Pianist Lydia Artymiw plays with the MSO

Hailed by The New York Times as “one of the most compelling pianists of her generation,” pianist Lydia Artymiw is Manila Symphony Orchestra’s featured soloist in its 2008 opening Season Concert on Jan. 31, 7 p.m., at the St. Cecilia’s Hall, St. Scholastica’s College, Manila.

She will play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, more popularly known as Elvira Madigan, with Prof. Arturo Molina, artistic director and principal conductor of the MSO, conducting.

Aptly titled “Facets of Classicism,” MSO’s opening concert will include Prokofieff’s Symphony No. 1 in D major, also known as the Classical Symphony, owing to its neo-classical structure, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68.

Prof. Artymiw will also conduct master classes for piano teachers and students of the University of the Philippines (UP) on Feb. 2, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, and at the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) from 2 p,m. to 5 p.m. On Feb. 3, she will give a master class for the piano teachers and students of Sta. Isabel College, St. Paul University-Manila, and St. Scholastica’s College. This will be held at the latter’s seminar room.

Regarding her performances, The New York Times described Artymiw in 2007 as “a lovely Mozart and an appealing Schumann player,” with a “satisfying musical soul,” and a “pleasure to hear.”

Her recordings are also critically acclaimed earning plaudits such as Gramophone’s “Best of the Year” and Ovation’s “Recording of Distinction.”

Watching Prof. Artymiw on the concert stage can be truly engaging moments. Her tone is such a beauty it keeps ringing in your head days after the performance. The long applause that always greets her performances is a definitive affirmation of her world-class artistry.

Among the awards she received were the 1989 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award, and the 1987 Avery Fisher Career Grant. She garnered the third prize in he 1978 Leeds International Piano Competition in England and was a finalist to the 1976 Leventritt in New York in 1976, which did not declare a winner, and received the first prize in the 1972 Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition in New York.

Aside from being an outstanding performer, Prof. Artymiw is also a noted pedagogue, a revered name in the academe. A distinguished McKnight professor at the University of Minnesota School of Music, she has been a mentor and adviser to some of the most outstanding students and graduates of this school who have gone on to become winners in various local and international piano competitions or now have established musical careers in the US, Europe, and Asia. One of her doctoral students happens to be my daughter Hiyas who graduated last May 2008 and who, under her guidance and training, likewise won the top prize in the Schubert Club, and other competitions in Minnesota.

Prof. Artymiw is married to Harvard-trained musicologist, Dr. David Grayson, an acknowledged authority on Mozart and Debussy, who is professor of Musicology and director of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota. He has dedicated his book, Mozart: Piano Concertos, No 20 in D minor, K466, and No 21 n C major, K.467 to his wife Lydia, whom he regarded as “an incomparable Mozartian.” Dr. Grayson has agreed to write the program notes of the concert. For more info on pianist Artymiw, visit lydiaartymiw.com.

Her visit to Manila is made possible by the Foundation of Musical Arts, Inc. (FMA), which this writer founded last year together with Dr. Steny Sibulo, principally to provide financial assistance to the country’s gifted musical students, and undertake educational endeavors such as the holding of master classes. Because sending students abroad is costly, the foundation has thought it wise to invite world-class musical artists and pedagogues. Prof. Artymiw’s engagement in Manila marks the foundation’s first attempt at sponsoring a master class gratis et amore. Of course such an endeavor would not have been possible without the financial assistance given by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), other foundations, and individual donors who prefer to remain anonymous.

Prof. Artymiw’s appearance with the MSO is also a gesture of benevolence from the FMA, in its effort to help the said orchestra attain a strong financial viability, it being privately run, without getting state support. The MSO has been firming up a dynamic program to sustain first its survival and eventually its growth and development.

The concert is a must, much more the master classes. For inquiries, call Gina Medina at 0926-714-1471 or Jeffrey Solares at 0915-979-2659. For the master classes, call the heads of the piano departments of the said music schools.