Anastasia Markina | Age 29 | Russia/USA

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ms. Markina started playing piano when she was almost four years old, winning her first competition six years later. Her first teacher, Tatyana Shrago, led her to win her first international piano competition in Marsala, Italy in 1992.

After graduating from Music School, Ms. Markina took lessons with Alexander Mndoyants and Maria Mekler. In 1994, she entered the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music where she studied for four years in the studio of Mary Guseva, student of Pavel Serebryakov. While there, she won several international piano competitions, including First Prize at the First International Maria Yudina Piano Competition, First Prize in solo and First Prize in chamber music at the Beach of Hope International Music Festival and Competition in Dobrich-Albena, Bulgaria, and was one of the three prize winners at the Peter the Grreat Music Festival in Groningen, Holland in 1997.

After receiving her diploma with honors from the College of Music, she was invited to study in the United States by Victor Rosenbaum, well-known teacher and pianist, and director of the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA. In 1999, she moved to the Dallas-Forth Worth area to continue her education at the University of North Texas in the studio of Prof. Vladimir Viardo (Gold medalist of the 1973 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition).
While studying at UNT, she continued winning competitions in the United States, including First Prize at the San Angelo Sorantin International Music Competition, First Prize at the First Bösendorfer International Piano Competition, First and Grand Prize at the Young Texas Artist Music Competition, and Second Prize at the First José Iturbi International Music Competition. In November, 2005, she performed Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the San Angelo Symphony under Hector Guzman. In January, 2007, she performed the Ravel Piano Concerto in G with the Phoenix Symphony under Lawrence Golan. Her upcoming performances include solo and orchestra appearances in the United States, Mexico and Austria. She is currently pursuing her Artist Certificate Diploma.

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