Praised by the Fanfare magazine as a pianist with “imaginative and colorful interpretive approach”, Katerina Zaitseva has performed in the United States, Germany, Luxemburg, France, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia at major venues that have included the Moscow State Conservatory Hall, John F. Kennedy Center, National Gallery of Art, Yamaha Hall in New York, as well as the opening of the Meadows Museum of Art in Dallas, with Juan Carlos II of Spain in attendance. Ms. Zaitseva has been featured as soloist with orchestras including the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Meadows Symphony Orchestra, Corvallis Symphony, Lewisville Lake Symphony, and Rapides Symphony Orchestra among others. She has recorded six CDs for the Classical Records label in Moscow, Russia, including her two most recent recordings of piano solo works by Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Medtner, released in the summer 2017; as well piano solo works by Schubert, Schumann, and Liszt; Glazunov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra; works for piano four hands by Schumann and Brahms with Nikita Fitenko; and flute trios by Beethoven, Kuhlau, and Donizetti with flutist Dennette McDermott and bassoonist Douglas Bakenhus.
As a chamber musician, Katerina performs extensively in piano duo with Nikita Fitenko. Praised by critics for their “superlative sound, superlative interpretation, and superlative pianism…” (European Piano Teachers Association Journal), the duo has performed worldwide with most recent appearances at the Moscow State Conservatory Hall (Russia), the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Tokyo College of Music (Japan), Ginza Yamaha Hall (Tokyo, Japan), Munetsugu Hall (Nagoya, Japan), Harbin Conservatory (China), Nancyphonies Music Festival (France), and Madeira Music Festival (Portugal).
Currently Katerina Zaitseva is on the piano faculty at the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C. Prior to that she was an Artist in Residence at Louisiana College and Coordinator of Class Piano at the University of Maryland. Katerina is a winner of national competitions and awards including the MTNA Competition, SMU Concerto Competition, Von Mickwitz Prize in Piano, as well as the University of North Texas Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award among others. She holds her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland, Master of Music from the Southern Methodist University, Bachelor of Music from the University of North Texas, and Diploma from the Music School affiliated with the Moscow State Conservatory in Russia. Her principal teachers include Joaquín Achúcarro, Larissa Dedova, Pamela Mia Paul, and Neil Rutman.
