Asiya Korepanova
The only pianist currently performing Liszt’s 24 Etudes as a single program and one of few to tout a concerto list that features over 60 works, Asiya Korepanova is a pianistic powerhouse. Ms. Korepanova is recognized not only for her achievements as a pianist, but also for her work as a transcriber, composer, visual artist, and poet, reflecting her uncompromising dedication to the arts.
Asiya’s contributions to the solo piano literature —including her historic solo piano transcription of Richard Strauss’ ‘Ein Heldenleben‘ and that of Rachmaninoff ‘s Cello Sonata and Mussorgsky’s ‘Songs and Dances of Death’ — have given her a place among today’s formidable transcribers.
A number of her transcriptions have been recorded through her YouTube vlog project, ‘Midnight Pieces’. Launched in September, 2017, Asiya shares 53 performances of short works. Among these are well-known works, Russian compositions, obscure works, and original transcriptions.
Uninhibited in her artistic expression, Asiya’s communicative desires have culminated in several projects featuring original poetry and visual art that serve as an interpretive commentary to a particular cycle of works for the piano. These cycles include Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes, Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Tchaikovsky’s 18 Morceaux, Op. 72 and, most recently, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Asiya’s live performances of these compositions have astounded audiences and organizers alike.
In 2017, Asiya founded Music for Minds, a non-profit organization that serves to promote classical performances in classrooms as well as to found and support music festivals featuring unique programming. Asiya founded and held for three consecutive summers from 2017 through 2019 ‘Festival Baltimore’, a two-week chamber music series and summer academy dedicated to the performance and study of complete cycles, one of Music for Mind’s projects. In just three years, the festival solidified itself as a highly original music series and academy, presenting a wide array of styles and performers.
Asiya was born in Izhevsk, Russia to a musical family. She began to learn piano when she was 4 years old from her mother Soreya, her first piano teacher. At the age 6, she was taught to read music in orchestral clefs by her father Sergey, an exemplary composer, and started composing her own music. At 9, she made her orchestral debut, playing Mozart’s Concerto No.8 with her own cadenza, and performed her first philharmonic recital.
The same year, she began studying composition with Albert Leman, the chair of Moscow Conservatory’s composition department and a student of Dmitry Shostakovich. She continued her study with him for 5 years until his passing in 1998 and that short period has influenced all aspects of her musical development and became a truly formative experience.
As a result of her early bond with composition, she also developed a strong interest in new music. In Russia, she premiered 3 piano concertos by Vladislav Kazenin and Shamil Timerbulatov, performing with the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Petersburg Capella Symphony Orchestra, the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra. In the U.S., she has premiered various works by Michael Daugherty, Thomas Sleeper, and Orlando Garcia, among others.
Throughout her early years in Russia, Ms. Korepanova received various awards for her prodigious abilities. These include the Russian Federation’s Presidential Award for Exceptional Achievement in the Arts, the National Award from the Republic of Udmurtia (2002), Germany’s Berliner Salon Award (2003), Russia’s Youth Triumph Award (2005), and the title of Honored Artist of Udmurtia (2009).
In 2012, Asiya moved to the United States at the invitation of renowned pianist, maestro Santiago Rodriguez, to earn her Doctoral degree under his guidance at the University of Miami. Later that year, she was awarded the Gold Medal at the Nena Wideman International Piano Competition––an achievement that proved invaluable in the establishment of her concertizing career in the U.S.
She has since continued to garner national attention with performances at the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, the Bargemusic Series, the Phillips Collection, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series, the International Miami Piano Festival, and countless others. Ms. Korepanova has been featured on CNN, NPR stations, WFMT, and WETA.
The most recent composition events include the world premiere recording of Asiya’s concerto for alto saxophone and piano, Poéme, performed by Thomas Giles and Liana Pailodze Harron; the publication of her transcription of Rachmaninoff cello sonata; the premiere of her Piano Quintet ‘I marvel at the sky’, commissioned by the Third Dimension Music Festival; and premiere of Con Brio for two pianos, performed with her duo partner Ilya Kazantsev as a part of Dranoff Two Piano Foundation series.
In the 2022-2023 season, Asiya embarks on a monumental project in celebration of Rachmaninoff’s 150th anniversary of birth, performing his complete solo piano music in 6 recital programs. She also eagerly anticipates the premiere of her latest transcription––the Manfred Symphony by Peter Tchaikovsky, and the release of scores of her compositions: the Poéme for alto saxophone and piano, and Con Brio for two pianos, as well as transcriptions of works by Mussorgsky, Franck, and Bach.
Anastasiya Naplekova
Critics have hailed Ukrainian-born pianist Anastasiya Naplekova for her “effortless virtuosity” (Cincinnati Enquirer), and her “considerable poise and assurance” (The Miami Herald). Winner of the Rudolf Firkusny International Piano Competition in Prague, Ms. Naplekova has performed on concert stages across the globe and appeared in recitals in Italy, Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Morocco, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, and the United States. She has been a soloist with multiple orchestras, most notably appearing with Leon Fleisher at the only Festival Miami he conducted, where she performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. The Miami Herald’s Lawrence Budman wrote about that performance that, “Naplekova’s digital dexterity surmounted Beethoven’s pianistic hurdles with aplomb. Her light touch and softly pointed phrasing brought a dreamy, almost Chopinesque aura to the score, particularly effective in the piano’s serene response to the fierce orchestral interjections of the Adagio. When she reached the large-scale cadenza of the first movement, Naplekova cut loose, unleashing powerful pianistic thunder strokes. A touch of judicious rubato added verve to a rollicking Allegro vivace finale.”
