Biography
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 is internationally recognized as one of the outstanding instrumentalists of her generation and has performed in recital and as a soloist with symphony orchestras across the globe throughout the UK, Europe, Asia and the US.
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 Sunday Telegraph 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 featured on the covers of Classic FM, Gramophone China, Il Venerdi Italia and Reader’s Digest.
Nina Kotova has appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, at Ravinia, Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Centre in London, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Esplanade in Singapore, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Berlin Philharmonic, to name a few.
Nina Kotova performing with an orchestra at the age of 11
As a soloist performing around the globe, Ms. Kotova has performed with conductors including Teodor Currentzis, Jaap Van Zweden, Stephane Deneve, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Vladimir Jurowski, Claus Peter Flor, Alain Lombard, Nicola Luisotti, Sir Antonio Pappano, Libor Pesek, Tamas Vasary, and Hans Vonk. As a chamber musician, Ms. Kotova has collaborated with musicians such as violinists Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Maxim Vengerov and Nikolaj Znaider, guitarist Sir Angel Romero, flutist Sir James Galway and pianists Jose Feghali, Helene Grimaud, Josu De Solaun, Lang Lang, Vadym Kholodenko and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
A versatile collaborator, Ms. Kotova has performed with Bobby McFerrin, appeared on the MTV Music Awards at the MET with Trent Reznor, and performed with Sting and Trudy Styler in the production “Twin Spirits”. Nina has performed on tour with John Malkovich and collaborated in theatrical productions with Jeremy Irons and Robert Redford. Ms. Kotova has performed for the Imperial family of Japan, on Red Square in Moscow and for King Charles III at Buckingham Palace.
Among Ms. Kotova’s honors is the Tuscan – American Association award for her outstanding cultural contributions to Italy as co-founder of the Tuscan Sun Festival. Ms. Kotova also co-founded the Festival Del Sole/Festival Napa Valley in Napa Valley. She calls the Festivals “a mecca and meeting place for artists and admirers of the arts alike”.
Nina Kotova’s recordings include her chart-topping debut album for Philips Classics, the Bloch “Shelomo” alongside her own Cello Concerto conducted by Constantine Orbelian 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, the Tchaikovsky Album with conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and three albums for Warner Classics including the complete Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, the Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev Cello Sonatas with pianist Fabio Bidini, and the Romantic Recital Album with pianist Jose Feghali. Ms. Kotova’s newest album “Solo Cello” was released by Delos in 2023.
As a composer Nina Kotova has written numerous works for cello and orchestra. Her Cello Concerto premiered 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 another work “The Tuscan” for cello and chamber orchestra with Dmitry Sitkovetsky conducting across the US, including its NY premiere at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Kotova has also been an active champion of contemporary music, commissioning and premiering several important works for cello including works by Christopher Theofanides, Jonathan Leshnoff, Peteris Vasks and Michael Nyman.
Ms. Kotova has taught as an Artist in Residence at the University of Texas in Austin, and was appointed this year as a Professor of Violoncello at the prestigious International Academy of Imola in Italy.
Most recently, Ms. Kotova co-founded and serves as the Artistic Director of
Domus Artium, a series of concerts featuring the greatest classical musicians in historically significant palazzi and locations in Rome, Italy.
Nina Kotova and Jean-Yves Thibaudet
As part of Domus Artium, Ms. Kotova collaborated with Maxim Vengerov and Vadym Kholodenko in a chamber music concert at the Ministry of Culture in Rome in support of Save the Children and their work with children in Ukraine.
Nina Kotova released her most recent album “Solo Cello” on Delos in 2023 to great acclaim and will be touring Europe in recital and with orchestra this upcoming season.
