INTRODUCTION

Polina Tarasenko is a highly promising young trombone player known for her atmospheric performances and exceptional musicality.

RECENT AND FUTURE HIGHLIGHTS

In the season 2020/21, she played with the NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover and was a „debut artist in residence“ at the Nikolaisaal Potsdam. Invitations in 2022/2023 have led her to Barcelona, to the Konzerthaus Dortmund, the Philharmonie Luxemburg, the Tonhalle Zürich, and to orchestras such as the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt (Oder) and the Baden-Badener Philharmonie.

In 2023/2024, she will return to the Philharmonie Luxemburg and will give her debut with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Symphony Orchestra Münster, the Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Erfurt Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Sanderling and in Poland with the Filharmonia Sudecka.

BIOGRAPHY

Polina Tarasenko was born in 2001 in Kherson, Ukraine.

Between 2019 – 2022 she studied at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover with Professor Jonas Bylund and entered the Hochschule der Künste Bern in autumn 2022 to study with Professor Ian Bousfield.

Polina holds scholarships from various foundations; since the beginning of her studies in Germany, she has won several prizes at many international trombone competitions in Italy, France, Germany, and the USA. She is a prize winner of the Aeolus International Wind Competition 2023 and has received three special prizes at the International ARD Competition in 2022.

Polina Tarasenko is also a devoted chamber musician. In July 2023 she was invited to the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at Schloss Bothmer and to the Gezeitenkonzerte in Ostfriesland. In 2021, she founded together with her fellow students from Hannover the Anima trombone quartet. Polina began to play music at the age of five, first on a drum kit, then on the saxophone, trumpet, and trombone in the children’s jazz group “Dixieland” in the Kherson Palace of Children’s and Youth Creativity. As part of “Dixieland”, she regularly performed at concerts and festivals, not only in Ukraine but also abroad.

In 2011, Polina started to be taught via Skype by the trombonist Alexandr Nyankin who at that time lived in Taiwan. At the Moscow Rotary Competition in 2013, she received two prizes and was invited to study at the Gnessin Moscow Special School of Music in the main specialty trombone and electives saxophone, trumpet, composition, piano, and organ. She was honored as the best student of the school in 2015 and graduated there in 2018 with the highest honors.

AUDIO & VIDEO

Polina Tarasenko – Martijn Padding – Three pieces for trombone solo – First piece (Düsseldorf, 2023)

Polina Tarasenko – Joseph Guy Ropartz- Piece in E-flat minor (Düsseldorf, 2023)

Polina Tarasenko – Nino Rota, Concerto for trombone and orchestra (17. Internationaler Aeolus Bläserwettbewerb, Düsseldorf, 2023)

REVIEWS

Concert with the Sinfonieorchester Münster (conductor Golo Berg) – 2023

“Right away a surprise: the young trombonist Polina Tarasenko (born in Kherson, Ukraine, in 2001) comes on stage with two instruments, two mutes and a hood for the bells. That is her equipment for the concerto of the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho (born in 1949). He is not exactly an avant-garde leader. Nonetheless, he draws from the instrument unconventional sounds, now lyrically vibrating, now powerfully attacking. Polina Tarasenko in between sings into her mouthpiece. It’s a pleasure to hear this exotic music, especially when it’s played by such a subtle and exciting soloist”

– Christoph Schulte im Walde, Westfälische Nachrichten, 16.11.2023

Concert with the Brandenburgischen Staatsorchester Frankfurt/Oder – 2022

“The American composer Elizabeth Raum’s „Olomouc“ concerto for alto trombone and orchestra – inspired by fragments of anonymous compositions from the late 18th century – is a melodic delight for the ears. She dresses the sound of Vienna classicists in a pleasant modern fitting. The Ukrainian soloist Polina Tarasenko plays her solo part with smooth warmth, a virtuoso’s jubilant pleasure, mixing energy and intimacy.”

– Peter Buske, Märkische Oderzeitung, 14.11.2022

ARD-Competition Munich 2022

“Polina Tarasenko had a wonderful musical flow in Xenakis’ exceptionally noisy “Keren for solo trombone”.

– Rita Argauer, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 6.9.2022

Concert at the Nikolaisaal Potsdam – 2022

“In her first appearance in Potsdam’s Nikolaisaal in 2021 the trombonist Polina Tarasenko won the streaming audience over right from the start. She amazed it with virtuoso coolness and stylistically mastered transitions between jazz and classic, as a multi-talent on the trumpet and the saxophone as well. And now at last we have the chance to hear her live, this many-sided, humourous artist, who
fears no risks.”

– Nikolaisaal Potsdam, Concert on Jan. 18, 2022

Concert with the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover (conductor Andrew Manze) – 2021

“The greatest surprise is Polina Tarasenko who came with Lars-Erik Larsson’s Concertino for trombone and string orchestra. And when it’s played the way this 19-year-old Ukrainian plays it, we have 12 minutes of intelligent humor and atmosphere. A full-bodied sound, but even more fascinating is the warmth, the art of fine hues, and the high-spirited playfulness in the finale.”

– Rainer Wagner, HAZ, 21.6.2021

NEWS

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