Ksenia Berezina
Performance website - www.kseniaviolin.com
“Ksenia’s highly developed musicianship and technique allows her to perform early music, Romantic masterpieces and Modern and contemporary works with the same passion and professionalism. She is a natural performer, and an outstanding ensemble player – made for the stage.”
- Dr. Felix Andrievsky, Royal College of Music
“Ksenia Berezina’s playing is scintillating, assured and captivating; she enraptures audiences and transports them to another world with effortless grace and charm.”
- Simon Over, Southbank Sinfonia
Ksenia Berezina is a highly accomplished violinist with an international reputation and versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. Alongside the demands of performance, Ksenia has a strong commitment to teaching others, both chamber ensembles and individual pupils. She is a founder member of the Messiaen Quartet and the Muse Piano Quintet, both of whom have won prestigious competition awards.
She also plays in a wide range of major orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. She has played under many distinguished conductors, such as Antonio Pappano, Barry Wordsworth, Vladimir Jurowski, Andris Nelsons, and Edward Gardner.
Ksenia was educated at the Moscow Conservatory in Russia, and at the Royal College of Music in the UK, where she is now resident.
Born in Russia in 1985, Ksenia was exposed to music at an early age through her mother’s role as a choreographer. At the age of nine, she won 1st prize in the National Young String Players competition held in Yekaterinburg. She studied in Moscow with Alexey Gulianitzcky at the Central Music School and then with Igor Frolov at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, from where she graduated with distinction in 2009.
Ksenia then moved to London, supported by a Leverhulme Trust scholarship, to study with Dr. Felix Andrievsky at the Royal College of Music, where she received a Masters degree in Advanced Performance in 2011. She was invited to stay a further two years at the Royal College, through the award of the Richard Carne Junior Fellowship to the Muse Piano Quintet. In this role, she coached chamber ensembles and founded the competition “Ensemble with Piano”, which is still flourishing.
As a soloist, Ksenia has performed with the Southbank Sinfonia, the London Chamber Players, the Moscow Camerata, and the Crimean Symphony Orchestra. She has given solo recitals in several European countries, including Sweden (as part of the Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm), Norway (at the Edvard Grieg museum in Troldhaugen), and Germany.
In the UK, her solo performances have been at a wide range of venues in London, including the Britten theatre, Cheltenham Town Hall, St Mary’s Church Aylesbury, and Milton Keynes City Church in aid of a charity supporting children from Chernobyl. In 2014, Ksenia performed live on BBC Radio 3 with Gareth Malone and the Military Wives playing music for choir and two solo violins.
Awards in solo competitions include the Hans & Mary Romney prize at the Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists competition, a diploma at the Nedialka Simeonova competition in Bulgaria, and the Città di Padova 2nd prize in Italy. She is also a recipient of the Albert Cooper Trust Award.
Ksenia’s chamber music career began whilst she was a student. The Messiaen Quartet was formed in 2005 and has won 1st prize at the International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music in Poland and 1st prize at the Alcobaca International Chamber Music Competition in Portugal. Following on from the Alcobaca prize, the Messiaen has performed at several leading festivals, in particular the Cistermusica Festival in Portugal, the Essen Receiving Russia Festival in Germany, and the Art-November Festival in Russia. The Muse Piano Quintet was formed in 2009 and has won 2nd prize at the Concurs Josep Mirabent i Magrans in Spain. Their performances have been primarily in the UK, including leading venues such as St John’s Smith Square and St Martin-in-the-Fields. They have also given master classes, – e.g. at Cheltenham Ladies College and whilst in residence at Latymer Upper School. The Muse has worked with Thomas Adès and John McCabe in performances of their works at the Purcell Room, organized by the Park Lane Group, and has performed with the leading clarinettist, Michael Collins. Both the Messiaen and the Muse have broadcast recitals and issued recordings.
In recent years, she has played in other groups, such as the Covent Garden Soloists, with whom she has toured in Spain, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei, and across the UK.
Ksenia has also played in a wide range of major orchestras, – symphonic, chamber, and opera orchestras. Her participation in London-based orchestras began with the Southbank Sinfonia, of which she was a member in 2011, and has subsequently included the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Chamber Orchestra, the Russian Virtuosi of Europe Chamber Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, English Session Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.