Nataliya Pshenychna was born in her beloved hometown Kyiv, Ukraine, to a family of professional musicians. It started with her grandmother who had a passion and talent for music, was self taught on so many musical instruments, and a Holodomor and World War II survivor. She was determined to give her two daughters the best education to become professional musicians. Nataliya’s mother, Ludmyla Pshenychna (Koval), a student of I. Zaritsky and M. Rostropovich, and her aunt, Valentina Titarova (Koval), studied with pianist, O. Aleksandrov. The two sisters are well recognized and respected musicians, performers and teachers, inside and outside of Kyiv. They were both Nataliya’s first music teachers when she started playing piano at a very early age, and cello, before she was even 7. They have been her biggest influence, her best critics and supporters since then. Nataliya and her older sister, also a cellist, Svitlana Pustovgar (Pshenychna) both continued their family’s tradition by attending the Kyiv Special Music School, and further the Kyiv Tchaikovsky Conservatory where they studied with true masters of  the Ukrainian Cello School, Vadym Chervov and Olena Chervova. Nataliya also has a younger brother Mikhail who continues their family traditions on the clarinet.

Nataliya came to the United States in 2005 when she was invited to attend the Kent/Blossom Music Festival (Kent, Ohio) where she met her future teachers and mentors, cellists Keith Robinson (Kent State University) and Stephen Geber (Cleveland Institute of Music). During her studies at the Cleveland Institute Of Music, she had the privilege of being selected to represent CIM at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Nataliya has attended such festivals as the Spoleto Festival USA, Tanglewood, National Repertory Orchestra, and she was also invited to perform with The New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. Nataliya has performed with the Canton Symphony and Cleveland Opera Theater, she frequently substitutes with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Akron Symphony, and Chagrin Valley Studio Orchestra. She has been performing with City Music Cleveland for both orchestra and chamber music series since 2015. Nataliya currently serves as Principal Cello of the Firelands Symphony (Sandusky, OH) and Snowbelt Symphony Orchestra, where she’s had the  privilege of collaborating with a truly amazing and talented person and musician, SMAA Founder and Executive and Music Director of the Snowbelt Symphony, Greg Hillis.