Biography

Petra Priscilla Polman (The Netherlands)

started playing the piano at age eight. Later, she studied with Arthur Hartong and was admitted to the Conservatory of Arnhem. Petra participated in several piano competitions and won prizes at the Petrof-competition, the Yamaha-competition, and the Kijkduin-competition. She participated in masterclasses and workshops with Faina Bryanskaya, Mark Erkens, Marietta Petkova, and Louis Andriessen and she also took a voice-accompaniment course with Tan Crone. In 2002, she graduated with a Bachelor's degree (piano) from the Conservatory where she had studied with Marjès Benoist. Since 2001 Petra has worked as a piano teacher at the Municipal Institute for Education in Music and Arts in Arnhem.

Besides playing in several ensembles, Petra continued her piano study with Sepp Grotenhuis. She also participated in international masterclasses of Nelly Ben-Or, Johan van Beek, Kazuko Tanosaki, and Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. She was invited to study in the USA and in 2005 she went to the University of New Mexico, where she studied with Falko Steinbach and Pamela Viktoria Pyle. In May 2006 Petra graduated with distinction from UNM with the degree Master of Music in Piano Performance. This year of study was possible thanks to the financial support of a.o. Friends of Music.

She frequently performs, both as a soloist and as an accompanist. She also works as a pianist in the Classic Express; the first mobile concert hall in the world. Recently, Petra was one of the twenty-five pianists who were interviewed for the book The Classical Piano Recital by author Ben Daeter. Together with fourteen other pianists, Petra played during the one of the three concerts which were organized as a part of the book.

Last August, Petra was selected for a solo recital during an international festival for Spanish keyboard music, which took place in Spain in October 2009. She performed an one-hour program with piano compositions by Spanish composers.