Praised by the Fanfare magazine as a pianist with “imaginative and colorful interpretive approach”, Katerina Zaitseva has performed in the United States, Germany, Luxemburg, France, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia at major venues that have included the Moscow State Conservatory Hall, John F. Kennedy Center, National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., Yamaha Hall in New York, as well as the Meadows Museum of Art in Dallas, TX with Juan Carlos II of Spain in attendance. Ms. Zaitseva has been featured as soloist with orchestras including the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Meadows Symphony Orchestra, and Corvallis Symphony among others. Her seven CD recordings, including the two most recent ones with piano solo works by Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Medtner, released by the Classical Records label and available through Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify, have garnered international critical acclaim in such periodicals as Fanfare, American Record Guide, International Piano, and European Piano Teachers Association Journal. Her most recent solo performances include live-streamed solo recitals at the Southern Oregon University, the Russian Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., and Barletta Piano Festival (Italy).

In addition, Katerina performs extensively in piano duo with Nikita Fitenko. Praised by critics for their “superlative sound, superlative interpretation, and superlative pianism…” (European Piano Teachers Association Journal), the duo has performed worldwide with most recent appearances at the Tokyo College of Music (Japan), Ginza Yamaha Hall (Tokyo, Japan), Munetsugu Hall (Nagoya, Japan), Harbin Conservatory (China), Nancyphonies Music Festival (France), and Madeira Music Festival (Portugal). Their most recent CD recording of Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 1 and the Symphonic Dances for two pianos was released by the Classical Records in the spring 2021.

Currently Katerina Zaitseva is a full-time member of the piano faculty at the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C. Prior to that she was an Artist-in-Residence at Louisiana College and the Coordinator of Class Piano at the University of Maryland. She has presented master classes at Chetham Summer School and Piano Festival (Manchester, UK), University of Florida Young Pianists Festival, the University of Maryland at College Park, Showa University (Tokyo, Japan), and Han Yang University (Seoul, South Korea). Katerina has been on the jury of several competitions, including Scriabin International Piano Competition (Grosseto, Italy), Schubert International Piano and Chamber Music Competition (San Cristoforo, Italy), Hanley Memorial Piano Competition at the University of Louisiana (Lafayette, LA), as well as annual state piano competitions in Maryland and Washington D.C. She holds her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland, Master of Music from the Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX), Bachelor of Music from the University of North Texas, and the Diploma from the Music School at the Moscow State Conservatory in Russia. Her principal teachers include Joaquín Achúcarro, Larissa Dedova, Pamela Mia Paul, Neil Rutman, and Marina Prozorova.