works by Liszt, Chopin, Kreisler/Rachmaninov, Brahms and Bach/Feinberg. She also recorded a well received disc of Prokofiev chamber music with Martha Argerich, Christian Poltéra and Roby Lakatos, for Avanticlassic, with whom she has a long term recording contract. Her recital disc – featuring an all-Liszt program including the B minor Sonata – was released in May 2007 to great critical acclaim, receiving a “Choc” du Monde de la Musique.
Polina’s most recent CD’s include a recital CD entitled “Forgotten Melodies” (Avanticlassic), Mendelssohn double concerto with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Richard Tognetti (BIS ) and a recording of the Dvorak piano quartet op. 87 on EMI Classics as part of the “Martha Argerich and Friends: Live from the Lugano Festival 2012” series.
During a three-year residency, from 2009 to 2012 Leschenko held the position of International Chair in Piano at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff.
Starting from September 2013 Polina became professor of Piano at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, Belgium.
