Anna Vinnitskaya never asked herself whether she should become a musician: “Both my parents are pianists, my grandfather was a conductor, my uncle a successful violinist, winner of the renowned Tchaikovsky Competition – music has simply been part of my life since I was born. Probably initially at the wish of my parents, but certainly from the age of five or six, the piano was as much a part of my life as eating or breathing.” Today, Anna Vinnitskaya delights international concert audiences with her virtuosity, poetic depth and art of tonal nuance. Born in Novorossiysk in southern Russia, she received her training at the State Rachmaninov Conservatory in Rostov-on-Don before moving to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg in 2002 as a master student of Yevgeny Korolyov, who became not only her teacher but also her mentor. Seven years later, she became a professor there herself. Winning the 1st prize at the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels in 2007 and the Leonard Bernstein Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 2008 launched her international career. Her CD recordings have been awarded prizes such as the Diapason d’Or and the Gramophone Editor’s Choice: “How naturally the arpeggios and runs intertwine, how elegantly and sublimely she phrases musical lines at the same time – that’s how you have to play Chopin” (Deutschlandfunk).