‘Gifted’ violinist, 17, was found hanged after Royal Opera House performance

‘Extremely gifted’ violinist, 17, was found hanged in the bathroom of her Russian banker father’s £9m Kensington mansion just eight days after she performed at Royal Opera House, inquest hears

  • Katya Tsukanova was an award-winning violinist who performed around the UK
  • She was tragically found dead at the family’s home in west London this summer
  • A coroner rules she did not intend to kill herself after hearing from therapist 

Katya Tsukanova, who was a talented violinist, tragically died at her home in West London earlier this year

A gifted teenage violinist was found hanged at her father’s mansion just eight days after she performed at the Royal Opera House, an inquest has heard.

Katya Tsukanova, the 17-year-old daughter of Russian banker Igor Tsukanov, was found dead at her £9m home in Kensington on June 18 this year.

An inquest today heard that Katya, who was a student at the £12,600-a-term Wycombe Abbey boarding school in Buckinghamshire, had previously told a psychologist she was struggling to cope with GCSE exam stress, but was on a gap year before starting her A-Levels when she died.

Her father initially believed a cocktail of drugs, known as a ‘Calvin Klein’, may have contributed to her death, but the inquest heard she had alcohol but no drugs in her system. She died from fatal compression to the neck.

Westminster Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliff ruled that she had died by ‘misadventure’ and had not intended to kill herself.

Katya had trained at the Royal College of Music and had been named best young musician of the year at last year’s Suoni dal Golfo festival in Italy.

She had performed a recital of Tchaikovsky works at the Royal Opera House in London just eight days before she was found dead.

An inquest heard she had previously suffered from exam stress but had appeared happier before she was found hanged at her father's mansion

An inquest heard she had previously suffered from exam stress but had appeared happier before she was found hanged at her father’s mansion

Her therapist, Tanya Lecchi, told the inquest: ‘When she was low her motivation was affected and became pre-occupied with negative and self doubting thoughts.

‘She said she sometimes thought that she did not want to live anymore but didn’t want to kill herself.

‘She described some hopelessness and some helplessness at times. She described low moods, particularly during her mock exams.’

However, at a later meeting, Katya seemed happier and said she hoped to apply to go the American universities Harvard or Yale.

Dr Lecchi said: ‘She told me that she was feeling better. Her mood was more stable and she was drinking less. There were no signs of risk.’

Concluding the hour-long hearing, Dr Radcliff said: ‘I was told that she had seen a psychologist in 2018 because of stress around he exams and there was no previous attempt at suicide.

‘I was told that she had been out with friends that night before and she had returned home at about 2.30am, gone out again and then was last online – showed by mobile phone downloads – at 3.21am and was believed to have returned to the home address at that point and was let in by her father.’

Paramedics were called to the family home in Kensington on the morning of June 18

Paramedics were called to the family home in Kensington on the morning of June 18

She added: ‘This is a young girl who clearly had some psychological problems. There was no suicide note, there had been no previous attempt, there was no significant history of psychological significance.

‘At the time she was intoxicated and, in a young girl, that has led me to consider if she had a clear thought to harm herself or if this was an impulsive act.

‘I conclude that this was a case of misadventure – she deliberately undertook an act that had unexpected consequences.’

Mr Tsukanov and his wife Natasha Tsukanova run the Tsukanov Family Foundation which is involved in funding the arts and music.

After his daughter’s death, he told The Daily Telegraph: My, daughter was so happy, and she had such a bright future.

‘She was such a smart girl, and she made one bad choice. What can we parents do? The children will do what they want anyway, and they never tell you the truth.’

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