Today, Polina Osetinskaya is an outspoken, internationally acclaimed pianist, but it wasn’t exactly her idea at first.

Her career and her life grew from a childhood that reads like a dark Grimms’ fairy tale.

“My father always dreamed of being a great pianist,” she began.

His dreams were thwarted by a broken finger and a difficult Siberian upbringing, so Oleg Osetinsky instead determined that he would one day have a daughter who would be a world-famous pianist.

After her two older sisters left home music-less, it fell to young Polina, Osetinsky’s third daughter and last chance, to fulfill her father’s ambition.

At 5, she was sent off to music school to learn piano.

“I was so against it,” she remembered. “I stood screaming in the middle of the road, ‘No! I’m not going to play the piano!’ But I had no choice.”

After mastering the basics, she gave her first concert at the age of 6. When she was 7, her father took her to the Central Music School for Gifted Children of the Moscow Conservatory.

But none of her teachers proved good enough for Osetinsky, who insisted he was the only one fit to instruct his daughter, even though he knew neither music nor the piano.

At 13, Polina, too, ran away from home to seek her own fortune, continuing her studies at the Leningrad Conservatory with Marina Wolf and later at the Moscow Conservatory with Vera Gornostaeva.

To this day, her father claims credit for her success.

Polina Osetinskaya went on to tour the United States every year since 2018, enjoyed a Carnegie Hall debut in 2019 and last toured Florida in 2020 with a Russian orchestra.

“And then the war,” she said. “I had a U.S. tour scheduled with the National Orchestra of Ukraine in April 2022, but of course, that never happened.”

Her pacifist opposition to the 2022 war also got her banned from Russian concert halls, but now she will return to Florida in a triumphant worldwide 2024-2025 concert tour.

“I’m very glad to be part of Grand Piano Series,” she said. “The professional and listener level of the series is very high, and I feel flattered to be in such good company — pianists who are my friends and respected colleagues.”

Her November program, which launches the series’ own 2024-2025 season at Artis—Naples, highlights transcriptions of great composers’ work by great pianists, both past and present.

“I’m exploring the art of pianistic geniuses looking inside the music of genius composers,” Osetinskaya said.

One of them, the multitalented Grand Piano Series alum, Asiya Korepanova, wrote two of the Bach transcriptions that she’ll perform.

Several of the program’s Bach transcriptions are multi-voiced choral works and difficult to capture with mere keys.

“For those, you must breathe as a singer, creating a vocal sound through intonation,” Osetinskaya explained.

And after intermission, a Tchaikovsky ballet — the holiday favorite Nutcracker Suite — and a symphony movement are even more challenging works to transcribe for the piano’s solo voice, which must imitate an entire orchestra.

While in the Naples area, Osetinskaya will perform not just for adult listeners but also for young music students at four local schools, as part of Grand Piano Series’ well-known educational outreach program.

Although she’d love to have more pupils of her own, dabble in her own transcriptions and spend more precious time with her family, Osetinskaya finds herself so busy concertizing that there’s little time for much else.

“The ironic thing for musicians is that we don’t want to be without work,” she admitted. “And sometimes when we work less for a week or so, we feel there’s something missing.” ¦

Polina Osetinskaya, Bach and Tchaikovsky

· When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6

· Where: Daniels Pavilion, Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Boulevard, Naples

Single tickets are $59 ($50 as part of subscription) and can be purchased at Artis—Naples box office or at grandpianoseries. org. For assistance, call 239.597.1900.

Those attending should keep in mind there are limits on bag sizes at Artis—Naples of 14x14x4 inches.