Aliya Turetayeva

Curriculum Vitae

​Aliya Turetayeva is one of the most promising and talented Kazakh pianist of her generation. She was born in 1986 in Almaty, Kazakhstan and received her first piano lesson at the tender age of five. She was soon accepted into a special music school for gifted children in Almaty and during her first year of studies there, she gave her debut performances, both as a recitalist and
as a soloist with orchestra.
She appeared on several occasions as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra and State Symphony Orchestra at the ​State Philharmonic Hall and at the Kazakh Concert Hall in Almaty.
After graduating from the specialized music school, Aliya was accepted into the Dresden University of Music at the age of 16.
Two years later, she moved to Cologne and continued her studies at the Hochschule fuer Musik und Tanz Köln as a student
​of Professor Pavel Gililov. She was awarded her Masters degree in 2010.

During this time, Aliya played at many festivals, including the Dresden Music Festival, Ruhr Piano Festival, European Classical Festival Ruhr, International Holland Music Sessions, Gstaad New Year Music Festival, Switzerland, Festival Pianistico di Spoleto, Aurora Classic Festival Sweden, Ars Haliaeti Festival Slovenia, International Chamber Music Festival Stavanger, Norway, XIV Festival de Musica International Tenerife, Spain, PianoFest Sint-Niklaas, Belgium and Festival Percursos da Musica in Ponte de Lima, Portugal. She also performed at many prestigious venues such as the Steinway-Haus in Düsseldorf, WDR Funkhaus Kleiner Sendesaal, Bechstein Centre Cologne as part of the Young Professional Series, Alexander Girardi Hall during the Academy Artists Series at Dino Ciani Festival (Italy), St Martin-in-the-Fields/Pianists of the World Series London, Muziekcentrum Arke Zaal Enschede, the Netherlands, Carole Nash Recital Room RNCM, Auditorium Joseph Jongen Bruxelles, Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen, Centro Cultural ​de Belem Lisboa, Bruno Walter Auditorium at the Lincoln Center NY, Weill Recital Hall/Carnegie Hall New York, Elgar Room Royal Albert Hall London, Villa Medici Giulini Italy, Gesellschaft für Musiktheater Wien, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Grande Salle du Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, Arthur-Rubinstein-Saal Steinway Hall Munich, Theater Vorpommern, Hurumsalen Oslo, Kaisersaal Vienna and ​Billrothhaus Vienna, Austria.

Aliya was a prizewinner at the V. Krainev International Piano Competition for Young Pianists, at the Feurich International Competition in Vienna,
​at the North International Music Competition, at the Concert Artists International in New York /2nd Prize and Outstanding Performance Award/ and 3rd prizewinner at the Verao Classico Festival in Lisbon, Portugal. She was also awarded the Meissen Rotary Club Award at the Meissen International Music Academy, Honorable Mention Award at Rising Stars Grand Prix International Competition as a soloist and chamber musician in Berlin, the Brueser Berger Musikpreis 2018 in Bonn, Germany,
Golden Classical Music Award in New York, USA and Honorable Mention Award at ​Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition in New York, USA. As a recipient of the Steinway Hall Prize at the KIPC 2019 in Kent, the UK, Aliya made her debut at the Steinway Hall in London in 2020. Most recently she was invited to perform at the International Holland Piano Series at the Muziekcentrum in Enschede for maestro Stephen Kovacevich and was selected to perform at Isaac Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at the Carnegie Hall in New York in 2021. As a prizewinner of the International Music Competition of the Nordic Strings Academy / Denmark, Aliya will go on China Tour during the season 2020/2021.
Aliya's debut album, that will include works by Robert Schumann, will be released in 2020 by the distinguished KNS Classical Label.
Aliya has worked with many celebrated musicians including Stephen Kovacevich, Mikhail Voskresensky, Imogen Cooper, Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, Andrzej Jasinski, Vladimir Krainev, Graham Scott, Christopher Elton, Aleksandar Madzar, Ilan Rogoff and ​Jerome Rose.
​As well as her work as a soloist, Aliya is a dedicated chamber musician.
She recently recorded chamber music works by G. Crumb and A. Schnittke for WDR Radio Cologne. She was also supported through the bursary and scholarships, kindly donated by the Aurora Classic Festival and Playing for Gold International Summer Academy in Norway.
Last academic year she joined the piano faculty of the Internationale Akademie für Musik Cologne.

Aliya completed her Konzertexamen postgraduate studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg under the tutelage of Professor Gililov with the highest mark and has additionally studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in Belgium.