GéNIA is a Russian virtuoso pianist with her dexterous fingers in many musical pies. An enigma to both the music and business worlds, GéNIA has become an unstoppable entity constantly seeking to reinvent tradition and stir-up convention.

photography by Julius Beltrame

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Born in Ukraine to a family of musicians and scientists, her musical upbringing was both traditional and privileged. 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 State Institute of Arts until moving to London. In 1999, GéNIA graduated from the Guildhall School of Music, where she studied with Professor Joan Havill and was awarded the prestigious Premier Prix. She later graduated from Trinity College of Music, studying with Douglas Finch, and was awarded the Founders Prize for Excellence.

In 2000, GéNIA made a controversial and pioneering move away from the classical concert platform which had enabled her to travel the world as a performer. Her provocative and youthful appearance around this time, along with her pioneering website, reflected that of key female figures in the pop and rock industries. Although this now seems to be a standard part of the packaging of classical cross-over artists, at the time it was something that more traditional classical circles were not accustomed to.

This move naturally led her towards more underground playing circles, where she discovered her passion for expanding the potential of the piano. She realized this potential in collaborations with an eclectic range of artists and composers, particularly in the world of piano and electronics. Today, GéNIA has commissioned over 20 new works for piano and electronics and is regarded as a innovator in the field of new music performance, equally at ease on the stage of the concert hall or the nightclub.

GéNIA’s unique approach to piano playing and broad stylistic reach demonstrate her natural ability to draw creative inspiration from many disciplines. This is manifest best in her output as the inventor or Piano-Yoga®, a mutli-dimensional method of piano playing, performing and teaching. This method combines the fundamentals of Russian piano schools with Eastern philosophies, particularly yoga. The first Piano-Yoga® book was published in 2009 in conjunction with the creation of the GéNIA MUSIC Piano School which is housed at the infamous Schott Music shop in London and offers a variety of playing methods which encourage individuality and self-confidence.

GéNIA’s recording music career to date has seen the release of several ground-breaking records on both the Blackbox and Nonclassical labels. GéNIA’s latest CD Piano Book No. 1 by Gabriel Prokofiev, is due for release worldwide in early September. Through performance and recording, he has worked with some of the most prestigious figures in the contemporary music industry including Nik Bartsch, Max de Wardener, Carl Vine Gabriel Prokofiev, Karen Tanaka, Ton Bruynel, Hayden Parsey, Mike McFerron, Patrick Nunn, Raimo Kangro, David Bedford, Andrew Hugill, John Richards and Howard Skempton. Her innovative approach has seen her work with some of the most prominent dance producers on the commercial music scene including The Early Man, kREEPA, Derailer, Trevor Goodchilde, Germ and Vex'd.

GéNIA's London appearances include the Wigmore Hall, Barbican, South Bank Centre, BFI, Kings Place, St. John's Smith Square, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Olympia, Vortex 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 live interviews have been broadcast on BBC TV and Radio.

Alongside a busy artistic career GéNIA also undertakes educational work by giving master-classes, seminars, lectures. 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 Conferences in 2007 and 2009.

GéNIA holds six instrumental diplomas: MMus (Dist), LGSM (Dist), PGDipMus (Dist), PGA (Dist), Honours Diploma of Kharkov State Institute of Arts (Ukraine) and Concert Recital Diploma from the Guildhall School of Music (Premier Prix GSMD).

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