Natalia Ponomarchuk
Chief Conductor of the Kyiv Chamber Orchestra
(part of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine)
“At Queen Elizabeth Hall, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the Ukrainian Natalia Ponomarchuk, performed ‘Family Ties: the Schumanns and the Mendelssohns’… The LPO shifted up a collective gear, and found the customary zest and conviction.”
The Guardian
“Ponomarchuk is one of the great Ukrainian conductors.”
Edward Docx, The New Statesman
Sought after for her emotionally charged interpretations and dynamic podium presence, Natalia Ponomarchuk is one of the most prominent Ukrainian conductors. Since 2018, she has held the position of Chief Conductor of the Kyiv Chamber Orchestra, part of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, and has previously she served as the Resident Conductor at the Ukrainian National Radio Company (1996-1998), Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Dnipro Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Dnipro Philharmonic of Ukraine (2003-2020), Principal Conductor of the Ukrainian Academic State Symphony Orchestra (2006-2009) and the National Ensemble of Soloists “Kiev Camerata” (2007-2009), and the Resident Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (2009-2011).
In Ukraine, she regularly appears with the National Odesa Philharmonic, Lviv Academic Philharmonic orchestras, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, as well as at major Ukrainian international music festivals such as Kyiv Music Fest, First Performances of the Year, Kyiv Summer Music Evenings, and Contrasts. Upcoming highlights include a debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, a return to the London Philharmonic for concerts including tour dates in Belgium, and appearances with the Calgary Philharmonic, Slovenian Philharmonic, and George Enescu Philharmonic orchestras. In 2025, she led the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment to great acclaim in a programme dedicated to Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel that featured four world premieres by female British composers.
Ponomarchuk regularly appears with top orchestras all over the world, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra (UK), the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (Germany); Kiel Philharmonic (Germany); Greensboro Symphony Orchestra (USA); Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado do Espirito Santo (Brazil); Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, and Presidential Symphony Orchestra (Turkey); Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra (Greece); Chongqing Philharmonic Orchestra (China), Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (Estonia); Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonietta Riga (Latvia).
She has performed at major concert halls and opera theaters including, in Spain, the Teatro Real, Auditorio Nacional, and Teatro Zarzuela (all in Madrid); the Palau de la Musica Catalana (Barcelona), Teatro Colon (Coruña), Queen Sophia Palace of the Arts (Valencia), Conference Centre and Concert Hall (Bilbao), Kursaal (San-Sebastian), and Auditorio de Galicia (Santiago); in Portugal she has performed at the Teatro Monumentale (Lisboa) and Casa da Musica (Porto); in the UK, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), Brighton Dome (Brighton) and Saffron Hall (Saffron Walden). Other performance venues include the Sala Verdi Conservatorio (Milan), Congress Hall (Warsaw), Thessaloniki Concert Hall (Greece), and The Presidential Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall and Choir Buildings and Bilkent Concert Hall (Turkey).
Natalia has collaborated with internationally renowned artists Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Alexander Melnikov, Sergei Nakariakov, Vadim Rudenko, Alexander Knyazev, Qian Zhou, Benjamin Schmid, Lukáš Vondráček, Eggner Florian, László Fenyö, Denis Severin, Otto Sauter, Simonide Braconi, Leticia Moreno, Dominique De Williencourt, Valery Sokolov, Alexey Semenenko, Dima Tkachenko, and Alexei Grynyuk, among others.
Ponomarchuk received her Master of Music in Orchestra Conducting from the National Music Academy of Ukraine in 1997 and was named an Honored Artist of Ukraine in 2001. In March 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she managed to escape from Kyiv and is now residing in London, regularly guest conducting and travelling back to Kyiv to conduct her orchestra there.