Lisa Smirnova received her initial training in Moscow from Anna Kantor and Lev Naumov, but what significantly influenced her artistic development was her period of study in Salzburg with the great piano teacher Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. Further stimulation came from Maria Curcio and Robert Levin.

Lisa Smirnova made her début aged just twenty in New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1996 she made her first appearance at the Salzburg Festival with Benjamin Schmid, who became her most important chamber music partner right from the start of her career. Since then she has performed as a guest artist on the concert platforms of Europe, Asia and the USA under notable conductors such as John Storgards, Ivor Bolton, Manfred Honeck, Andrey Boreyko, Carlos Kalmar and Andres Mustonen.

Lisa Smirnova loves Mozart’s piano concertos and the piano works of Schubert, Haydn, Bach and Handel, but she also attaches great importance to tackling contemporary music. For many years she has been working with eminent composers including Rodion Shchedrin, Giya Kancheli, Valentin Silvestrov and Minas Borboudakis, with all of whom she maintains personal relationships. Her discography includes the prizewinning world première recording, in collaboration with Benjamin Schmid, of Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas with the piano accompaniment by Schumann. Also in the list are the solo album „Man lebt nur einmal“ (One only lives once) of waltzes for solo piano, and the recording with Daniel Raiskin of the complete duos for viola and piano by Ernest Bloch. A high point in her career to date is her recording of Handel’s eight “London Suites” for keyboard, made in November 2011.