Katya Sourikova

Raised in St Petersburg and London, Katya Sourikova’s musical and cultural background has always been diverse.

After training as a classical pianist at the prestigious Guildhall School and then the Royal College of Music, she began a long exploration of Jazz, finding a her musical voice somewhere between these two worlds both as a composer and improviser.

In 2004, Katya made her first recordings with Canadian musicians Ivan Bamford and Remi-Jean leBlanc. In 2005, the trio performed at the Baku International Jazz Festival alongside heavyweights such as Joe Zawinul and Greg Osby.

At the Banff Jazz and Creative Music Workshop in 2006, Katya’s mentors Dave Douglas and Marilyn Crispell helped her focus her creative energies. The resulitng two albums, Steps in the Snow and Angels & Satellites were recorded in New York and subsequently released by Weave Records in 2008 and 2010.

In 2011, Weave Records released Katya’s third album Ivan’s Dream. Recorded in Berlin, the album and resulting live project received critical acclaim, with the Katya Sourikova Group performing at the London Jazz festival in 2011. Katya began to rearrange her compositions for chamber music ensembles,  bringing her journey from her classical roots and through the jazz idiom full circle. This resulted in two new live projects, Queen Maud Land for chamber ensemble and Jazz Quartet, and Casa Mila for Piano and Cello duet. 

The album Queen Maud Land was released in 2016 following a successful crowdfunding campaign. The Casa Mila project also met  success, with sell-out concerts in Riga, Latvia in 2017 and 2018.

Katya has composed and produced several film scores. Her soundtrack to the movie Kythera Mon Amour  won the Best Original score at the Sydney Tropfest in 2017 ( www.kytheramonamour.com).

In 2019 Katya composed  a sequel to Angels and Satellites, collaboratring with Roman Mints on violin, Helen Barsby on trumpet and Richard McGraith on Bass Clarinet. The music leans in the direction of contemporary chamber music.

In 2020 Katya completed the score to the new feature film by James Prineas - An Island Named Desire.

In 2022, Katya recorded a Jazz album “After Bach” at Emile - Berliner Studios with Miles Perkin (Doubel Bass) and Ståle Birkeland (Drums). Delayed by the pandemic, the album will be released early 2025.