Space-encompassing sounds

Michael Francis has quickly established himself as one of the leading international conductors of today. Appointed Music Director of the Florida Orchestra in the fall of 2014, he is now entering his sixth season with a contract extension through the 2024-25 season. His role in building a wide variety of transformative community engagement initiatives has significantly grown the organization. Since 2014 as Music Director of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, California with a contract renewal through the summer of 2023, he continues his ambitious multi-year exploration of Mozart’s life. Now in his second season, Francis continues as Chief Conductor of Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. Previously, he was Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra from 2012-16.

The 1st prize at the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels in 2007 marked Anna Vinnitskaya’s international breakthrough. Her performances with top orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Boston Symphony Orchestra have been met with great enthusiasm worldwide. The breathtaking technical precision and tonal nuances of her piano playing allow her maximum creative power in her interpretations. Anna Vinnitskaya’s piano playing is characterised by unconditionality, energy and poetic depth.

Anna Vinnitskaya will perform Rachmaninov’s piano concertos in the 2025/2026 season with the Orchestre de Paris under Klaus Mäkelä, the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Eva Ollikainen, among others. With the Bern Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor Krzysztof Urbański, she will even perform all of Rachmaninov’s piano concertos on two consecutive evenings. Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand is on the programme for the celebratory concert at the Vienna Musikverein to mark the 125th anniversary of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, which Anna Vinnitskaya will perform together with chief conductor Petr Popelka, followed by a tour to the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Müpa Budapest, the Essen Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus Freiburg. Anna Vinnitskaya will perform recitals this season in Bordeaux, Tokyo, Paris, Luxembourg, Madrid and Hamburg, among others. Together with Evgeni Koroliov and Ljupka Hadzi- Georgieva, she will perform Bach’s works for one to three pianos and orchestra with the Menuhin Academy Soloists in Vienna and Basel and with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra at the Cologne Philharmonie. Last season, Anna Vinnitskaya was the portrait artist of the Philharmonie Essen. In addition to a series of chamber concerts and recitals, she performed there with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under the direction of Paavo Järvi, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Elim Chan, as well as with Herbert Grönemeyer and the Bochum Symphony Orchestra.

Anna Vinnitskaya’s CD recordings for Alpha/Outhere have been honoured with numerous awards such as the Diapason d’Or and the Gramophone Editor’s Choice, including a celebrated Chopin album, a Rachmaninov album with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Krzysztof Urbański and the album ‘Piano Dances’ released in 2024. She combines her own version of Ravel’s highly virtuosic piece ‘La Valse’ and his ‘Valses nobles et sentimentales’ with the ‘Puppet Dances’ by Shostakovich and the ‘Circus Dances’ by Jörg Widmann. Her recording of Bach’s piano concertos together with Evgeni Koroliov, Ljupka Hadzi Georgieva and the Kammerakademie Potsdam is particularly close to her heart.

Anna Vinnitskaya was born in Novorossiysk, Russia. She studied with Sergei Ossipienko in Rostov and then with Evgeni Koroliov at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, where she has been a professor since 2009. Anna Vinnitskaya is increasingly a juror at renowned piano competitions, such as the Concours Reine Elisabeth in May 2025 and the ARD International Music Competition in September 2025.