Described by The Times as "an outstanding musician", and Gramophone as "a charismatic pianist," Russian virtuoso pianist and educator GéNIA has a highly eclectic repertoire, embracing mainstream classics, new music and multimedia projects.

photography by Julius Beltrame

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GéNIA (original name Evgenia Chudinovich) was born in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine into a family of musicians and scientists. She started her studies at the age of four with her great-grandmother, the pianist and pedagogue Regina Horowitz (sister of pianist Vladimir Horowitz and wife of the Soviet economist Evsei Liberman). She continued her studies with pianist and teacher Sergei Yushkevitch at the Kharkov Institute of Arts.

GéNIA is a graduate of both Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Trinity College of Music where she studied with Professors Joan Havill, Paul Hamburger and Douglas Finch. GéNIA made her London South Bank debut in the Park Lane Group Young Artist Series in 1998.

After receiving exceptional reviews she toured the UK, Europe and the United States. GéNIA's London appearances include the Wigmore Hall, Barbican, South Bank Centre, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Olympia and Cargo.  She also appeared as soloist on soundtracks for the award-winning films "Paradise Grove" and "Bookcruncher" and performed at the play “The Night Season” at the National Theatre in London.

Her recordings and interviews have also featured in various broadcasts on BBC Radio 1, 3, 4, 5 and World Service as well as on various radio and TV stations in Europe and the USA.

Alongside a busy artistic career GéNIA also undertakes educational work by giving master-classes, seminar, lectures and individual tuition.

She has taught at Trinity College of Music, Dartington and COMA Summer Schools, De Montfort University (Leicester), Lewis University (Peoria, USA), Californian Association of Piano Teachers (CAPMT) in Los-Angeles and EPTA (European Piano Teachers Association) International Conference 2007 at Warwick University.

Considering music to be as much a philosophy as it is an art, GéNIA created Piano-Yoga®, a multi-dimensional method of piano playing, performing and teaching which provides a holistic approach towards playing the piano. Piano-Yoga® is represented online at www.piano-yoga.com where free educational resources are provided, such as the Piano-Yoga® podcast series, exercises designed specifically for pianists, performance preparation advice, useful downloads and a members forum. GéNIA's first eBook on Piano-Yoga® was published in February 2009 and now is available from Piano-Yoga® website. The printed version will be availble in Spring 2009.

In 2008 GéNIA was appointed Artist in Residence at Bauer & Hieber Music where she launched a series of workshops and masterclasses. It was in these central London premises that she founded the GéNIA MUSIC Piano School, where she gives masterclasses, lectures and individual tuition, with a particular focus on a series of popular Piano-Yoga® workshops.

Please see Education section for further details.

Equally at ease on the stage of the concert hall or a nightclub, GéNIA has received critical acclaim for her live performances and contemporary classical releases for for record labels Black Box and Nonclassical.

She strives to push the boundaries of the established piano tradition by exploring the nature of sound and potential of the grand piano. She has commissioned over 20 new works, particularly developing the repertoire for piano and electronics, and collaborated with an eclectic range of artists and composers, including the Brodsky Quartet, Ensemble Bash, Gabriel Prokofiev, Max de Wardener, Howard Skempton, John Richards, Nik Bärtsch, Vex'd, Derailer, kReepa, violinist Roman Mints and film maker Ravi Deepres.

In May 2003 GéNIA gave two performances of Infrasonic, an award-winning project for piano, electronics, multimedia and infrasound, at the South Bank funded by The Welcome Trust and SciArt Consortium. The project was made in collaboration with scientists, psychologists, composers and the support from NPL.

These ground-breaking concerts received wide coverage in a media and were featured in The Times, Guardian and Telegraph as well as on BBC Radio 3, 4, 5 and World Service amongst others. Infrasonic project was also featured in a new book "Experiment: conversations in art and science" published by The Wellcome Trust.

The Times described is as "... unique experimental concert staged in London...".
GéNIA was the first pianist to use infrasound in a live concert.

GéNIA gave a number of World and UK Premiéres as well as World Premiére recordings with music by Patrick Nunn, Gabriel Prokofiev, Karen Tanaka, Ton Bruynel, Hayden Parsey, Mike McFerron, Raimo Kangro, David Bedford, Andrew Hugill, John Richards, Howard Skempton, Nik Bartsch and Carl Vine.

GéNIA's latest CD "Suite for piano and electronics" by John Richards featured her collaboration with prominent dance producers The Early Man, Max de Wardener, kREEPA, Gabriel Prokofiev, Derailer, Trevor Goodchilde, Germ and Vex'd was released on the Nonclassical label. The tracks from this recording have been numerously played on Radio 1, Radio 3 (Late Junction) as well as on various European Radio Stations.

Future immediate plans include recording of the new album "Piano Book" by Gabriel Prokofiev on Nonclassical Label.

GéNIA's studies began at the age of four with her great grandmother, pianist and pedagogue Regina Horowitz.

She continued her studies in Ukraine with pianist Serge Yushkevitch (the prize-winner of the Queen Elizabeth  International Piano Competition) at the Kharkov Institute of Arts.

She has been living in London since 1994 and had won scholarships to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Trinity College of Music. She studied with Professors Joan Havill, Caroline Palmer, Paul Hamburger and Douglas Finch (also one of theprize-winners of the Queen Elizabeth  International Piano Competition).

GéNIA has received numerous accolades including the Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, the Dame Myra Hess Award and the Craxton Trust Award. She was also awarded the prestigious Premier Prix from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Founders Prize for Excellence from Trinity
College of Music.

GéNIA holds six instrumental diplomas: MMus (Dist), LGSM(Dist), PGDipMus(Dist), PGA(Dist), Honours Diploma of Kharkov State Institute of Arts (Ukraine). 

She is also a qualified B.W.Y. (British Wheel of Yoga) teacher and trained with The Life Centre®, London.

"Rhythmic vitality is a pre-eminent quality of her playing, being sustained even in moments of hair-raising virtuosity"
Epta Piano Journal, UK

photography by Julius Beltrame

“... an outstanding musician. She knows how to communicate with her audience, and has the virtuosity of not just fingers but hands and arms that marks her out as a natural pianist. But it was the main work, Gubaidulina's Sonata, that really showed off her capabilities. She was convincing in drawing together all the strands of the first movement, which ranges from upbeat jazziness to dark desolation, and despatched the horrendously difficult finale with ease."
The Times, UK

"Trendy design, resembling an album of a pop star...GéNIA is brilliant! This is her repertoire and it requires virtuosity. This essential music is lifted above the level of nationality; it changes your musical experience forever."
Opzij,The Netherlands

"Already she is an impulsive, forthright performer who communicates readily... ...Her account of Gubaidulina's 1965 Sonata has a crouched intensity that was riveting, and imbued with a rare rhythmic freedom...A thrilling work, carried off with panache... Chudinovich is one to watch..."
The Observer Classical, UK

"In this performance, the chills are delivered with a special relish for the music's deconstructive enterprise."
Gramophone Magazine, UK

"A pianist blessed by God. As she played the final note and rose from the piano, a stuuned silence filled the Purcell Room of the Royal Festival Hall. Naturally, applause, flowers and queues for autographs all followed, but that moment of amazed and rapt silence probably said more about the talent of GéNIA Chudinovich then any review."
London Courier, UK

“ ...What a beautiful sound she made... It was exactly "a musical gem", a thrilling and intoxicating experience...''
Chopin Magazine, Japan

"Mozart came next in an elegantly phraised and well-balances performance of his 21st Piano Concerto. The young Evgenia Chudinovich has a brilliant yet seemingly effortless technique."
Leicester Mercury, UK