Hailed as a “philosopher at the piano,” Dina Ugorskaja was an internationally recognized concert pianist, celebrated for her thoughtful and sensitive manner. Ugorskaja was born on August 26, 1973 into a Jewish family in Leningrad (present-day St. Petersburg) in the former Soviet Union. Her father and at the same time her first teacher was the famous pianist Anatol Ugorski, her mother – musicologist and artist Maja Elik. She began playing piano, singing, and composing at an early age and gave her first public performance at the Leningrad Philharmonic when she was seven years old.

In 1990, Ugorskaja’s family settled in Germany, having fled the Soviet Union following a series of anti-Semitic threats. Ugorskaja studied with Prof. Galina Ivanzova at Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin before going on to study under Prof. Nerine Barrett at the Conservatory in Detmold, where she obtained her solo diploma with honours in 2001. Among her other sources of inspiration and support were such musicians as Ruvim Ostrovski, Edith Picht-Axenfeld, Andras Schiff and Hans-Dietrich Klaus.

Ugorskaja enjoyed a distinguished performance career. Concert highlights included recitals at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Liederhalle Stuttgart, the Cologne Philharmonic, the Hercules Hall in Munich, the Verdi Hall in Milan, as well as Radio France. Among her other engagements were the festivals of Schwetzingen, Hitzacker, Dijon, Rottweiler, Kassel, the Feldkirch Schubertiad and Spannungen in Heimbach. Ugorskaja collaborated with a number of prominent conductors, including Ravil Martynov, Vladimir Jurovsky, Vladislav Czarnecki, Norichika Limori and Peter Gülke. As a passionate and dedicated chamber musician, Ugorskaja performed with Tanja Tetzlaff , Asja Valcic and Anastasia Kobekina (cello), Michael Gurevich and Natalia Prishchepenko (violin), Anna Lewis (viola), Sergio Azzolini (bassoon), Hans-Dietrich Klaus (Clarinet), Auryn Quartet, and many others.

Among Ugorskaja’s notable recordings are the J.S. Bach and W.A. Mozart double concertos, which she recorded with her father, the pianist Anatol Ugorski, accompanied by the Southwest German chamber orchestra Pforzheim. Further orchestra recordings include the first Brahms piano concerto with Peter Gülke and the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra released by the Dabringhaus und Grimm label.

In 2016, Ugorskaja assumed a teaching position on the piano faculty at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. In September 2019, Dina Ugorskaja passed away after a long battle with cancer.

2019 marked the 10th anniversary of Ugorskaja’s collaboration with the CAvi Music label. Her releases (also a joint production with the Bavarian Radio) include the Handel Suites, late Schumann piano works, the last six Beethoven Sonatas, as well as Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Her last double CD solo recording of Schubert was released after her death in September 2019 and a year later got both the International Classic Music Award and the German Record Critics' Award.