"If I Had One More Day" by Polina Nazaykinskaya and Konstantin Soukhovetski. Poem by Gerald Appelstein.
Performed by Michael Corvino, baritone and Konstantin Soukhovetski, piano

If I had one more day

I’d spend it driving to your fav’rite place

Catching you every time you fell 

Showing care, always wishing well


If I had one more hour

I’d make sure to ask `bout your secret dreams

Hoping you might ease your mind

Thinking that I could have helped in time

Finding a way to share in the things you love

Wondering if you know all this from above

Silly to feel time will never waste away

Now it has stopped, wish you had planned to stay

If I had one more minute

I’d try so hard to hug your face

If I had one more minute

I’d try so hard to hug your face and say farewell


Breaking away from those who would steal

Listening well that you knew it was real


One more, one more… 


If I had one more second 

I’d stop to take a picture of your smile

Watching you light up the room

Clenching this last beat until the gloom


Finding a way to endure without your love

Wond`ring if you know this up above

Finding a way to endure without your love

With you high above

With you high above

"If I Had One More Day" based on the poem by Gerald Appelstein

The music of an award-winning composer Polina Nazaykinskaya, is performed regularly in the United States, Russia, and Europe. Her first symphonic poem, "Winter Bells," is in high demand every season by orchestras such as the Minnesota Orchestra and the Russian National Orchestra, among others. 

In the 2024-2025 concert season, Polina's orchestral music will be performed by the Utah Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, The Syracuse Orchestra, and the Atlanta Symphony. In May 2025, Polina’s new ballet for MorDance will be premiered in New York. In May 2025, Polina’s chamber opera, "Her New Home" will performed at the Garth Newel Center. Recent concert seasons highlights included the premiere of two new ballets, "The Rising" and "Emily," performed by the San Francisco Ballet and MorDance in New York City. 

Polina's collaborators include internationally renowned choreographers Pascal Rioult, Yuri Possokhov, Jonah Bokaer, Morgan McEwen, and Ulyana Bochernikova. Polina works closely with the world's leading conductors, such as Osmo Vänskä, Teodor Currentzis, Aziz Shokhakimov, Sarah Hicks, Toshiyuki Shimada, Lawrence Loh, Hannu Lintu and David Hattner. Polina's compositions are actively performed by internationally acclaimed soloists such as trombonist R. Douglas Wright, violinist Elena Korzhenevich, and pianist Anton Nel. 

With her larger chamber music works, Polina frequently turns to the tragedy of humanity's collective history, in particular, the Holocaust. Her work "Haim" is performed annually around the world and has become an important ensemble composition of the second decade of the 21st century.

Between 2021 and 2024, Polina was the Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor of the Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras. Before her work with the GCTYO, she led the British Youth Music Theatre, RIOULT Dance NY, the University of Southern Mississippi Orchestra, and the Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Over the past decade, Polina formed a creative alliance with an award-winning pianist and librettist, Konstantin Soukhovetski, with whom they have premiered many works of diverse genres, from solo piano to ballets. Currently, they are working on an opera commissioned by Opera Mississippi to commemorate the company's 75th anniversary and to be premiered in 2026. 

Polina's musical language embodies the diversity of multicultural education. She graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory College in Moscow as a double major in composition/violin, studying with Konstantin Batashov and Vladimir Ivanov. Polina earned her Master' and Artist's Diploma in composition at the Yale School of Music with Christopher Theofanidis and Ezra Laderman. Currently, Polina is a Doctorate Candidate at The Graduate Center CUNY under the mentorship of Tania León. 

Many of Polina's honors and awards include the Charles Ives Scholarship from The American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

Polina is an Adjunct Lecturer of Composition at Brooklyn College Conservatory and a Teaching Artist at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven.
Polina’s collaborators include internationally renowned choreographers Pascal Rioult, Jonah Bokaer, and Ulyana Bochernikova. Polina works closely with the world’s leading conductors, such as Osmo Vänskä, Teodor Currentzis, Fabio Mastrangelo, Sarah Hicks, Toshiyuki Shimada, Lawrence Loh, and Hannu Lintu. Polina’s compositions are actively performed by internationally acclaimed soloists such as trombonist R. Douglas Wright, violinist Elena Korzhenevich, and pianist Olga Kirpicheva. 

With her larger chamber music works, Polina frequently turns to the tragedy of humanity’s collective history, in particular the Holocaust. Her work “Haim”, is performed annually around the world and has become an important ensemble composition of the second decade of the 21st century.
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Starting Fall 2021 Polina is named the Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor of the GCTYO. Prior to her current position, she has led The British Youth Music Theatre, RIOULT Dance NY, The University of Southern Mississippi Orchestra, and The Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Over the past decade, Polina formed a creative alliance with an award-winning pianist and librettist Konstantin Soukhovetski, with whom they have premiered many works of diverse genres, from solo piano to ballets. Currently, they are working on an opera, commissioned by Opera Mississippi to commemorate the company’s 75th anniversary and to be premiered in 2023. 

Polina’s unique musical language embodies the diversity of multi-cultural education. She graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory College in Moscow as a composition/violin double major, studying with Konstantin Batashov and Vladimir Ivanov, respectively. Polina earned her Masters' and Artist Diploma in composition at the Yale School of Music with Christopher Theofanidis and Ezra Laderman. Currently, Polina is a Doctorate Candidate at The Graduate Center CUNY under the mentorship of Tania León. Many of Polina’s honors and awards include Charles Ives Scholarship from The American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

Polina is an Adjunct Lecturer of Composition at Brooklyn College Conservatory and a Teaching Artist at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven.