Portland Piano International announces outstanding pianist, Natalia Kazaryan, to open its season at Lincoln Performance Hall, January 22 and 23
Natalia Kazaryan. Credit: Joe Alisa.
PORTLAND, OR – With a flurry of last minute changes due to visa issues, Aristo Sham, who was previously scheduled to open Portland Piano International’s season on January 22 & 23, will be replaced by the outstanding star pianist Natalia Kazaryan.
Championing works by female composers in most of her recitals, The Washington Post hailed her Washington, D.C. appearance at the Smithsonian in 2019 as “one of the best concerts”. Juilliard-trained with stints at the Paris Conservatoire, she is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, and a “Sobresaliente” Award from the hands of Queen Sofía of Spain for outstanding work and excellence.
Her dynamic programs for Portland Piano’s audience includes the following works:
SATURDAY, JANUARY 22 AT 4 PM
Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University
CHOPIN Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, op. 60 (1845-46)
BRAHMS Sieben Fantasien, op. 116 (1892)
LILI BOULANGER Trois Morceaux pour Piano (1914)
EMMA LOU DIEMER Piano Sonata No. 3 (1996-99)
SUNDAY, JANUARY 23 AT 4 PM
Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University
BACEWICZ Piano Sonata No. 2 (1953)
RAVEL Jeux d’eau (1901)
CHOPIN 24 Preludes, op. 28 (1834-39)
With guidance from this year’s guest artistic curator, PPI’s long-time friend Angela Hewitt, there is a terrific line-up of celebrated artists.
This 2021 / 2022 season brings some favorite returning guest artists and some brand-new faces. The repertory altogether is a fine mix of treasured works and a generous dose of adventuresome music.
Natalia Kazaryan (January 22 & 23)
Angela Hewitt (February 5 & 6)
Janina Fialkowska (March 12 & 13)
Nicolas Namoradze (April 2 & 3)
Paul Lewis (May 7 & 8)
Jon Kimura Parker (June 4 & 5)
This season is informally known as the “Canadian-American Friendship Season” because the guest curator, two other main series artists (Janina Fialkowska and Jon Kimura Parker), and three of PPI’s Rising Stars (Jean-Luc Therrien, Linda Ruan, and Charissa Vandikas) are Canadian.
Angela Hewitt echoes this sentiment:
“Portland is a city that has always meant a lot to me, ever since I first arrived here in the early 1990s. Your warmth as music lovers, and your willingness to listen and learn is right up there with the best! Even just the fact that each pianist who comes to PPI is asked to play two different programmes on consecutive days shows how serious you are — and indeed is a challenge to the performer.”
Tickets are available now at portlandpiano.org, where other details may be found including the complete season, programs, and subscription options.
All concerts occur at Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University. For COVID-19 protocols, please refer to this link. portlandpiano.org/covid-guidelines
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PORTLAND PIANO INTERNATIONAL has presented more than 180 artists in recital and through outreach activities. Some of the greatest pianists in the world of music have played for Portland audiences because of this organization. While pianists have many opportunities to play the concerto repertoire, this is one of only a handful of recital series that remains devoted to the solo piano recital. Portland Piano International is a vital part of Portland’s quality cultural life and it has consistently garnered praise from both the local and national media, heralded a “consistently brilliant Piano Recital Series” (Willamette Week) and “one of this city’s musical treasures” (The Oregonian).
From Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, pianist NATALIA KAZARYAN has been hailed by The New York Sun for her “prodigious ability,” remarking that she “immediately established an atmosphere of strength and confidence.” She is “a marvel among marvels … fascinating, elegant” (Nice-Matin).
Passionate about programming works by female composers, she curated and performed a recital of all women composers at the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., a performance The Washington Post named “one of the best classical concerts of the summer.” Her recent performance with the National Symphony Orchestra celebrated the centennial of the 19th amendment (women’s suffrage).
Ms. Kazaryan’s current season includes appearances on Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series as well as recitals in Michigan and Pennsylvania. In Washington D.C., she appears on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage and at Washington Arts Ensemble, an innovative chamber music collective she co-founded.
The first Juilliard student to participate in the Carla Bruni-Sarkozy exchange with the Paris Conservatoire, Ms. Kazaryan studied piano in Paris with Michel Béroff and chamber music with Valérie Aimard.
She holds both a Bachelor and a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied under Jerome Lowenthal and Matti Raekallio. From 2013-2015, she studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, under Dimitri Bashkirov, and in June 2014 received a “Sobresaliente” Award from the hands of Queen Sofía of Spain for outstanding work and excellence. Ms. Kazaryan completed doctoral studies at the University of Michigan under Logan Skelton and later won Astral’s 2016 National Auditions. She holds an adjunct piano faculty position at Howard University.