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 her hometown. At the age of twelve, Polina Leschenko made her UK debut at the Barbican playing Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto.
Since then, she has worked with prominent orchestras such as the Camerata Salzburg, the Hallé, the London Mozart Players, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Polina Leschenko has given critically acclaimed recitals and appeared in chamber music concerts at such renowned venues as the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York, the Cité de la Musique in Paris and the Sydney Opera House.
An accomplished and admired chamber musician, she also performs frequently at many festivals, including the Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano and the Salzburg, Verbier, Risør, Stavanger, Roque d’Anthéron, Aldeburgh, Oxford, Cheltenham, Stift, Istanbul, Lockenhaus and Musiktage Mondsee Festivals. Her regular artistic collaborators include Martha Argerich, Ivry Gitlis, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Ilya Gringolts, Mischa Maisky and Torleif Thedéen.
Polina Leschenko’s most recent CDs include a recital disc entitled Forgotten Melodies on Avanti Classics, the Mendelssohn Double Concerto with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Richard Tognetti on BIS, Dvořák’s Piano Quartet op. 87 on EMI as part of the Martha Argerich and Friends Live from the Lugano Festival series and Deux with Patricia Kopatchinskaja, which was released in 2018 on Alpha Classics.
