Oxana Yablonskaya is internationally recognized for her charismatic piano playing, profound interpretations, and powerhouse virtuosity. Born in Moscow, she studied at the Moscow Central School for the Gifted and the Moscow Conservatory, where she worked under Anaida Sumbatyan, Alexander Goldenweiser, and Tatiana Nikolayeva. She earned top prizes in the Long-Thibaud (Paris), Rio de Janeiro, and Vienna Beethoven competitions, yet Cold War restrictions barred her from accepting engagements outside the Eastern Bloc.
A celebrated soloist in the USSR, Yablonskaya performed with the Moscow Philharmonic, the Bolshoi Orchestra, and at the Kremlin’s Composer Jubilee Concert. She premiered Rodion Shchedrin’s Basso Ostinato, which became her signature piece, and held the prestigious title of Soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic.
In 1975, she applied for a U.S. visa, which led to professional retaliation including the loss of her Moscow Conservatory post and performance opportunities. After advocacy from figures like Leonard Bernstein, Katherine Hepburn, and Stephen Sondheim, she emigrated with her family in 1977. Just months after arriving in New York, she debuted at Alice Tully Hall to critical acclaim. Her Carnegie Hall recital followed shortly after, launching her into global recognition.
Yablonskaya has since performed in over 40 countries and with leading orchestras such as the Atlanta, Baltimore, BBC Philharmonic, Bolshoi, Dallas, Detroit, Hong Kong, Houston, KBS (Korea), Melbourne, Moscow Philharmonic, Pittsburgh, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, San Antonio, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, and many more.
Her recital appearances have included prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Royal Albert Hall (London), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Royal Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), and the Great Halls of both the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories. Collaborations with conductors such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Kirill Kondrashin, and Dmitry Kitaenko further solidified her stature.
Since returning to Russia in 1990, she has regularly performed sold-out concerts and taught masterclasses at the Moscow Conservatory. In recent years, she has performed widely with her son, renowned cellist and conductor Dmitry Yablonsky, including recordings of concertos by Khachaturian, Glasunov, Tchaikovsky, and Brahms with the Moscow Philharmonic.
Yablonskaya held a long tenure as Professor of Piano at The Juilliard School and has taught masterclasses worldwide at institutions and festivals including Oxford Philomusica (UK), Flaine and Tours (France), Newport (USA), and Lago Maggiore (Switzerland). She is a co-founder of the Puigcerdà Música Clásica International Festival in Spain. An esteemed adjudicator, she has served on juries for the Leeds, Liszt (Netherlands), Prokofiev (Russia), Hamamatsu (Japan), Horowitz (Ukraine), and other international piano competitions. Her extensive discography includes critically acclaimed recordings of Liszt, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, and more. Her Liszt/Schubert album earned the Grand Prix du Disque from the International Liszt Society in Budapest. The American Record Guide praised her Tchaikovsky CD, writing: “Oxana Yablonskaya is an artist who deserves to be heard in any repertory she chooses.”