Alina Pogostkina

Alina Pogostkina
Born	18 November 1983 Leningrad
Occupation	Violinist

Alina Pogostkina (born Leningrad, 18 November 1983) is a Russian-born German violinist. The daughter of two professional violinists, Pogostkina began playing the violin at the age of four and quickly showed herself to have exceptional talent. She gave her first concerts at the age of five. In 1992, the family moved to Heidelberg, Germany, where the eight-year-old Alina and her parents initially had to make a living as street musicians.

Pogostkina has competed with success in several international violin competitions. She won the 1997 Louis Spohr Competition and in 2005 she won first prize at the Ninth International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki, as well as a special prize for the best interpretation of the Sibelius Violin Concerto.^[1] At the time of her victory in the Sibelius competition, Pogostkina was studying at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin, where she was a student of Antje Weithaas. She currently lives in Berlin.

Alina Pogostkina has performed with many of the world's major orchestras. At the time of the Sibelius competition she played a modern violin. She played a Stradivarius from Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. Since February 2013, Alina has been playing a Stradivarius Sasserno (1717) from Nippon Music Foundation.

External links

• Alina Pogostkina's homepage
• Website of the Jean Sibelius Violin Competition
• Helsingin Sanomat article about Alina Pogostkina’s victory in the Jean Sibelius Violin Competition
• Alina Pogostkina on the website of HarrisonParrott (an artists' management agency)
• Sibelius Violin Concerto

References

1. Vesa Sirén: From Busker to Sibelius Violin Competition winner. From: Helsingin Sanomat, 4 December 2005