She is prized for her command of a rich and vivid tonal palette, and a virtuosity that is allied to intuitive and thoughtful interpretation.
Among highlights of recent seasons have been recital and orchestral engagements in Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Moscow and Paris. She has appeared at choice European festivals including La Roque d’Anthéron, Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus Festival and with cellist Truls Mørk in Stavanger. Recent engagements include her debut at the Berlin Philharmonie with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and concerts with the Orchestre National de France and Kurt Masur, recitals in New York, Ravinia and Washington as well as concerto appearances with the Symphony Orchestras of Cincinnati, Dallas, Indianapolis and San Francisco.
Katia Skanavi comes from a culturally rich Greek – Russian family. At the age of 12 she gave her first public concert with orchestra in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, performing Kabalevsky’s third piano concerto under the composer’s direction. On her 18th birthday she became a multiple prize-winner in the finals of the M. Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, followed appearences at the world’s major concert venues, including the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
She continued to study, at the Conservatoire National in Paris, the Moscow Conservatory and at the Cleveland Institute with Sergei Babayan. In 1994 she won the Maria Callas Competition in Greece. Further success at the Van Cliburn competition came in 1997.
She has recorded several CDs, mainly for the Lyrinx label. Her discs of works by Schumann, Rachmaninov and character pieces by Tchaikovsky, recorded live in Marseille, were highly regarded by the critics, and a Chopin recital (on the Pro Piano label) was named ‘Classical Recording of the Month’ by Gramophone magazine