The gifted and charismatic Russian pianist, Varvara Tarasova, was born in St Petersburg.
In 2014 she won a scholarship from London’s Royal College of Music as a postgraduate student in Master of Performance under the tutelage of Professor Dina Parakhina. In 2015 Varvara has also received a postgraduate degree under the supervision of Professor Elena Kuznetsova at Moscow State Conservatory.
Varvara Tarasova began her studies in piano from the age of 5 at the preparatory department for talented children at the St Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Music College, and she moved on to continue her studies at Moscow Tanyeev Music School, graduating with top honours in 2004. In 2008, she graduated from Music College under Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, again with top honours, and also winning the Award of the President of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
Varvara has performed in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Portugal, as well as in the USA, Brazil and, of course, Russia. She participated in the ‘Torre de Canyamel’ Piano Festival (Mallorca), Rheingay Music Festival (Germany) and ‘Creative Youth’ Music Festival (Moscow).
Her most recent achievements, in 2015 in the UK, include winning the 3rd Sussex International Piano Competition (Worthing), audience prize and best performance of compulsory piece; and the Hopkinson Gold Medal at the Chappell Medal Competition (London). In 2014, she had taken first prize at the 21 Concorso International De Piano Rotary Club Palma Ramon Llull (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) and triumphed at the 17e Grand Prix International Piano et Recontres “Jeunes Talents” (Montrond-les-Bains, France).
It was in 2002 that Varvara won her first competition prize, in a competition celebrating the works of the famous Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin – from whom she received the award personally. Since then, she has won a large number of piano competitions, such as the 8th Moscow Competition’s ‘Steps to Mastery’ (2003), International Bluthner Competition (Kaliningrad, 2007), Maria Yudina Open Festival of Young Musicians (Moscow, 2009), and the national competition ‘Young Talents of Russia’ (Moscow, 2012), among many others.
Varvara has performed concertos with a number of orchestras and conductors, including the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra under Misha Rakhlevkiy; the Symphonic Orchestra of the State St Petersburg Glinka Capella with Alexander Chernushenko; the Russian Chamber Orchestra under Konstantin Orbelian and the Worthing Symphony Orchestra with John Gibbons.
Varvara currently collaborates with the Yamaha Artistic Center and St. Petersburg International Performing Arts Center. She is a scholarship holder assisted by Sir Roger and Lady Carr Soiree d’Or Scholar
She also performs in chamber ensembles. Her piano duo Varvara Tarasova-Natalia Sokolovskaya won the 19th International Piano Competition Camillo Togni in Brescia, Italy (2007) and the international Krasnodar Kamerate (2007) as well as being laureates of the 3rd The Modern Art and Education international competition in Moscow (2008).
In partnership with Mariana Osipova (violin), Varvara became the 1st Prize laureate of London International Music Competition (2010), and the Grand Prize winner of the International Music Competition Jurmala 2011.
In the 2015-2016 season, Varvara Tarasova is engaged to be a soloist with the orchestras and chamber ensembles in London and Worthing (UK), Rome (Italy), Palma de Mallorca and Alicante (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), Paris and Lyon (France), as well as in St Petersburg, Moscow and other Russian cities.
In 2016 Varvara Tarasova is engaged to record her first CD with pieces of J.Brahms and R.Schumann by Champs Hill label. She also won a scholarship from London’s Royal College of Music as an Artistic Diploma student for the 2016-2017 academic year.
