About
Daria Semikina
Guitarist & Composer
“Daria demonstrates rare creativity that knows no boundaries of genre – she directs her talent anywhere from modern fingerstyle arrangements of famous pop songs to authentic renditions of traditional folk tunes, from masterful interpretations of classical and modern composers to original compositions where she experiments with jazz and ambient music.
Gentle touch and impeccable technique, partnered with a naturally deep understanding of music let her develop a truly unique voice on her instrument. “
Bio
My path in music began at the age of fifteen when I got an electric guitar for my birthday. After a couple of years of learning how to play rock songs I realized that I want more from music and immersed myself into the world of film scores and classical music. Soon it became apparent to me that if I want to make music seriously I need to study it seriously so I started to take classical guitar lessons and eventually went to study classical guitar performance in college.
Later in my studies, my interest in contemporary guitar repertoire led me to discover the fingerstyle scene. I got inspired by guitarists like Masaaki Kishibe, Kotaro Oshio and Sungha Jung and began to play steel-string acoustic guitar as well, which eventually led me to create my YouTube channel where I shared my recordings of contemporary and classical guitar music, and original arrangements of various tunes around the world.
In 2020 my musical career was interrupted by an injury and I had to stop playing guitar for 2 years in order to undergo treatment. Even though my life was deeply disturbed, having to go through multiple surgeries and long rehabilitation after each one, which effectively made me disabled, I nevertheless wanted to continue to make music. It was essential for me to continue to write music and develop as a musician. As I couldn’t play any instrument on a meaningful level I’ve decided to focus on studying music again and pursue something I was interested in for years, but never got to try before – a “pen and paper” method of composition, a traditional approach to composing, used by classical composers for centuries, in which you basically imagine music in your head and write it down instead of playing on the instrument. At the same time I’ve discovered scores of “Ori and the Blind Forest” and “Ori and the Will of the Wisps” by Gareth Coker, which reignited my passion for orchestral music and once again I’ve immersed myself in classical music and media scores and decided to pursue a career of composer in addition to my guitar work.