Ekaterina Kornishina-Braunfeld

Early training

Ekaterina Kornishina-Braunfeld began studying music at the age of four and was a member of the Children’s Choir of the Bolshoi Theatre.

Education

She later entered the Central Music School of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she studied with Professor Yuri Dolzhikov, and continued her education at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Professor Alexander Golyshev. Her studies were subsequently extended at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid in the class of Jacques Zoon.

Her artistic development was further shaped through masterclasses with leading flutists, including Emmanuel Pahud, Felix Renggli, Philippe Bernold, Sophie Cherrier, Andrea Lieberknecht, Vincent Lucas, Davide Formisano, and Shigenori Kudo, as well as through chamber music masterclasses with Wenzel Fuchs (clarinet), Hansjörg Schellenberger (oboe), Alexander Bonduryansky (piano), and Marta Gulyás (piano).

Early career

Since the age of eleven, Kornishina has appeared as a soloist at international festivals. At fifteen, she made her debut at the Musikverein in Vienna (Brahms-Saal), performing Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp. Between 2011 and 2016, she was a regular participant of the International Summer Academy (ISA) of the Vienna Conservatory, and in 2019 she was selected for the Järvi Academy, where she worked in an intensive orchestral environment with leading international conductors and musicians.

Orchestral and international activity

At the age of eighteen, she was invited by Vladimir Spivakov to join the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia as a solo flutist. Since 2019, she has also been a member of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, an international orchestra performing its programmes entirely from memory.

She has also performed as a guest principal flute with orchestras across Europe.

She regularly performs at international festivals across Europe, including appearances in France (Auvers-sur-Oise Festival, Festival de Colmar), Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and the Czech Republic.

As a soloist, she has appeared with orchestras including the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia (Evgeny Svetlanov), the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, the Moscow Virtuosi, and the Tatarstan Symphony Orchestra.

Chamber music and collaborations

As a soloist and chamber musician, she has collaborated with conductors such as Vladimir Fedoseev, Vladimir Spivakov, Michel Repper, Antony Hermes, and Alexander Sladkovsky, and has performed alongside Andrey Baranov (violin), Bram van Sambeek (bassoon), Boris Andrianov (cello), Dwight Perry (oboe), Yaoguang Zhai (clarinet), Petr Laul (piano), Ilya Gringolts (violin), Nikita Borisoglebsky (violin), Arkady Shilkloper (horn), Edgar Moreau (cello), Dmitry Illarionov (guitar), and Artyom Dervoed (guitar).

Recordings and media

In 2014, she recorded Johann Sebastian Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2 with Vladimir Spivakov and the Moscow Virtuosi.

In 2020, she released an album of her own transcriptions of works by Sergei Rachmaninoff for flute and piano on the Melodiya label; following its presentation on Radio France, the album entered the Top Chart.

Contemporary music

Kornishina is also active in the field of contemporary music. Works have been dedicated to her by both established and emerging composers, including Mathias Duplessy, who wrote “Bird in the City” for her and guitarist Dmitry Illarionov, and Artyom Romodanov, who composed “6/3” for flute and string quintet.

Pedagogy and research

Alongside her performance career, she obtained a qualification in counselling psychology, completing a diploma thesis entitled “The Influence of Mass Culture on the Unconscious Regulation of Human Behaviour.”

She is the founder of BusyMozart, an international educational project bringing together participants from more than 36 countries and integrating methods of sports psychology into musical training.

As a pedagogue, Ekaterina prepares students for admission to leading conservatoires, placing particular emphasis on artistic independence, creativity, and performance confidence.

In 2025, at the 20th anniversary of the Stellenbosch Chamber Music Festival (South Africa), she donated a bassoon to a young local student in cooperation with the festival’s director, Nina Schumann, reflecting her commitment to education and support for young musicians.

Current activity

Kornishina is currently focused on her own artistic projects, teaching, and chamber music, and is developing several initiatives, including a new music festival, an experimental recording project, and an international series of masterclasses.