Natasha Vlassenko was born in Moscow and graduated from the Central Music School (under Eleonore Musaelian) and Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory where she studied under Professor Jacob Flier and later pursued her postgraduate studies with her father Professor Lev Vlassenko.

 

Natasha has won prizes in several international piano competitions including the Beethoven International Piano Competition in Vienna and Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy. She has given recitals in many countries and has played under the baton of Rozhdestvensky, Pletnev, Osterriher, Martin, Chivjel, Hickox, Verbitsky and many others. Natasha has recorded for Moscow Radio and TV as well as ABC and 4MBS Radio stations, and she has released a number of CDs in Russia, Germany and Australia. She is currently Head of Keyboard Studies at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. In 1999 Natasha Vlassenko and Oleg Stepanov became the founders and artistic directors of the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition & Festival.

 

Highlights of recent years include a concerto performance with the Russian National Orchestra under Michail Pletnev (as part of a 2014 International Piano Festival in memory of Lev Vlassenko in Moscow), performance and release of a live CD at the Beethoven International Piano Festival in Boeblingen (Germany), and recording of a new CD "Liszt 200 years", with Oleg Stepanov on the Master Performers Label.

 

In 2014 Natasha was invited to perform and give masterclasses at Hamamatsu International Piano Academy (Japan) and in recent years she served as Jury member at Beethoven International Piano Competition in Vienna (Austria) Chopin International Piano Competition in Canberra (Australia) and Kerikeri International Piano Competition (New Zealand.)

 

In 2022 Natasha Vlassenko was recognised in the  Queen’s Birthday Honours List and awarded Order of the Medal of Australia for her service to the performing arts, particularly the piano.