Among Ms. Naplekova’s other achievements came from her award-winning performances at the the Olga Kern International Piano Competition, 2014 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the 6th International Ignacy Paderewski Piano Competition in Poland, the International Piano Competition in memory of Vladimir Horowitz in Ukraine, the Wideman Piano Competition, the International Piano Competition Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meryem in Morocco. She can be heard in a special edition of live performances from South Florida’s Piano Lovers’ Concert Series, available on most streaming services such as Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and many others.
Ms. Naplekova earned her doctoral degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Miami, Frost School of Music, where she studied with world-renowned pianist Santiago Rodriguez. Her experience iwith Rodriguez has had a lasting impact, as just recently Ms. Naplekova has performed more than one third of Rachmaninoff’s solo music on the concert stage and has also recorded collections of the composer’s works for release later this season.
For more information, visit. www.naplekova.com
Lindsay Garriston
Dr. Lindsay Garritson has performed throughout the United States and abroad since the age of four. She has appeared on stages such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Place des Arts (Montreal), and has been featured as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra (Texas), Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica Barra Mansa (Brazil), the Yale Philharmonic Orchestra, and the European Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. An award-winning performer, Lindsay has received top prizes at the Montreal International Piano Competition, USASU Bösendorfer International Piano Competition, and the Mozarteum International Chopin Competition (Salzburg). She was invited as one of thirty participants internationally to compete in the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and she was selected as one of six finalists worldwide for the 2014 German Piano Award in Frankfurt, Germany. An avid chamber musician, Lindsay has performed with Ani Kavafian, Elmar Oliveira, Carter Brey, Ettore Causa, and Ian Rosenbaum, among many others. She is currently a member of the Bergonzi Piano Trio with violinist Scott Flavin and cellist Ross Harbaugh, and their first album of Beethoven and Brahms trios was released in the summer of 2021. Since 2018, she has been a collaborative pianist for the prestigious Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival. Lindsay is a passionate advocate for new music, and her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut in November 2019 featured the world premiere of Carl Vine’s Piano Sonata No. 4, a work written for her. Additionally, her second solo album titled “Aphorisms: Piano Music of Carl Vine” was released in 2020. She has also recorded the complete works for flute and piano by Samuel Zyman (Albany Records, 2020), and premiered works by composers David Ludwig, Nick Omiccioli, and Polina Nazaykinskaya. Lindsay holds degrees from Principia College (B.A. in Music), Yale School of Music (M.M. and Artist Diploma), and the University of Miami (D.M.A.). Her piano teachers include Santiago Rodriguez, Boris Berman, Luiz de Moura Castro, Choong-Mo Kang, Zena Ilyashov, Emilio Del Rosario, the late Jane Allen, and Jennifer Lim Judd. She currently resides in Jensen Beach, Florida.
For more information, www.lindsaygarritson.com
Sara Daneshpour
“She created transfixing poetry.” (The Washington Post): Pianist Sara Daneshpour has worldwide audiences and critics spellbound with her “blazing technique, power, expressivity, imagination and stage presence” (The New York Concert Review), establishing herself as one of the most refined artists of her generation.
Highlights of current and recent seasons include performances with the Israel Camerata and Israel Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Orchestra, with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Catskill Symphony, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Britt Festival Orchestra. Sara Daneshpour has appeared in solo recitals at the Southbank Centre in London, the Musée d’Orsay, Salle Cortot, Mazzoleni Concert Hall in Toronto, the Copenhagen Summer Festival, the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, San Francisco Chamber Music, Mariinsky International Piano Festival in St. Petersburg, and the International Keyboard Festival in New York.
In orchestra concerts and solo recitals, Sara Daneshpour stuns audiences with an unusually wide repertoire ranging from Bach to Boulez, with her dazzling technique and an exceptional level of artistic depth and sincerity. Her performances, often described as “a powerhouse account, producing enough tone for two pianists in the process” (Baltimore Sun), are critically acclaimed as lavishing “colour on oft-neglected lines, illuminating subtle beauties” (The New York Concert Review). Her current solo programme of Etudes by Chopin and Ligeti combines two of the most intriguing and most demanding works ever written for the piano.
Ms. Daneshpour has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, Russia, Finland, France, Sweden, Spain, Israel, and Japan. She has been heard at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Carnegie Hall in New York and at the Great Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.
Sara Daneshpour is the 3rd prizewinner of the 2017 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, along with the 2014 prizewinner at the Seoul International Music Competition in Seoul, Korea and 2013 Laureate of the ProLiance Energy Classical Fellowship Awards of the American Pianists Association. She is the First Prize winner of the XII Concours International de Musique du Maroc, 2nd prize of the 2007 William Kapell International Piano Competition, and 1st prize and Gold Medal winner of the 2007 International Russian Music Piano Competition.
Born in Washington, DC, into an Iranian-American family, Sara Daneshpour has studied under the direction of Leon Fleisher at the Curtis Institute of Music, with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Oleg Volkov at the Juilliard School, and with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
For more information, visit www.saradaneshpour.com