VALDOSTA — Internationally renowned, Moscow-based pianist Katia Skanavi is scheduled to perform a local recital this week, featuring works by composers such as Handel, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Rachmaninov, and Liszt.
This season alone, Skanavi has toured the Netherlands with the Holland Symfonia and played Tchaikovsky in Paris with famed conductor Kurt Masur and the Orchestre National de France. She has played in her home city of Moscow, performed in the Russian Embassy in Madrid, and now she is visiting the United States.
So, what brings her to Valdosta?
Ed Barr, a local musician retired from Valdosta State University Music, learned of Skanavi several years ago.
“My friend and former student, pianist Jerry Gowen of Nashville, Tenn., first told me about Katia’s incredible musicality and technique after he heard her play in 1999,” notes Barr, who has followed her career ever since, a career which rarely brings her to the United States.
Recently, when Barr and Gowen learned that Skanavi was scheduled as a guest artist for the American Liszt Society Conference in Athens, Ga., “we seized the opportunity to arrange a performance here,” Barr notes. “With the support of Dr. Larry Scully of the Valdosta Chamber Players and Dr. David Lee Johnson of the (VSU) Department of Music, this dream has become a reality. This (Valdosta) recital will be the first of only three North American public recitals to be given by Ms. Skanavi this season.”
Having listened to her “Piano Chopin” CD, Skanavi’s recital should prove a remarkable treat for local music lovers, especially fans of classical piano. Her timing, tonality, expression, phrasing are the work of a virtuoso. This CD was named classical CD of the month by Garmophone Magazine. Other CDs include recordings of Handel, Schumann, and Rachmaninov, recorded live in Marseille.
When Skanavi plays Frederic Chopin’s sonatas on this CD, as organizers of the Valdosta concert have noted, “you get the impression that this is how Chopin meant for these songs to be played.”
Barr says he is consistently impressed with her musical “prowess and virtuosity. The feeling and expression she can draw from a piano is amazing. Rarely will one hear such warmth from a piano.”
Of Greek-Russian heritage, Skanavi has played piano since childhood. By her teen years, she was already performing and entering serious competition. She won third place and the audience prize as a teen-ager in the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris. In 1997, she entered the final round of the prestigious Van Cliburn Competition with her performance of Chopin’s Second Piano Sonata.
The Washington Post has commented on Skanavi’s playing as “elegant and majestic.” A performance “that bypassed keyboard display in favor of songful music-making. It was an aristocratic performance.”
RECITAL
Renowned pianist Katia Skanavi performs.
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Where: Whitehead Auditorium, first floor, Valdosta State University Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookfield.
Tickets: $15, in advance and at the door.
More information: Call 333-5804.
KATIA SKANAVI is a world-renowned pianist who rarely plays the United States. This week, Valdosta will be one of only three of her public North American recitals.
Community
February 6, 2006
Renowned pianist to make recital stop in Valdosta
- Community
-
-
Diva Day 2008
- Culinary classes seek Old West taste VALDOSTA — The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts continues its culinary-arts series this week with Experience the Old West in the South food class.
-
Church celebrates new CD, hosts concert Saturday
VALDOSTA — Victory Temple Evangelistic Center’s Praise Team leader Russell Jackson had never written a song in his life until he was inspired by Bishop Henry Williams’ sermon one Sunday morning.
- Adann-Kennn's Oscar Picks Our movie critic Adann-Kennn Alexxandar shares his picks for tonight's broadcast of the 78th Annual Academy Awards, 8 p.m.
- Renowned pianist to make recital stop in Valdosta Internationally renowned, Moscow-based pianist Katia Skanavi is scheduled to perform a local recital this week, featuring works by composers such as Handel, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Rachmaninov, and Liszt.
- Faith of a Child Wendy Rumley was given less than a year to live. That was nearly four years ago. Now, the Rumleys have a new addition to their family.
- Two systems or one?
- New church looks to be a Bridge Builder Needing a bigger place wasn’t topping Bridge Builders Community Church’s priority list for the new church’s first worship service. But last Sunday as people kept filling the folded chairs in the rented space in a Bemiss Road shopping plaza, church leadership was already faced with the possibility of needing a larger room.
- Zaccari outlines VSU’s plans VALDOSTA — As 2006 marks the centennial anniversary of Valdosta State University’s inception, President Ronald Zaccari outlined a plan of campus developments that will bring the university into a new distinguished era.
- Lowndes Middle teachers nominated for Disney award Lowndes Middle School sixth grade teachers Melanie Mares, Sue Van Nortwick and Elissa Tomlinson are being recognized for their creativity and success in the classroom as Disney Teacher Award Nominees.
- More Community Headlines
-
