In 1996 Alina moved with her family to the UK where her father took the post of principal bass with the London Symphony Orchestra. From 1997 Alina studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School (where her mother is Professor of Violin).
In December 1998 Alina performed the Bach double concerto with Nicola Benedetti, conducted by Lord Menuhin, at the opening ceremony of the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights at UNESCO in Paris and, sadly only a few months later, performed the slow movement of the same concerto at Lord Menuhin's funeral in Westminster Abbey.
In his biography of Yehudi Menuhin, Humphrey Burton writes of Alina that "Yehudi had worked with her many times: at Folkestone one felt his spirit hovering happily over the gathering assembled in his name. As Alina played the Ysaÿe Sonata dedicated to George Enescu one sensed the continuation of a very long tradition of violin teaching and the strength of Yehudi's dream."
Alina has won several international competitions, but her solo career began to establish itself in 2002 when she won the London Symphony Orchestra Music Scholarship (formerly the Shell Prize).
On leaving the Menuhin School Alina studied at the Royal College of Music London and her teachers have included Natasha Boyarsky, Gordan Nikolitch, Christian Tetzlaff and Adrian Butterfield (baroque and classical violin).
In 2005 Alina and three fellow students at the RCM formed Chiaroscuro Quartet to perform music of the Classical period with appropriate instruments and technique.
In the last few years Alina has been a member of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, performed concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, chamber music at the Salzburg and Verbier festivals, and given solo recitals at the Musée du Louvre Paris, for NHK Television Japan and as part of BBC Radio 3’s Bach Christmas Festival.
Recent concerts have included her Wigmore Hall debut, her BBC Proms debut with the LSO and Francois-Xavier Roth, Mendelssohn with the Philharmonia and Sir Charles Mackerras, Beethoven with the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda, Bruch with the BBC Symphony and Edward Gardner, Sibelius with BBC Scottish Symphony and Osmo Vänskä, Prokofiev with RSO Frankfurt and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the 25th Lockenhaus Festival and Mozart's Concertone with Gidon Kremer.
Alina made her debut directing from the violin with the Kremerata Baltica in Salzburg Mozartwoche 2005, and has since performed with the Kremerata, frequently with Gidon Kremer, at the Salzburg, Verbier and MDR Musiksomer festivals, and Salle Pleyel in Paris. Alina has also directed Hartmann's Concerto Funebre with the Britten Sinfonia for her debut Hyperion Records CD (released in September), will perform as soloist/director with the orchestra in October, and will tour as soloist/director with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in August 2008.
Alina performs on a 1738 Pietro Guarneri of Venice violin kindly provided by Georg von Opel.
Management: Matt Fretton
matt@ferus.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7253 1353
www.ferus.co.uk
Press enquiries: Simon Milward, Albion Media
simon@albion-media.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7495 4455
www.albion-media.co.uk
Photographs: Sussie Ahlburg
www.sussieahlburg.com