Love Is In The Air And Romantic Piano Music Is On The Program

Just in time for Valentine’s Day and in time for lovers of all ages to enjoy romantic piano music, the Russian pianist Katia Skanavi has been persuaded to perform in Newtown for the Friends of Music in a February 12 concert at Edmond Town Hall.

Ms Skanavi is a highly sought after and much acclaimed Russian pianist, who won the Maria Callas Competition in 1994 and emerged as a finalist at the tenth Van Cliburn Competition in 1997.  She has since competed in other competitions as well and has been in demand all around the world ever since.

Newtown Friends of Music likes to hear all their artists before engaging them for their discriminating audiences here in Newtown. Members of NFoM’s Program Committee were so enchanted by Ms Skanavi’s playing a couple of years ago that they immediately set about finding a date that would be available in Ms Skanavi’s North American Tour.  It took quite a while before this could actually be arranged.

But now the time has come:  On Sunday, February 12, at 3 pm, Ms Skanavi will present a recital of romantic music on the stage at Edmond Town Hall.  Tickets have already begun to sell, especially to people from Connecticut and New York State, who have heard her in concert before and are absolutely devoted fans of hers.

Born into a culturally rich Greek-Russian family in Moscow, Katia Skanavi began her studies at the School for Gifted Children and went on to the Gnessin Academy. At age 17, Ms Skanavi’s father urged her to enter the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris. She was the only Russian and the youngest contestant to be accepted into the finals, and on her 18th birthday was awarded both Third Prize and the Audience Prize.

She was then selected as concerto soloist for the gala evening at the Salle Pleyel, an honor usually reserved for the First Prize winner. Ms Skanavi went on to study at the Conservatoire National in Paris and the Moscow Conservatory, and then continued at the Cleveland Institute with Sergei Babayan.

In 1994 she won the Maria Callas Competition in Greece, home of her great-grandfather, and was awarded Greek citizenship. She currently lives in Moscow with her husband, the actor Genia Stychkin, and their three children.

For the Newtown recital she has chosen to open with a Chaconne by Handel, followed by Tre sonetti di Petrarca by Franz Liszt, and also his Vallee d’Obermann, both pieces written early in the 19th Century, after Liszt’s travels to Switzerland. 

Also on the program will be music by the highly Romantic Frederic Chopin with his inimitable Grande Polonaise Brillante and, of course, a true Russian composer: Rachmaninoff and his Etudes Tableaux, Opus 39

Tickets for the Skanavi concert are $18 for adults and $16 for seniors at the box office, which will open one hour before concert time. Tickets can also be purchased in advance.

Children, when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult, are welcomed for free and there is plenty of free parking behind Edmond Town Hall. The facility is handicap accessible.

The audience is invited to meet the artist at a reception following the performance.

Advance reservations are strongly suggested. For further information and for reservations call 426-6470 or visit www.NewtownFriendsOfMusic.org.