Alla Penkina
Alla Penkina (Алла Валентиновна Пенкина) was born on 18 January 1960 in Pavlovo (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia). She began to play piano at the age of six, first privately under Maria Filipova, later at the music school under A. Khalkovskaya. In 1980 she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in musicology. From 1984 to 1989 Alla Penkina studied composition at the Turkmen National Conservatory in Ashgabat and completed the post-graduate course in composition in 1995 under professor Recep Allayarov, an disciple of Alfred Schnittke. She also attended masterclasses by the composers Boris Tishchenko and Theo Loevendie. In 2001 Alla Penkina received a fellowship for composers from the Russian Composers Union.
From 1989 to 1995 Alla Penkina lectured both at the music school as well as the Turkmen National Conservatory in Ashgabat, and she worked as a music editor for the Turkmenian Broadcasting Company. In 1996 she moved back to Nizhny Novgorod and lectured piano and composition at music schools. She was a jury member in the local composition competition "Young Composer" in Nizhny Novgorod. Alla Penkina also taught music theory, piano and composition at the Californian Music Center in Shenzhen (China). Since 2008 she lives permantly in Elche (Spain).
Alla Penkina's work catalogue contains the compositions 'Monologue' for orchestra, concertos for piano and for violin, 'Shadows' for chamber orchestra, a viola sonata, a trio for piano, cello and accordion, two preludes for cello and vibraphone and several song cycles.
Her music has been performed in festivals like 'Musical premieres', the international festival 'View on music of Russia', the international festival of contemporary music 'Composer's generations on the threshold of the 21th century. Panorama of Russian music', the international music festival 'From Rhine to Volga', 'Pictures from an Exhibition', 'Europe-Asia' in Russia, and in festivals in Spain, Italy, France, USA, South Korea, Macedonia, Romania and Ukraine.
Alla Penkia is board member of the Association of Composers of Catalonia and member of the Russian Union of Composers.
The "Concerto for violin and chamber orchestra op.17" by Alla Penkina was composed in 1995. The work is dedicated to Recep Allayarov, the former teacher of the composer. The work is still unperformed.
