norman lebrecht
March 19, 2026
Message from the international violinist Alina Pogostkina:
A goodbye
20 years ago, I won the Sibelius Competition and started to work with Harrison Parrott worldwide.
Some days ago I went to see my agent in Munich to say goodbye.
Being on the big stages of the world, belongs to a life, that is not longer mine. What a wild adventure it was. I experienced so much. Love, passion, loneliness, fear, lots of searching for myself, my voice, my purpose. So many amazing people on my path, connection, inspiration. Soo many travels. And music, I liked to see it as a window to heaven. A direct path to god. I had the most divine experiences on stage.
But now I have transitioned to sth else. Sth new. 35 years on stage feel like it is enough.
I was always looking for freedom and I just could not find it in that role.
Now the time has come for me to put that all down, to learn to actually live with a regulated nervous system, to be with the simple things of life.
With nature, my kids, my husband, a workplace where trying to transmit what I experienced and learned on my path….
Read on here.
Alina, 42, is a Russian-born German violinist, the first German ever to win the Sibelius Competition. Based in Berlin, she teaches at the conservatoire in Basle.