Biography

Polina Sasko was born Ukraine in a family of musicians. From the early age she knew that music was her vocation. In 2011 she graduated from the Lysenko Secondary Special Music School for gifted children in Kyiv (Iryna Barinova and Prof. Nataliia Tolpygo). Later Polina studied at the Ukrainian National Music Academy with Prof. Tetiana Roshchyna and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria in the class of Prof. Dr. Milana Chernyavska.

Polina leads an active concert life. In 2017 she made her brilliant debut in the Musikverein Graz with Mozart Concerto No.12 in A Major KV414 under the guidance of Maestro Patrick Lange. She regularly performs at prominent festivals, such as the: VP Bank Classic Festival in Switzerland, Arsonore Festival in Austria, Olive Classic Festival in Croatia, Note d’arte Festival in Italy, Danube Festival in Germany, Bouquet Kyiv Stage in Ukraine and others.

She was awarded the numerous prizes at the International Piano Competitions, such as the: 1st Prize at the International Piano Competition “Premio Mauro Paolo Monopoli” (Barletta, Italy) in 2019, 2nd Prize at the Fausto Zadra International Piano Competition (Abano Terme, Italy) in 2020, 2nd Prize at the Windsor International Piano Competition (Windsor, UK) in 2020, 3rd Prize at the International Piano Competition “Shigeru Kawai” (Tokyo, Japan) in 2019, 2nd Prize at the International Piano Competition “ClaMo” (Murcia, Spain) in 2019, 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the International Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial Competition (Novi Sad, Serbia) in 2018, 1st Prize at the Stefano Marizza International Piano Competition (Trieste, Italy) in 2017, 2nd Prize at San Sebastian City International Piano Competition (San Sebastian, Spain) in 2017, 1st Prize at the International Danube Piano Competition (Ulm/Neu Ulm, Germany) in 2014, 3rd Prize at the "Roma" International Piano Competition (Rome, Italy) in 2013, 1st Prize at the Smetana International Piano Competition (Pilsen, Czech Republic) in 2012, 3rd Prize at the International Competition for Young Pianists in memory of Vladimir Horowitz (Kyiv, Ukraine) in 2010.

Besides the solo career, a chamber music also forms an important part of Polina’s musical life. The pianist has performed together with renowned musicians, such as Dominik Wagner (double bass), Diana Adamyan (violin), Clara Shen (violin), Philipp Schupelius (cello), Anna-Maria Palii (soprano), Dmytro Choni (piano).

She regularly participates in the intensive weeks and various activities at the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein and receives a scholarship from the Academy. She has taken master-classes from famous piano professors: Arie Vardi, Klaus Hellwig, Claudio Martinez-Mehner, Sofya Gulyak and Grigory Gruzman.

Polina plays an extended solo and chamber repertoire which includes works from Baroque to the Contemporary period. She is highly interested in performing contemporary music. In 2013 she performed a premiere of a piano cycle "Retroludies" composed by Ukrainian composer Svyatoslav Lynyov; in 2020 she premiered a vocal cycle of her grandfather, Gennady Sasko. Additionally, she performed recently written works by Oleg Bezborodko, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Hao-Fu Zhang, Mykhaylo Stepanenko. Polina has recorded piano works by Haydn, Beethoven and Rachmaninov for the Ukrainian National Radio.