Violinist Liana Gourdjia was born in Moscow into a musical family and began playing the violin at an early age. She received her initial training at the Central Music School of the Moscow State Conservatory with Iryna Bochkova and Maya Glezarova before continuing her studies in the United States, where she worked with David and Linda Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She later completed an Artist Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University Bloomington, studying with Jaime Laredo.
She has been a three-year fellow at the Marlboro Music Festival, where she collaborated with artists such as Mitsuko Uchida, Leon Fleisher and Kim Kashkashian. Her chamber music activity has brought her to the stage alongside musicians including Martha Argerich, Misha Maisky, Lawrence Power, Marc Coppey and members of leading string quartets such as the Juilliard and Tokyo String Quartets.
As a soloist, she has appeared with orchestras including the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Lille Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, working with conductors such as François-Xavier Roth, James Gaffigan, Andrew Grams and Shlomo Mintz.
Deeply committed to both classical and contemporary repertoire, she is a member of Ensemble Variances under Thierry Pécou and has been concertmaster of the New Music Ensemble at Indiana University under David Dzubay. She has also developed collaborative projects exploring new connections between classical and traditional music, including work with violinist Tcha Limberger.
Her recordings include Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken and pianist Katia Skanavi, as well as the complete violin sonatas of Charles Ives with pianist Matan Porat. She has also recorded chamber music projects released on labels including Audite and Printemps des Arts
Liana Gourdjia is a laureate of several international competitions, including the Sion-Valais International Competition, and has received prizes at competitions such as the Michael Hill, Corpus Christi and Hudson Valley International Competitions.
Alongside her performing career, she is a dedicated pedagogue. She is Professor of Violin at Musikene – Conservatorio Superior de Música del País Vasco and at the École Normale de Musique “Alfred Cortot” in Paris, and serves as guest professor for the chamber music programme of JONDE. She also lives in San Sebastián, where she is guest concertmaster of the Euskadiko Orkestra.