ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – The Winthrop University Department of Music will host Russian pianist Faina Lushtak on Monday, Feb. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Barnes Recital Hall as part of the 2018-19 Friends of the Conservatory Series.
The program will feature works by Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, as well as several of her own compositions. The event is free and open to the public.
Lushtak was born and raised in the former Soviet Union. A child prodigy, she began her piano and composition studies at the age of six. She graduated from the Stolyarsky Special Music School for Musically Gifted Children. At the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, she earned degrees in piano performance and composition. She became a faculty member at the Conservatory and performed throughout the Soviet Union before immigrating to the United States in 1978.
Her performances have earned widespread critical acclaim. Reviewing her debut at Alice
Tully Hall, The New York Times wrote, “The qualities she prizes most are clarity of
line and transparency of texture. Incisive clarity remained her hallmark.”
Fanfare Magazine described her “vibrant, dynamic readings, delicate expressiveness
and a dazzling virtuosity.” The Times-Picayune wrote that “her technique is sure and
ample. Her tone varies from a beautiful, singing lyricism to a more matter-of-fact
solidity.” The Ledger in Lakeland, Florida, described her playing as “very brilliant,
very romantic, very colorful and stylish.”
Lushtak has performed both as a solo recitalist and as guest artist with numerous
symphony orchestras throughout the United States and Europe. She has made frequent
guest artist appearances and conducted master classes at university campuses, including
at Emory University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Texas Christian University.
She has been a judge at the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Wideman
International Piano Competition, the Gina Bachauer International Junior Piano Competition,
the Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition, the Cleveland International
Piano Competition and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.
Currently, Lushtak is the Downman Professor of Music at the Newcomb Department of Music at Tulane University, where she heads the piano division. She is also music director of Tulane’s Concert Piano Series. Lushtak is on the faculty of the Orfeo International Music Festival in Italy. She is a Steinway Artist.
Lushtak’s performance of works by Rachmaninoff and Scriabin has been recorded on the Centaur label. Centaur also released a subsequent recording of Chopin Mazurkas. Her compositions for piano, chamber music groups, voice and violin have been published in the U.S., the United Kingdom and the former Soviet Union. Lushtak has a new recording entitled “La poesie de la vie” which is available for purchase from Amazon.com. Additionally, her original “Piano Composition for Children and Adults” is available on CDBaby.com.
For more information, please visit www.winthrop.edu/arts or call 803/323-2399.
