BIOGRAPHY

Polina Lebedieva is a Ukrainian conductor based in Paris, whose rapidly developing career spans symphonic, operatic and contemporary repertoire.

From September 2026, she takes up a two-season appointment as Conductor in Residence at the Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris. She is also Assistant Conductor of Ensemble intercontemporain and an Award Recipient of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship 2026–2028.

The 2026–27 season includes the season-opening concert of the Académie at the Opéra Bastille, alongside engagements with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and the Orchestre de Picardie. Recent engagements also include the Berner Symphonieorchester, Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre du Pays Basque and Ensemble intercontemporain.

Polina’s international career began to attract attention at an early age. In summer 2022, at just 21, she conducted the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine in the opening of the Bachfest Leipzig and participated in a BBC Digital recording created as part of a UNICEF initiative. Later that year, she was selected as one of only five participants in Riccardo Muti’s Italian Opera Academy, where she conducted Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini and Choir at the Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna.

Polina was a semi-finalist at both the Mahler Competition in Bamberg and the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam, and a finalist for the Prix Fabuleuse Signature in 2023 and 2024. She was named a Britten Pears Young Artist for 2023–2024, taking part in the Royal Opera House and Britten Pears Young Artist Programme The Conductor as Dramaturg.

Adding to her accomplishments, she participated in the renowned Gstaad Conducting Academy in 2025 and the Tonhalle Conductors’ Academy with Paavo Järvi in 2026.

Throughout her career, Polina has worked with many renowned orchestras and ensembles, including the Berner Symphonieorchester, Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble intercontemporain, Orchestre du Pays Basque – Iparraldeko Orkestra, Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, London City Philharmonic, Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Orchestre National de Cannes, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre Régional de Normandie, Orchestre de Picardie, Ensemble ZAR, and others.

Polina graduated from the conducting faculty of the Ukrainian National Academy of Music and is currently continuing her conducting education at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, under the guidance of Alain Altinoglu. She speaks fluent Ukrainian, Russian, English, French, German and Italian.