Pestova Bennett is featured at major festivals and venues around the world, including appearances at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, National Concert Hall in Dublin, Sage Gateshead, Glasgow Royal Concert Halls, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Festival Archipel (Geneva), Approximation (Dusseldorf), Ars Musica (Brussels), Christchurch Arts Festival (New Zealand), Lanaudière (Canada), London Contemporary Music Festival, Musica (Strasbourg), Sonorities (Belfast), Spark (USA), Rainy Days (Luxembourg) and Voix Nouvelles Royaumont (France). She is equally at home in experimental concert settings and has performed in an underground World War II fortress in New Zealand, tropical gardens in Brazil, a natural cave system inhabited by hibernating bats in Ontario and the deepest Welsh wilderness.

Xenia’s nine studio albums to date include widely acclaimed recordings of core piano duo works by John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen with Pascal Meyer for Naxos Records and solo recordings for Diatribe, Ergodos, Far Point and Innova Recordings. Her commitment to new music inspired her to commission dozens of new works and collaborate with major innovators including Annea Lockwood, Karlheinz Essl and Gayle Young.

Xenia studied piano and composition in New Zealand, the UK, the Netherlands, France and Canada. She holds a Doctorate from McGill University. During a twelve-year career in academia, she was Head of Performance at Bangor University in North Wales, Director of Performance and Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham and visiting Professor of Music at Gresham College, London. Her interest in health and optimal performance led to extensive accredited teacher training in yoga, breathwork and meditation practices. In addition to her performance career, Xenia is in demand as a wellbeing instructor, coach and lecturer for organisations and educational institutions around the world. She is a published author with a book on performance anxiety management and co-editor of the Living Music book series with Christopher Dingle.