Veniamin Blokh, one of the youngest participants in this festival, was born in 1993 in St. Petersburg and has been playing piano since the age of four.  At the age of eight he became an award winner of the city’s festival "Russian music of the last century."  He has studied with Dana Daskovskoy, Lubov  Rudova and with Peter Laul at the Special Music School-Lyceum under the auspices of the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory.In 2007 Veniamin formed the duo Subrakova-Blokh which in 2009 won the first prize of the International Festival-Contest of Children and Youth Creativity "Window to Europe." Along with classical music, he also enjoys jazz improvisation and attends classes of maestro Andrew Kondakov. In 2010 and 2011 Veniamin participated in the Educational Bridge Project’s festivals and "Musical Olympus" festival.