Anastasia Zorina, Piano

Frédéric Chopin: Etudes op. 10 and op. 25

Frédéric Chopin‘s etudes were written in the first half of the 19th century, when the idea of technical progress was beginning to take hold in all areas of life. In a remarkable parallel to the unleashing of the productive forces in trade and industry, the fi rst organised music schools and practical study works emerged in order to „manufacture“ future musicians in a targeted manner. The steam engine, the railway and instrumental virtuosos who could play faster and louder than ever before were obviously related phenomena, united by the joy of speed and overcoming natural limits. The blossoming of practical piano schools corresponds to the optimisation of instrument making: the more powerful „fortepiano“ is rapidly replacing the generation of older keyboard instruments such as the pianoforte and the harpsichord.
At the same time, we find ourselves in the age of Romanticism, where the predominance of naked reason is answered by a growing curiosity about the abysses and dark sides of human existence. This is accompanied by new themes and sensitivities, characterised, for example, by a return to fairy-tale themes and heroes, the cultivation of wanderlust and melancholy. Inspired by the French Revolution and its universalist idea of freedom, there is a complementary strong sense of national identity, reminiscent of the slogan "Vive la nation" as a moment that creates community and identity. [...]
[extract of the detailed CD booklet]


Anastasia Zorina born in Ekaterinburg (Russia), received her first piano lessons at the age of fi ve from her mother, a trained pianist, and shortly afterwards as a pupil in Lidia Gorbunova‘s class at the music school of the Ural State Conservatory in her hometown. Already at this time, Anastasia won several awards at international and national piano competitions and gained her fi rst experience as a soloist with orchestra.
After her family moved to Regensburg (Germany), she became a junior student at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich with Prof. Claude-France Journès. Here, too, she quickly attracted attention at various piano competitions, including a fi rst national prize in the solo piano category at the "Jugend Musiziert" competition. As a scholarship holder of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation for the Promotion of Young Artists, she regularly performed as a soloist throughout Germany and in neighbouring countries. She was also actively supported by the German Foundation for Musical Life for several years. She has performed at major festivals such as the Lake Constance Festival (Bodenseefestival), the Saar Music Festival (Musikfestspiele Saar) and the Schwetzingen Mozart Festival as well as a soloist with orchestra at the Prinzregententheater, the Audimax Regensburg, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg and other venues.
She completed her artistic studies at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich with Prof. Claude-France Journès and then with Prof. Gerhard Oppitz. She also received important artistic impulses in lessons and master-classes with Milana Chernyavska, Oxana Yablonskaya, Robert Levin, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Dominique Merlet and Klaus Hellwig.
Anastasia Zorina has a wide range of artistic activities and interests. A supplementary degree with a teaching diploma, also from the University of Music and Theatre in Munich, enabled her to teach for several years at the Regensburg Singing and Music School, the „Von-Müller-Gymnasium“ in Regensburg and the local University for Catholic Church Music and Music Education (HfKM). During this time, she also completed basic training as a Gestalt music therapist in Berlin. She currently lives in Switzerland, where she works passionately as a piano teacher and takes on the role of music school director at the Bantiger Music School in the canton of Bern. Inspiring people for music is her greatest concern and her strongest motivation. She is passionate about developing attractive, audience-orientated concert presentations and trying out new forms of music education. Her greatest wish is to open up new horizons for today‘s listeners, to sensitise, touch and surprise them.

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