Rimma Sushanskaya

Rimma Sushanskaya was born in St Petersburg. Many of her family were lost during the siege of Leningrad.

In 2024, The National Symphony Orchestra celebrated a special year, performing and recording the complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies, released on the Quartz label in the Autumn of 2025. The close relationship between conductor and orchestra is palpable, one of great respect and synergy. Their critically acclaimed performances and recordings in recent years reflect a shared passion for music making. Sushanskaya has found an energy and vision which gives inspiration and a huge sense of eager anticipation for the future. A series of concerts will be presented at Cadogan Hall in London conducted by Sushanskaya in 2026.

The internationally acclaimed violinist Rimma Sushanskaya was the last pupil of the great David Oistrakh, with whom she studied at the Moscow Conservatoire, and under whose tutelage she won many prestigious awards. Upon leaving the Soviet Union, she rapidly established a glowing reputation in the USA and Europe. The Washington Post, described her as “one of the greatest violinists alive today,” and commented on her “extraordinary intensity and brilliant virtuosity.”

A fall in New York damaged her shoulder and ended her playing career.

Rimma Sushanskaya subsequently embarked upon a most successful career in conducting. In recent years, she has performed as a conductor in concert halls of an ever-growing list of countries, including Germany, Russia, Israel, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Switzerland, China and the United Kingdom. She has been enjoying successful performances and re-engagements in prestigious venues including the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, the Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Philharmonic Hall, Kharkov, and the Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland.

In 2007 she was awarded the Order of Catherine the Great by the National Committee of the Russian Federation of Social Awards, for achievements in music and for building friendship between Russia and Great Britain.

Rimma Sushanskaya has conducted a growing list of ensembles, including the Berlin Sinfonietta, Neues Sinfonia Orchestra Berlin, Leipzig Chamber Orchestra, Kharkov Philharmonic, St. Petersburg State Orchestra, State Philharmonic of Satu-Mare, Romania, and in England, the Orchestra of the Swan, in Stratford-upon-Avon.

She made her highly acclaimed London Debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at Cadogan Hall in 2017 conducting a programme which included Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Ravel’s La Valse. Her repertoire includes many diverse orchestral works, from the Classical and Romantic periods, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9, “Choral”, Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2, Mozart’s Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No 4, and Orff’s Carmina Burana.

Following in the traditions of her own legendary teacher, Dr. Sushanskaya has been equally anxious to pass on her knowledge and experience to younger musicians. She was a sought-after Professor at the Birmingham Conservatoire, and for many years presented her own Virtuoso Violin Festival every summer in Stratford-upon-Avon, her base in England.