by David Wright
“Pianist Faliks worked expertly at the keys, the pedals, and inside the instrument to produce the volatile mix of roars, pings, and misty resonances in this world premiere of Johnson’s score.”
News
ConcertoNet.com – The Classical Music Network
by Harry Rolnick
“That wondrous virtuoso pianist Inna Faliks has commissioned music to be written for the Ukrainian-Russian cult novel–symbolic, funny, sarcastic, allegorical and damned frustrating–The Master and Margarita, some of which was played here.”
Listen to Sundays Live, Recorded Live at LACMA
Inna recently made a stop in LACMA at Sundays Live, broadcasted live on April 21, 2019 at the Leo S. Bing Theater.
“It is my 15th and last performance at Bing – before they close for rebuilding. This hall is going to be torn down, and a new one built – a smaller one.”
Click here to listen to Inna’s broadcast performance of Beethoven: Six Bagatelles, Opus 126, and Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Opus 13.
The Future of Classical Music is Chinese
Inna’s new op-ed with the Washington Post highlights her recent concert tour and visiting professorship in China:
“But as I looked at the line of young pianists, I thought that I stood face-to-face not with the past, but with the future of classical music.
I found the passion, drive and work ethic of Chinese music students staggering. And the dedication from the audiences was evident, as every seat — regardless of the city — was always taken. Reverence for Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Schumann seems to have no connection to any economic or political agenda.”
Read the full article here.
Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Scriabin with Inna Faliks
Close Encounters With Music’s new article features a Q & A with Inna, highlighting her March 23rd performance at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA.
Q. You are often called an “adventurous” artist. What does it take to be adventurous in an age when everything has been tried and heard?
A. I think being adventurous has to be in the personality of the performer. If one is trying hard to be adventurous, the result can come out forced, inorganic. I just am who I am, I think. I know I am passionate about music, about people, about art and sharing the art and having a large well of emotions and experiences to draw from. I think that communicating the essence of the music to the audience makes the music relevant, and to me, communication is the most important part of a performance.
Read the full article here.
Culture Spot LA Reviews February Mahler Performance in Santa Monica
Culture Spot LA reviews Inna’s February 2019 performance at Jacaranda Music in Santa Monica of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony in a piano four-hands arrangement, together with pianist Daniel Schlosberg:
“…a decidedly pianistic performance, with beautifully executed trills, judicious pedaling and richly shaded textures. If not supplanting the orchestral original, Zemlinsky’s version as played by Faliks and Schlosberg was a valuable opportunity to peer beneath the symphony’s instrumental garb and hear the symphony’s fascinating inner workings…”
Pianist Tells of North Shore Roots in Musical Monologue
Myrna Petlicki of The Chicago Tribune highlights Inna’s upcoming Chicago premiere of Polonaise Fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Nichols Hall:
“Acclaimed pianist Inna Faliks says presenting her “Polonaise Fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist” at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Nichols Hall in Evanston feels like a homecoming.
“It’s absolutely the most perfect place to do it,” Faliks said. “So much of the show is about the Music Institute.'”
Read the full article here.
Pianist Inna Faliks Presents a Musical Memoir at Symphony Space
Catherine Yang of The Epoch Times previews Inna’s performance of Polonaise Fantaisie: Story of a Pianist at Symphony Space:
“Music is meant to be a living thing, according to pianist Inna Faliks. It is the musician’s role to breathe life into the notes on the page, and every time the music is given life, it is a different being.
…Polonaise Fantaisie: Story of a Pianist has been performed across the country and on radio for eight seasons. On Oct. 13, at Symphony Space in New York, Faliks will present a piano recital interspersed with autobiographical monologues to tell the moving tale of how she became the artist she is today.”
Read the full article here.
A “Fresh Approach” to Schumann
Inna’s guest appearance last weekend with the Miami Symphony Orchestra drew a rave review from the South Florida Classical Review. Here’s what Lawrence Budmen wrote:
An associate professor of piano at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Faliks is a well traveled soloist who will hopefully schedule more stops in South Florida. On Sunday she proved to be an interesting and musically imaginative artist. From the opening bars of the Schumann concerto, Faliks bent the musical line, coloring her phrases with subtle rubato. She brought plenty of power to the keyboard-spanning runs and octaves. Her pearly tone and poetic bent suggested a more Chopinesque approach.
In the second movement Intermezzo, Faliks’ winning combination of whimsy and heart-on-sleeve fervor turned the short opening figures into a burst of pianistic song. The Allegro vivace finale was replete with bold syncopations but Faliks’ elegant and impulsive shaping of thematic lines was always cleanly articulated. Her lighter approach to the score was musically engrossing and refreshing. Marturet and the orchestra provided full bodied support with the deep tone of the cellos in the secondary subject of the Intermezzo movement particularly distinguished.
A standing ovation brought Faliks back for Liszt’s La Campanella as an encore. She deftly traced the melodic curves of the familiar theme and drew a bell-like sound.
Read the full review here: “Pianist Inna Faliks reinvigorates a Schumann standby”
Review: Polonaise-Fantaisie in American Record Guide
Inna’s new recording, Polonaise-Fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist, was recently reviewed in American Record Guide! James Harrington calls the recording “poignant, humorous, and perceptive…a complete picture of the wide range of repertoire [Faliks] excels at.”
Read the full review here.