Irina Zahharenkova is one of Estonia’s most outstanding international artists and a virtuoso pianist who also performs earlier music on the harpsichord and fortepiano. Based in Finland, Zahharenkova appears actively as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral soloist, collaborating with many of Finland’s leading musicians.

Zahharenkova has performed extensively throughout Europe and Asia. Her solo recitals have been heard at numerous prestigious festivals, including Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Göttingen Händel-Festspiele, Moritzburg Festival, MDR Musiksommer, Mendelssohn Festival, Solsberg Festival, Spoleto Festival, Serate Musicali, Accademia Chigiana, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Naantali Music Festival, Mikkeli Music Festival, Prades Pablo Casals Festival, and Festival de Música Antigua.

She has also appeared in renowned concert halls such as Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Wien Konzerthaus, Louvre Museum Paris, the Troldhaugen (Grieg Museum), and Gewandhaus in Leipzig.

As a soloist, she has performed with many leading orchestras, including the BBC Ulster Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the North Carolina Symphony, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Kymin Sinfonietta and Sinfonietta Riga. She has collaborated with conductors such as Olari Elts, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Olli Mustonen, Jun Märkl, Juha Kangas, Robert Treviño and Leif Segerstam.

During the 2024–2025 season, Zahharenkova served as Artist-in-Residence with the Tapiola Sinfonietta, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1–4. In autumn 2025, she performed Violin Concerto in its piano version.

Since 2022, she has been Artist-in-Residence with the California-based chamber music series and ensemble Camerata Pacifica. Her musical collaborators have included Sebastian Jacot, Paul Huang, Nicholas Daniel and Timothy Ridout.

Between 2020 and 2025, her solo repertoire has included both books of J. S. Bach’s Das Wohltemperierte Klavier and the complete 32 piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven. She was awarded the Annual Prize of the Estonian Cultural Endowment for her interpretation of Book I of Das Wohltemperierte Klavier.

Zahharenkova is also an active chamber musician. She has performed with artists such as Sergey Malov, Baiba Skride, Sol Gabetta, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Daniel Rowland, Aylen Pritchin, Daniel Müller-Schott, Andreas Brantelid, Klaus Mäkelä, Jan-Erik Gustafsson and Christofer Sundqvist.

In 2025, she recorded sonatas by Vivaldi, Boccherini, Geminiani and Bach together with Daniel Müller-Schott. That same autumn, she joins Sol Gabetta’s concert tour Following the Footsteps of Lisa Cristiani, appearing at venues including the Elbphilharmonie, Kölner Philharmonie, Tonhalle Düsseldorf and the Palais des Beaux-Arts.

Fenomen Artists represents Irina Zahharenkova worldwide.

Artists pictures: Matti Kyllönen