Yekaterina Lebedeva

Yekaterina has launched an initiative of performances that have combined music with images, dance, poetry, and film, both as solo piano or chamber music. Examples include:

• a sell-out recital in the Southbank Centre, where she used colour and light to enhance Scriabin’s music;
• a programme for the International Herald Tribune London Arts season with Rambert Dance Company performing an original choreography, contemporary music and discussions on the interplay of Soviet culture, music and politics;
• a series of concerts for piano and cello or piano and flute with a black and white film of Paris and Buenos Aires in the 1930s;
• a concert for piano and violin with live poetry;
• a series of concerts for piano, flamenco dance, and original paintings projection, with voice and flute (London, Cairo Opera House, Istanbul, Germany); and
• a concert that speaks in more ways than one: “(Im)mortality and weather changes for beginners” – classical piano music and film about change of seasons with sounds of Nature (UK).

Yekaterina Lebedeva made her performance debut in an extensive national concert series in her native Russia. In 1988 she entered the Kiev State Conservatoire in the Ukraine. There, she became in constant demand as a recitalist, performing solo and chamber concerts, and appearing at major festivals in both the Ukraine and Russia. She graduated from the Conservatoire with Distinction in 1993.

Yekaterina moved to London to establish a European base from which to develop her solo career further. In March 1998, she made a debut in the Purcell Room, invited to play as part of the SBC Young Musician’s Platform ‘FRESH’. Since then, she has appeared regularly at the Southbank Centre and abroad.

Highlights of past seasons included Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra (Cairo Symphony Orchestra), sell-out return performances in the Purcell Room (Southbank Centre), and Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Winds at the Athens Megaron (Orchestra of Colours, Athens). Her performing career has also taken her to France, Austria, Russia, Greece, Sicily, Turkey, Dubai and Jordan where she performed under the Patronage of HRH Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein. Most recently, she took part in the International Forum on music performance and pedagogy in India, resulting in the recital at the most prestigious hall of New Delhi – Teen Murti Bhavan in the former residence of ex-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Yekaterina was invited to create the musical programme of the ‘Breathless’ London art season, sponsored by the International Herald Tribune. In three “stunning” concerts, she performed major classical works (with Rambert Ballet dancers and original choreography), confirmed her versatility with further concerts of contemporary global music and uncovered hidden gems of Soviet music, while discussing the relationship between music and society with the IHT European editor.

Yekaterina has launched an initiative of performances aimed at making classical music accessible and appealing to all audiences, while exploring ways of linking music with other art forms such as dance, poetry and visual arts. Most recently she has given a sold-out recital in the Southbank Centre where she used colour and light to enhance music of Scriabin according to the instructions he had left himself.

Yekaterina is teaching piano at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and the Royal College of Music, as well as at the City Lit Institute in London. Her students have won many international prizes including first prize in the Concours International de Piano Lalla Meryem in Morocco, second prize in the Young Pianist of the North International piano competition in UK, first prize in the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe piano competition, second prize in the Scriabin International piano competition in Paris, second prize in Piano Talents International piano Competition in Milan, second prize in Valletta International Competition and others. Her students regularly perform at Wigmore Hall and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. A special relationship has been developing between her students and Lang Lang. Two of her students were Lang Lang Award winners and have played in the Royal Festival Hall at the ‘Lang Lang Inspires’ concert and follow-up concerts in the Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Two of them have had masterclasses with him in London and at the Stowe School.

Yekaterina has been an Artistic Director of Young Virtuosi Festival in France for five years. She is a Founder and an Artistic Director of the Musical Odyssey Masterclasses in Nafplio, Greece.