Katya is one of the most gifted young pianists in the world . A prize-winner of major international music competitions in recent years , Katya has revealed through her innate musicality an individual and rare gift combined with the highest standards adhering to the Russian school of piano playing . Born in Moscow , into a musical family , she studied with Ada Traub and Anna Kantor at the Gnessin School before emigrating to Israel in 1990 where she continued her studies with Irina Berkovitch in Jerusalem's Rubin Academy of Music . Winning a prize through the America-Israel Cultural Foundation , she studied with Irina Zaritskaya at the Royal College of Music in London being awarded the Queen Mother Gold Medal from HRH The Prince Charles in 1995 .

Katya's first major success in international music competitions was in Vilnius when she was Prize-Winner in the Balis Dvarionas Young Musicians Competition in 1986 , later in Israel , she won the " Young Talents " competition on Israel Radio in 1993 , Silver Medal at the 1995 Dudley International Piano Competition , in March 1996 she won the London Philharmonic / Pioneer Young Soloist of the Year and later the Lasmo Staffa Young Musician of the Year following which she was a Prize-Winner at the 1996 Leeds International Piano Competition ( 6^TH place ) . In 1997 Katya was presented with the Terence Judd Award as the most outstanding young pianist of that year . In 1998 Katya shared 2^nd place at the 1998 Scottish International Piano Competition and in 2000 she won the prize for the finest performance of a Schubert work at the Dublin International Piano Competition .

Katya has worked with many orchestras world-wide including the Moscow and London Philharmonics , the Jerusalem Symphony , Halle Orchestra , Philharmonia Orchestra , Florida West Symphony , Bournemouth Symphony , BBC Scottish Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras . Conductors with whom Katya has worked include Sir Simon Rattle , Alexander Lazarev , Owain Arwel Hughes , James Lockhart , Christopher Seaman and David Shallon . An important event in Katya's early career was her performance on Moscow Radio , when she was just 14 , of Mozart's C major Concerto . In 1999 her first recitals for BBC Radio 3 were broadcast of works by Bach - Busoni , Haydn and Prokofiev . Her first concerts in the United States were at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo in 1994 .

Katya has given concerts allover Europe and has performed in Manila , in the Philippines. Notable debuts have been at the Royal Festival Hall in 1996 and at the Wigmore Hall in 1997 . In her development as a concert soloist , Katya embraces a wide concerto repertoire which includes concerti of all the great masters ; J.S.Bach , Haydn , Mozart , Beethoven , Chopin , Grieg , Rachmaninov , Tchaikovsky , Prokofiev and Shostakovich . Her concert recitals include a repertoire embracing the baroque through to contemporary composers as diverse as Messaien and Shchedrin . In future seasons , Katya will be performing throughout Europe appearing at major Arts Festivals and performing with leading symphony orchestras all over the world .