“Lena is an amazingly gifted and soulful musician from Russia who can eat most of her peer saxophonists on this planet for breakfast, lunch and dinner in one gulp. She can also swing you into bad health with any musical offering she wishes to perform.”
Keith Copeland

Born in Russia into a musical family, Lena started her piano lessons at the age of 6. In high school, she taught herself guitar and became a singer-songwriter, performing at the local theater. Soon she was singing jazz, learning to improvise and to transcribe. But all became different when she heard “My Favorite Things” and “Love Supreme” by John Coltrane for the first time. Coltrane’s sound and concept fascinated her, and Lena began to study saxophone.

First self-taught without books, she decided to immigrate to Israel and was immediately accepted as a student at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance, for study with Boris Gammer. There she has received an award to buy her first Selmer tenor saxophone. She remained in Israel one more year and performed at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in the summer, as well as at some clubs with her teacher.

In 1990 Lena moved to Europe and started her own group in Cologne, Germany. At this time she began her study at the Jazz Department of Cologne Conservatory, right from the third semester. Lena enjoyed studying with great American and European musicians: John Taylor, John Marshall, Keith Copeland. With her own quartet she was touring around the country, playing in jazz clubs in Hamburg, Leverkusen, Dusseldorf, Bonn, Munich, Dresden, being a part of renown festivals (Leverkusener Jazz Tage, Ingolstadter Jazz Herbst). At the “Jazz Newcomer Competition” in Leipzig, Germany, her quintet won the first prize.

In Cologne, Lena met the great jazz saxophonist Lee Konitz and became his passionate student. In 1999 she recorded a first CD “Pyramid”, featuring John Marshall on trumpet, Boris Netsvetaev on piano, Chris Lachotta on bass and Stefan Noelle on drums. In the spring of 1999 she received a full scholarship for a Jazz Workshop in Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada, having lessons and sessions with Joe Lovano and Kenny Werner. She participated in a studio recording with vocalist Judy Silvano and Chicago-based drummer Jerry Steinhilber.

In 2001, she recorded another CD with more originals, this time with a drummer and friend David Mason, pianist Boris Netsvetaev and bassist Chris Lachotta. Same year, in Munich, she met Steve Reid, a legendary percussionist, and an interesting collaboration began immediately. Several festivals followed, and a live-recorded CD “Steve Reid Live In Europe”, featuring Lena’s original “Farewell To Arms”.

One of the most exciting and unforgettable experiences was Lena’s playing with Johnny Griffin and Horace Parlan, with Mal Waldron, Keith Copeland, John Marshall and Alvin Queen. In 2002 she was invited to Russia to perform at Igor Butman’s “Le Club” and at the Voronezsh jazz festival.
In Germany, she continued to perform with many talented young musicians: Matthias Bergmann,Daniel Buttner, Francois De Ribaupierre, Markus Rieck, Fedor Ruscuc, Joe Hertenstein, Christian Ramond, Felix Astor, Guido May, Thomas Rueckert and others.

In 2003 Lena was offered a scholarship for a Master’s of Music study at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Studying jazz composition with Jeff Holmes, she took lessons with a great New-York based saxophonist Adam Kolker and studied with him sound production and modal harmony in jazz. Lena quickly became a part of the jazz scene as a player. With her own trio, she performed in Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. As a soloist with Vermont Jazz Center Big Band, multimedia group “Ambassadors Of Light”, “Safari East” and with her own trio, she has a wonderful experience working with musicians such as Dave Shapiro, Vishnu Wood, Claire Arenius, Paul Arslanian, Eugene Uman, Howard Brofsky, Rod Levitt, George Kaye. In 2005 Lena was a soloist at the “Women in Jazz” Festival, which also featured Allison Miller on drums.

During her UMass years, she has met composer and contrabassist Salvatore Macchia and started her study of contemporary composition with that tremendously inspiring artist. Lena currently enjoys her stay in the United States, working on projects with Claire Arenius, Dave Shapiro, Doug Abrams, Vishnu Wood and George Kaye.