UAB Department of Music student Kseniia Polstiankina won third place at the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Piano Competition March 28, 2011.
Polstiankina was one of seven national finalists selected to compete. The competition, sponsored by Steinway & Sons, was held during the MTNA National Conference in Milwaukee, Wis., March 26-30. Polstiankina was chosen as a national finalist after representing Alabama and winning the MTNA Southern Division Young Artist Piano Competition in Columbus, Ga., in January. Polstiankina, a senior music major, is the daughter of Irina Polstiankina and Sergei Polstiankina of Kiev, Ukraine. She is a student of UAB Associate Professor of Piano Yakov Kasman, D.M.A.
“This is a huge achievement for Kseniia, for our Department of Music and for UAB. This would be a great honor for any major school of music for a student to be placed so highly at this important national competition. We are very proud of Kseniia,” Kasman says.
Jeffrey W. Reynolds, D.M.A., chair of the Department of Music, agrees. “This is another in a long line of prestigious awards this young pianist already has garnered. She is as captivating a person as she is a pianist and will be an enormous contributor to the world of music,” Reynolds says.