Biography
Having honed her skills extensively within Russia, pianist Dina Parakhina established an acclaimed professional trajectory in Britain both on the concert platform and in the recording studio. She also maintains a significant teaching role as a member of the piano faculty at London’s Royal College of Music. Her particular focus lies with the compositions of Nikolay Medtner, prompting her to curate a Medtner Marathon entirely dedicated to his output. Among her discography is the 2024 release 200 Years Diabelli Variations.
Born in the southern Russian city of Sochi, Parakhina began her musical studies locally before relocating alone at age twelve to Moscow for advanced training. At the Moscow Central Music School her principal instructor was Tamara Aleksandrovna Bobovich; her graduation recital there featured Beethoven’s 32 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120, a work she would later commit to disc. She continued at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Evgeny Malinin, himself a pupil of the renowned pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus. Fellow students included Mikhail Pletnev and Natalia Trull, yet she finished first in her class. Immediately afterward she joined the Central Music School’s piano faculty, remaining for sixteen years and chairing the department for fifteen of them. During this period she frequently performed with the Bolshoi National Theater Orchestra and arranged her Medtner Marathon in Russia, while also producing several recordings devoted primarily to Russian and Western virtuoso repertoire.
In the early 1990s Parakhina joined the wave of Russian musicians relocating to Britain and secured the post of BBC Pianist. She has performed at the BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall and with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre. As a recitalist she has appeared throughout Western Europe as well as in Singapore and Thailand, partnering with various Russian chamber musicians and giving the German radio premiere of a Rubinstein cello-and-piano sonata alongside cellist Valentin Feigin. Further recordings have circulated widely in the West, among them a 2023 Piano Classics album containing Medtner’s two piano sonatas, Op. 25, and Six Fairy Tales, Op. 51, followed in 2024 by the Divine Art issue 200 Years Diabelli Variations, which presents Beethoven’s celebrated set together with contributions from additional composers on the same theme. Her teaching affiliations have included Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music; since the mid-2020s she has held the title of Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music in London.
Born in the southern Russian city of Sochi, Parakhina began her musical studies locally before relocating alone at age twelve to Moscow for advanced training. At the Moscow Central Music School her principal instructor was Tamara Aleksandrovna Bobovich; her graduation recital there featured Beethoven’s 32 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120, a work she would later commit to disc. She continued at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Evgeny Malinin, himself a pupil of the renowned pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus. Fellow students included Mikhail Pletnev and Natalia Trull, yet she finished first in her class. Immediately afterward she joined the Central Music School’s piano faculty, remaining for sixteen years and chairing the department for fifteen of them. During this period she frequently performed with the Bolshoi National Theater Orchestra and arranged her Medtner Marathon in Russia, while also producing several recordings devoted primarily to Russian and Western virtuoso repertoire.
In the early 1990s Parakhina joined the wave of Russian musicians relocating to Britain and secured the post of BBC Pianist. She has performed at the BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall and with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre. As a recitalist she has appeared throughout Western Europe as well as in Singapore and Thailand, partnering with various Russian chamber musicians and giving the German radio premiere of a Rubinstein cello-and-piano sonata alongside cellist Valentin Feigin. Further recordings have circulated widely in the West, among them a 2023 Piano Classics album containing Medtner’s two piano sonatas, Op. 25, and Six Fairy Tales, Op. 51, followed in 2024 by the Divine Art issue 200 Years Diabelli Variations, which presents Beethoven’s celebrated set together with contributions from additional composers on the same theme. Her teaching affiliations have included Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music; since the mid-2020s she has held the title of Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music in London.
Albums
