Extraordinary how, with her clear and differentiated play, Marina Baranova makes audible every single detail of the music, working out different tempi with great care and weaving an astonishing variety of tone into a complexity yet unheard. Wonderful! Marina Baranova focuses essentially on the evocation of pictures. This was most impressively demonstrated by her interpretation of Debussy's "L'isle joyeuse": She conjured up heaps of playing children, rollicking about, full of vitality and joy, becoming wilder and wilder and ignoring danger - up to the point of inevitable downfall. But the proof that this is only one facet of her versatile mastery was given immediately afterwards with the "Evocation" of Albeniz' suite "Iberia": It was full of mystery, a subtle concert of tones, yet showing a clear and narrative melody. A fine web of impressions, beautifully woven..."

Marina Baranova, born 05 August 1981, grew up in a musical family. Guided by her father, Boris Baranov, she started to improvise on the piano at the age of three. Only two years later, she was accepted to music school for the highly gifted children. At the age of eleven she won the first prize at the International Piano Competition in the Ukraine and completed her first concert tour through Finland.

By now, Marina Baranova has been performing on the most renowned stages in Europe and Asia. She played as a soloist with the Slaska Philharmony Orchestra, Bydgoszcz Radio Philharmony, the Bacau Philharmony Orchestra, Jerusalem Strings and others. She is also a frequent guest at international festivals, such as the Merano Festival, Niestetal Piano Festival, Busoni Festival, Granada Piano Festival, Oldenbourg Promenade and Weltklassik am Klavier (Piano Worldclassic).

Marina Baranova has won prizes in the following International Piano Competitions:

International Piano Competition "Campillos 2008" in Malaga, Spain (2008)
International Piano Competition "Parnassos" in Monterrey, Mexico (2008)
International Piano Competition "C.I.P.C.E" Madrid, Spain (2007)
International Piano Competition Cidade de Ferrol, Spain (2006)
I. J. Paderewski, International Piano Competition in Poland (2004)
International Piano Competition Piano Campus, France (2003)
A. Tansman, International Competition of Musical Personalities in Poland (2002)
International Piano Competition E. Durlet, Belgium (1999)
International Piano Competition for young pianists in Ukraine (1992)

Marina is a recipient of scholarships of the Friedrich-Juergen-Sellheim-Foundation as well as the Schlomo-Albam-Foundation. Currently, she is a student of Prof. Vladimir Krajnev at the Academy of Music and Drama in Hanover. She has worked with many celebrated pianists, including Profs. Karl-Heinz Kaemmerling, Elisso Virsaladze, Naum Starkman, Hiriko Nakamura, Leonel Morales, Victor Makarov, Cecile Ousset und Stefano Fiuzzi.

Besides classical performance practice, she is very interested in contemporary music and Improvisation. She has premiered a number of new compositions. She also participated in Incontri concert series and collaborates with the Institute for New Music in Hanover. In 2005, the Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR) (Northern German Broadcasting Company) hired her for an improvisation project called "Auschwitz. Reden verboten, Schweigen unmoeglich".

In the year 2006, she established the duo "Impromptu" along with the clarinetist Helmut Eisel. The goal of this project is to juxtapose Russian Romanticism with Klezmer Improvisations. In August 2007 this collaboration resulted in a CD: "Impromptu," recorded at the studio Bauer in Ludwigsburg and released under the label Neuklang.

During summer 2007, Marina Baranova taught improvisation at Giora Feidman's workshop Klezmer & the Clarinet in Galilea in Sfat, Israel. Being a grandchild of a rabbi, Marina likes to explore her Jewish heritage through Klezmer music.

See also: Marina Baranova on You Tube and My Space