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 2026–2027 season include a performance of Fractures by the Wichita Symphony under Daniel Hege and the recording of Nazaykinskaya’s new Violin Concerto by violinist Igor Pikayzen, conductor Kristiina Poska, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Warner Classics, with Grammy Award–winning producer Michael Fine. Her cello tone poem About Love, written for Julie Sévilla-Fraysse, will be presented at Paris’s Salle Cortot, while a new chamber work commissioned by the Merian Ensemble will receive performances at Emory University and Spivey Hall.
The season follows a series of recent orchestral and interdisciplinary projects, including performances of Elegy XXII by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and the Waco Symphony, the Canadian premiere of Reading the Wind by the Winnipeg Symphony, and the Oregon Ballet Theatre’s creation of a new ballet set to Nazaykinskaya’s Symphony for Strings. Recent projects also include Fenix at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival and performances of her music by the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, reflecting her continued commitment to engaging the next generation of musicians.
The season follows a series of recent orchestral and interdisciplinary projects, including performances of Elegy XXII by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and the Waco Symphony, the Canadian premiere of Reading the Wind by the Winnipeg Symphony, and the Oregon Ballet Theatre’s creation of a new ballet set to Nazaykinskaya’s Symphony for Strings. Recent projects also include Fenix at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival and performances of her music by the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, reflecting her continued commitment to engaging the next generation of musicians.
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 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 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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