Pianist Marianna Prjevalskaya
Known for her mastery and maturity at the piano, Russian born, Spanish pianist Marianna Prjevalskaya has received praise for her intensity at the keyboard as well as her beautiful tone. In a performance as part of the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series, she shared the music of Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and Brahms. The performance took place in Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, and was broadcast live on WFMT's Facebook page. Enjoy videos from her live performance below.
"Brouillards" from Préludes Book II, by Claude Debussy
"Feux d’artifice" from Préludes Book II, by Claude Debussy
"La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune" from Préludes Book II, by Claude Debussy
Études-Tableaux, Op. 33, No. 4 Moderato in D Minor, by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Études-Tableaux, Op. 33, No. 8 Grave in C-Sharp Minor, by Sergei Rachmaninoff
2 Rhapsodies, Op. 79, by Johannes Brahms
More about the artist
Praised by critics as “a grand pianist” (Il Cittadino, Italy), Marianna Prjevalskaya has appeared with major orchestras such as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, National Lithuanian Symphony Orchestra, and collaborated with renowned conductors such as Ion Marin, Roberto Trevino, Carlos Prieto, and David Danzmayr. As a recitalist, Marianna performed in venues such as the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, Teatro Goldoni of Florence, Minato Mirai Hall in Yokohama, Weill Hall in New York. Her debut at Weill Hall was praised by Frank Daykin as “one of the major piano recitals of the season” and “a stunning display of mature pianism”. (New York Concert Review, New York). Spanish critic Santi Riu complimented Marianna as a “virtuoso, impetuous, passionate and mature pianist of great musicality” (Diario Segre, Spain), and Tim Smith was “consistently impressed by Prjevalskaya´s beauty of expression“, and asserts that she is a “pianist who has moved well beyond the hone-the-technique phase and can concentrate entirely on making music” (The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore).
Marianna is gold medalist of the 2014 New Orleans International Piano Competition, the 2013 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, and the 2011 Jaén International Piano Competition, and top prize winner of the 2013 European Piano Competition in Normandy, 2012 Panama, 2010 Sendai, 2008 Jose Iturbi and 2007 Paderewski International Piano Competitions.
Her first CD was released by Naxos in 2012; her most recent album dedicated to Rachmaninoff was released in June 2016 by Fanfare Cincinnati, and was praised by critics in the US and in Spain. Jaime Pantín writes in Codalario magazine that “her polyphonic transparency is astonishing, and her execution is of impeccable precision, clarity, virtuosity and beauty of sound.” Gary Lenco from Audiophile Audition magazine praises her for “intelligent virtuosity” and considers that “she certainly displays her capacity to make tone, evoking any number of erotic possibilities in the music, rife with harmonic color. She indulges in a rubato natural both to Chopin and Rachmaninov”. And Tim Smith writes in Baltimore Sun that: “she tackles both [works] with disarming technical assurance, all the while revealing a keen ear for subtleties of tempo and dynamics. Each work becomes a poetic novel, the “chapters” filled with fascinating detail and leading up to a richly satisfying summation.”
Born to a musical family, Marianna benefited from early lessons with her mother from age six, her principal mentor for more than eleven years. She continued her studies at the Royal College of Music in London with Irina Zaritskaya and Kevin Kenner. In 2003 Marianna moved to the United States where she joined the Toradze Piano Studio at Indiana University. She also holds Artist Diploma and Master of Music from Yale School of Music, where she studied with Boris Berman. Currently, Marianna is a doctoral candidate at Peabody Conservatory of Music where she studied with Boris Slutsky. She offered master classes in Colorado, Spain, Tulane University and at the New Orleans Piano Institute, and served as an adjudicator at the Open Piano Competition in London in 2012, Albacete National Piano Competition in Spain in 2014, and at the New Orleans International Piano Competition in 2016.
Biography provided by the International Music Foundation.
Find a schedule of upcoming Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts broadcasts and stream recordings of previous programs online.
