Nina Kotova & José Feghali
Biography Nina Kotova & José Feghali
Nina Kotova
The Russian-American cellist Nina Kotova, has been praised by Gramophone as a “strong and individual artist” and by the Los Angeles Times as “a talent to reckon with- poised, committed, graceful and spirited.”
Ms. Kotova has been internationally recognized as one of the outstanding instrumentalists of her generation. She has performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras across the globe and has repeatedly toured the UK, Europe, Asia and the US.
Nina Kotova began cello studies at six and studied at the Moscow Conservatory and graduated from the Musikhochschule in Cologne. She gave her first performance as a soloist with orchestra at age 11 in Soviet Union.
Ms. Kotova has performed on Red Square in Moscow, for the Imperial family of Japan and at Buckingham Palace. She has appeared in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, at Town Hall and Carnegie Hall in NewYork, Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Centre in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Berlin Philharmonic to name a few.
According to Newsweek magazine, “she‘s a fantastically gifted cellist.. and has a powerful stage presence.” Time magazine states: “She is a musician of high seriousness and real talent”. Ms. Kotova has also been the subject of numerous features in Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and the Wall Street Journal, The SundayTelegraph Magazine, Hello magazine and has appeared on television on A&E’s “Breakfast with the Arts”, “Hard Talk” and the “Charlie Rose Show”. Ms. Kotova has appeared on the covers of Classic FM, Gramophone China, Il Venerdi Italia and Reader’s Digest.
Ms. Kotova has collaborated with pianists Jose Feghali, Helene Grimaud, Lang Lang and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Ms. Kotova has performed with conductors including Stephane Deneve, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Vladimir Jurowski, Claus Peter Flor, Alain Lombard, Nicola Luisotti, Sir Antonio Pappano, Libor Pesek, Hans Vonk and Jaap Van Zweden.
Ms. Kotova co-founded the Festival Del Sole/Festival Napa Valley in Napa Valley and Cortona, Italy. She calls the Festivals “a mecca and meeting place for artists and admirers of the arts alike”. She has also taught at the University of Texas at Austin as an Artist in Residence.
Nina Kotova’s recordings include her chart-topping debut album for Philips Classics, the Bloch “Shelomo” with the Philharmonia of Russia conducted by Constantine Orbelian along with her own Cello Concerto for Delos, the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton for Sony Classics, the Deutsche Grammophon compilation “Masters of the Bow”, which pays homage to the greatest cellists of the last 50 years, and the complete Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello for Warner Classics. Most recently, Ms. Kotova released the Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev Cello Sonatas with pianist Fabio Bidini on Warner Classics label and Tchaikovsky album with Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra on Delos.
A versatile collaborator, Ms. Kotova has performed the Vivaldi double concerto with Bobby McFerrin, appeared on the MTV Music Awards at the MET with Trent Reznor, appeared in Matthew Barney’s Cremaster, and performed with Sting and Trudy Styler in the production “Twin Spirits”. Nina has toured with John Malkovich and collaborated with Jeremy Irons in “Chopin: Seduction, Smoke and Music”.
As a composer Nina Kotova premiered her Cello Concerto in San Francisco in 2000. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that “like Wolfgang Rihm in 1974, so Kotova in 2000 stands in defiance of both the emotional austerity of last century’s modernism and the new simplicity of so much recent music.” Ms. Kotova toured her Cello Concerto “The Tuscan” for cello and chamber orchestra with Dmitry Sitkovetsky conducting across the US featuring its NY premiere at Carnegie Hall.
The highlights of the upcoming season are the release of her Romantic Recital album for Warner Classics and a composing project for several films.
