Polina performs on Show 476.

Polina Strela (piano), 18, is a senior at the Brearley School in New York City. Polina has been a piano student at Kaufman Music Center since age five. She currently studies with Natela Mchedlishvili as part of the Young Artist Program.

In the fall of 2025, Polina won New York State MTNA Senior Piano Competition. In 2024, she won the first prize in the senior category at Cremona International Music Academy Piano Competition and played with the festival orchestra in Museo del Violino. In 2024, Polina also won a top prize in Young Artists category at the XV Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, CT and 2024 Lucy Moses Concerto Competition and played with orchestra at Concerto Competition Winners Concert at Merkin Hall.

Polina has performed at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall and Steinway Hall. She has appeared in numerous masterclasses with distinguished faculty and has taken part in multiple international music festivals such as Kaufman Music Center’s SummerFest, Belp Music Festival, Puerto Piano & Strings, Vivace International Piano Festival, and Music Fest Perugia.

During her music career, Polina participated in multiple chamber groups, including piano trios, piano quintet, piano ensembles, and violin duets. She participated in North Shore Chamber Music Festival, Art of Collaboration Workshop where her performance was streamed on the Violin Channel in 2025.

Beyond performance, Polina is passionate about music education and service. At the Brearley School, she is a co-head of the Music Mentorship Club where she mentors young musicians and organizes intergenerational outreach concerts. At school, Polina also enjoys various academic subjects such as statistics, political science and math. Polina is also passionate about community outreach and volunteers for ENGin where she teaches English weekly to a family in Ukraine. She has a passion for languages and is fluent in Russian and Spanish.

Orli has joined From the Top as Guest Host on Show 420, Show 422,  Show 404, Show 405, Show 390, Show 389, Show 379, Show 380, and Show 361.

A consummate musician recognized for her grace, subtlety, and brilliance, the pianist Orli Shaham is hailed by critics on four continents. The New York Times called her a “brilliant pianist,” The Chicago Tribune referred to her as “a first-rate Mozartean,” and London’s Guardian said Ms. Shaham’s playing at the Proms was “perfection.”

Orli Shaham has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world, and has appeared in recital internationally, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. She is Artistic Director of Pacific Symphony’s chamber series Café Ludwig in California since 2007 and was Artist in Residence at Vancouver Symphony (USA) in 2022-2024.

Highlights of Ms. Shaham’s 2024-2025 concert season include performances of concertos written for her by David Robertson with Utah Symphony and by Steven Mackey at Tanglewood, and the Beethoven Triple Concerto with her brother, violinist Gil Shaham. Chamber recitals across the country include Dumbarton Oaks, Music at Menlo, La Jolla, and more.

In 2024, Orli Shaham released the final volumes of the complete piano sonatas by Mozart to high critical acclaim. Her discography includes over a dozen titles on Deutsche Gramophone, Sony, Canary Classics and other labels. Orli Shaham is on the piano and chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School and is a Co-Host and Creative for the national radio program From the Top. She is also Artistic Director of the interactive children’s concert series, Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010, and is chair of the Board of Trustees of Kaufman Music Center.

Orli Shaham is a Steinway Artist

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