Biography
Russian jazz pianist Regina Litvinova started playing piano at an early age. In Moscow she studied classical piano with Eduard Syomin. Jazz composition and piano she studied with Yuri Chugunov and Gennadi Strelnik.
2001 Regina transferred to the “Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst” in Mannheim where she studied with Professor Jörg Reiter.
In Mannheim she once again met the drummer Christian Scheuber, whom she had seen in Moscow in 1997.
Regina and Christian worked together on several projects. Finally Christian, along with bassist Markus Schieferdecker became the permanent rhythm section for the Regina Litvinova “Extreme Trio”.
Shortly after winning the Soloist Prize at the “Young Jazz Award” in Tübingen in 2002, Regina recorded her debut CD, “German Body ,Russian Soul, African Heart“ (Rodenstein Records). She performed concerts in Germany, Switzerland, Luxemburg, France, Japan,Russia, later Estonia, Romania, Cyprus and Uruguay.
Regina also studied with several giants in the jazz piano world: Richie Beirach and Mark Soskin, refining her energetic style and inspiring her to new levels of improvisation.
Regina displayed her incredible talent as a composer and arranger on her second CD, “Grizzlies” (Jazz´n Arts Records 2005). For this CD she assembled a stellar cast of players, including Claus Kiesselbach, Rainer Witzel and Alex Sipiagin.
Whoever has the pleasure of hearing Regina quickly feels the passion and joy that this musician so ably conveys. Her nuances, emotions, and groove combine to form a complete portrait of this unique individual. A brilliant technique, subtle shifts in time and rhythmic illusions are her trademarks.
She has also played concerts and sessions with Evelyn Blakey, Mike Ellis, Igor Butman, Wynton Marsalis, Oleg Kirejev, Sinatra Tribute Band, Stephan Urwyler, later with Richie Beirach, Adam Nussbaum, Gregor Huebner and Dave Liebman.
In 2006 Regina received her diploma “Jazz Piano Studies” from the Musikhochschule Mannheim with the best grade possible.
Regina furthered her education with Richie Beirach at the HMT in Leipzig. With her third CD Extreme Trio “Live”, Regina presents jazz standards and reveals a new level of maturity.
In 2008 and `09 she was a performer at the “ Montreux Jazz Festival“ in Switzerland, 2010 Concours Martial Solal in Paris.
Prof. Richie Beirach about her new CD “ The Music of Richie Beirach“ :“ Regina was one of my best masters students at the Mendelssohn Hochschule. I am honored that she chose to record a whole CD of my compositions. They are brilliantly arranged and creatively performed by her and her band. Thank you Regina! “
Her song „Grizzly’s“ has won an Honorable Mention in the Jazz category in the 2011 International Songwriting Competition (USA). One of the judges was a famous jazz pianist McCoy Tyner.
In 2013 she appeared as a composer, arranger and bandleader and recorded her own CD the jazzsuite „Shapes of 4 „. For this very special occaison she invited the following super talented and very well know musicians Casey Benjamin (vocoder, soprano sax), David Nelson (mradangam), Jean-François Michel (alto sax.), Yves Torchinsky (bass) and Christian Scheuber (drums).
Since 2014 she is a member of Richie Beirach’s Coming Together Trio, playing keyboards and vocoder.
She has begun studies in contemporary classical music with Prof.Dr. Sidney Corbett.
2018 she released her Jazzsuite „ Shapes of 4“ under the label Jazzsick.
In 2022 Regina and Tobias Frohnhöfer took over the artistic direction of Christian Scheuber`s „Jazz am Rhein“ festival. This international jazz festival will celebrate its 15th anniversary in July 2022.