A student of the Curtis Institute of Music, Katya Poplyansky started her violin studies with Professor Oleg Pokhanovski in Winnipeg in 2002. Five years later, at the age of fifteen, she began her Bachelor of Music at Peabody Conservatory, studying with Victor Danchenko. Although the youngest student at the school, she was runner-up in Peabody’s William Marbury Competition, open to all string majors. Still studying with Professor Danchenko, as well as with Atis Bankas, she then continued her BM at the Glenn Gould School, before moving to Curtis in 2009. Over the last few years, she has also had the opportunity to play for leading violinists such as James Ehnes, Oleh Krysa, Martin Beaver and Aaron Rosand.

Awarded first place at the 2008 Canadian Music Competition, Katya is the first prize-winner of numerous provincial competitions, such as the Manitoba Arts Festival and the Manitoba Music Teachers Association Scholarship Competition. She has also been invited to give solo recitals in a variety of professional music series, including Winnipeg’s Agassiz Music Festival and Music Niagara. She has performed as a soloist, on several occasions, with The Sault Symphony, The Greater Grand Forks Orchestra, The Winnipeg Youth Symphony, The Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra and The Mississauga Symphony. In 2011, Katya will appear with the Georgian Bay Symphony and the Hamilton Philharmonic.

Ms. Poplyansky is the co-winner of the 2008/09 HHO Open Concerto Competition. She will be performing Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D minor (Op. 47) with the orchestra during the Spring Concert on Thursday, April 1rd.