Irina Nikolskaya is a Russian musicologist, specialist in Polish studies, and Doctor of Art History. Born in Ukhta on December 27, 1943, she has worked at the State Institute for Art Studies since 1974 and became one of its leading researchers. Her research focuses on twentieth-century music, especially Polish music.
From 1968 to 1972, Nikolskaya studied at the Institute of Musicology of the University of Warsaw. She graduated from the Gnessin State Musical Pedagogical Institute in 1973 and pursued postgraduate studies at the State Institute for Art Studies from 1973 to 1976. She earned her doctorate in 1992 with a dissertation on Polish symphonic music from Karol Szymanowski to Witold Lutosławski and Krzysztof Penderecki.
Nikolskaya’s work has examined the music of Szymanowski, Lutosławski, Penderecki, and Zygmunt Krauze, as well as composers including Tadeusz Baird, Galina Ustvolskaya, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Edison Denisov. Her books include From Szymanowski to Lutosławski and Penderecki: Essays on the Development of Twentieth-Century Symphonic Music in Poland (1990), interviews and essays on Lutosławski, and Krzysztof Penderecki: Instrumental Music, Symphonies, Operas (2012). She also contributed to research on Chopin, Wagner, and the reception of music in Russia and Poland.
Alongside her research, Nikolskaya edited the “Music and Film” section of Audio/Video Salon from 1995 to 2010. She received Poland’s Distinguished Cultural Activist honor in 1981, the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, and the Polish Minister of Culture’s Special Award in 2005. Other honors included the Polish Composers’ Union Medal and the bronze Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture.