Biography
The music of award-winning composer Polina Nazaykinskaya is performed widely across the United States and Europe, celebrated for its emotional depth, lyrical power, and vibrant orchestral colors. Her symphonic poem Winter Bells remains in constant demand, performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony, among others.
Highlights of the 2025–2026 season include performances of Elegy XXII with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and the Waco Symphony, alongside the Canadian premiere of Reading the Wind with the Winnipeg Symphony. Her orchestral works will also appear with the Glacier Symphony (Fenix) and the Camerata di Sant’Antonio (Symphony for Strings), and the Oregon Ballet Theatre will create a new ballet based on Symphony for Strings. Two world premieres anchor the season: a violin–piano work for Wendy Sharp at Yale University and a piano solo piece for Ingrid Keller on the Belvedere Series.
Looking ahead, Nazaykinskaya is developing a new tone poem for cello and string orchestra commissioned by Julie Sevilla-Fraysse and the Orchestre de la Garde républicaine, a violin concerto for Igor Pikaizen, and a chamber work for The Merian Ensemble. Her music will also be performed by the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, reflecting her commitment to engaging the next generation of musicians. In recent seasons, Nazaykinskaya premiered three ballets — The Rising, Emily, and Trees — with the San Francisco Ballet and MorDance in New York City.
Looking ahead, Nazaykinskaya is developing a new tone poem for cello and string orchestra commissioned by Julie Sevilla-Fraysse and the Orchestre de la Garde républicaine, a violin concerto for Igor Pikaizen, and a chamber work for The Merian Ensemble. Her music will also be performed by the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, reflecting her commitment to engaging the next generation of musicians. In recent seasons, Nazaykinskaya premiered three ballets — The Rising, Emily, and Trees — with the San Francisco Ballet and MorDance in New York City.
Her collaborators include internationally recognized choreographers Pascal Rioult, Yuri Possokhov, Jonah Bokaer, Morgan McEwen, and Ulyana Bochernikova; conductors such as Osmo Vänskä, Teodor Currentzis, Aziz Shokhakimov, Sarah Hicks, Lawrence Loh, Hannu Lintu, and David Hattner; and soloists including trombonist R. Douglas Wright, violinist Elena Korzhenevich, pianist Anton Nel, and cellist Julie Sevilla-Fraysse.
Between 2021 and 2024, Nazaykinskaya served as Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor of the Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras. She has also led the British Youth Music Theatre, RIOULT Dance NY, and the University of Southern Mississippi Orchestra. In addition to her work as a composer and conductor, she is a Lecturer of Composition at Brooklyn College Conservatory (CUNY) and a Teaching Artist at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven.
She is a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA, ABD) in Composition from the CUNY Graduate Center, where her principal mentor was Tania León. She earned both a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music, studying with Christopher Theofanidis. At the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, she studied composition with Konstantin Batashov and violin with Vladimir Ivanov, receiving her Bachelor of Music degree.
Between 2021 and 2024, Nazaykinskaya served as Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor of the Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras. She has also led the British Youth Music Theatre, RIOULT Dance NY, and the University of Southern Mississippi Orchestra. In addition to her work as a composer and conductor, she is a Lecturer of Composition at Brooklyn College Conservatory (CUNY) and a Teaching Artist at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven.
She is a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA, ABD) in Composition from the CUNY Graduate Center, where her principal mentor was Tania León. She earned both a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music, studying with Christopher Theofanidis. At the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, she studied composition with Konstantin Batashov and violin with Vladimir Ivanov, receiving her Bachelor of Music degree.
With her larger chamber music works, Polina frequently turns to the tragedy of humanity's collective history, in particular, the Holocaust. Her work "Haim" is performed annually around the world and has become an important ensemble composition of the second decade of the 21st century.
For over a decade, she has shared a creative partnership with pianist and librettist Konstantin Soukhovetski; their current project, an opera commissioned by Opera Mississippi for the company’s 80th anniversary, will premiere in 2027.
For over a decade, she has shared a creative partnership with pianist and librettist Konstantin Soukhovetski; their current project, an opera commissioned by Opera Mississippi for the company’s 80th anniversary, will premiere in 2027.
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