Polina Osetinskaja. Transkriptsiooni kunst/ Polina Osetinskaj. Искусство транскрипции

Polina Osetinskaya: Ten Fingers Instead of an Orchestra

Carnegie Hall in New York, the Barbican Centre in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Berlin Philharmonie, as well as concert halls across Asia, Australia, and Latin America—Polina Osetinskaya is a welcome guest on the world’s most prestigious stages. Her astonishing musicality, impeccable technique, and uniquely curated programs, crafted with imagination and taste, set her apart from other performers and ensure sold-out concerts worldwide. On May 20, the pianist returns to Tallinn with Tchaikovsky and Bach on the stage of the Vene Teater.

Polina Osetinskaya's stage career began at a Mozartian pace: she gave her first solo concert at the Vilnius Conservatory at the age of six. It is hard to imagine, let alone count, how many masterpieces have passed through her hands since then. With 14 albums recorded on labels such as Quartz, Naxos, Sony Music, Bel-Aire, and Melodiya, this is only a fraction of her vast repertoire.

However, Osetinskaya’s new program, The Art of Transcription, is something special. If only because none of the pieces were originally written for the piano (transcriptio in Latin means "rewriting"). In the first half, Osetinskaya’s ten fingers will bring to life an entire corpus of Bach’s musical texts: a concerto for four (!) harpsichords and orchestra, fragments of oratorios and cantatas, as well as works for organ and violin. The second half of the program features a suite from The Nutcracker ballet and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. "I wondered what kind of conductor I would become," Osetinskaya explains on her Instagram.

For Polina, Bach is one of the most significant composers. No wonder her most popular YouTube recording—a performance of Bach’s D minor Concerto—has amassed 7.6 million views. Meanwhile, her piano interpretations of The Nutcracker and Symphony No. 6 present a true challenge. As she puts it, she wants to "be like those young, muscular, handsome pianists in socks and tuxedos, making sensitive ladies faint with their dazzling passages."

In January 2025 alone, Osetinskaya took The Art of Transcription to Austria, Spain, and France. In Tallinn, where audiences know and love her, this exquisite, virtuoso, and extraordinarily beautiful program will be performed for the first time—and is sure to win hearts once again.