Ekaterina Polyakova

Vita

Ekaterina Polyakova was born in Russia in 1987. She first studied piano in Ekaterinburg and then in Karlsruhe, before devoting herself to historical performance practice in a master's degree in Salzburg and a further concert exam in Trossingen.
 

Ekaterina has won prizes at several international competitions, such as the Fritz Neumeyer Competition in Bad Krozingen, the Fortepiano Plus Competition in Kremsegg, Austria, and most recently the “Beethoven in his time” competition in Siegburg. She also won third prize as a harpsichordist at the Telemann Competition in Magdeburg. Ekaterina has already played at renowned festivals such as the Salzburg Festival and “Mozart al Fortepiano” in Genoa, Italy. In her playing, Ekaterina is always looking for an unmistakable expression. She is interested in the emotionality and psychological structure of the works and thus invites her listeners to a musical dialog at every concert. She is currently researching Viennese fortepianos, cooperating closely with collections in Bad Krozingen and Hamburg and passing on her knowledge and passion for historical playing practice to the younger generation.

„Der Philosoph zieht seine Schlüsse; der Poet muss die seinen entstehen lassen.“ Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) mährisch-österreichische Schriftstellerin.

Ekaterina Polyakova was born in Osersk (Russia) in 1987, where she began playing piano at the age of five. From October 2005 to September 2015 she first studied at the University of Music Karlsruhe where she majored in piano and historical keyboard instruments and then pursued a post graduate degree at Mozarteum Salzburg specializing on fortepiano.

As a fortepiano player she was awarded a third price at the Fritz-Neumeyer fortepiano solo competition in Bad Krozingen, Germany, after that she was invited to perform most keyboard sonatas and complete works for four hands by W.A.Mozart at the festival "Mozart al fortepiano" in Genua, Italy, and 2017 she won the Fortepiano Plus chamber music competition in Kremsegg, Austria, as a part of Duo Markato. Another important point of her career is a success as a harpsichord player of Barockensemble Keyra at the Telemann competition 2019 in Magdeburg. Ekaterina was a finalist of the last fortepiano competition in Bruges and as a Part of Duo Rei she won recently a Joseph-Wölfl-award at the historical chamber music competition „Beethoven in his time“ in Siegburg in May 2021.

Ekaterina Polyakova frequently gives solo recitals on historical keyboard instruments and on modern piano, she is an active chamber musician and piano teacher as well. She also gives lectures about historical performance practice at Festival „Clavis“ in Russia and Germany and offers guided tours to the historical keyboard collection in Schloss Bad Krozingen and Museum for Art and Trade Hamburg. Her current research about fortepianos by Conrad Graf will be presented in October 2021 at the congress for HIP in Trossingen, Germany.