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.

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”

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.

Reviews from Inna’s recent performances at the Ravinia Festival, with Camerata Pacifica, and at the Newport Festival:

“With Faliks in the lead, the prickly Scherzo and huge, dramatic Finale fully reflected Mahler’s mighty voice. Faliks is a poetic pianist, unafraid to linger over a short pause or craft a melodic fragment to explode and fade with blinding speed. But especially in the transcription’s fast-paced final movements she never lost the singing-through line so crucial to navigating Mahler’s often chaotic universe. The Scherzo’s staccato, martial rhythms could be crisply stern but also piquant and witty. Its lyrical moments glowed, thanks to Falik’s pliant, flexible melody lines.”

—Classical Voice North America, September 2017

“…it was Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks who blew the other two pianists out of the water with her enthralling account of Opus 111, the last of the three sonatas and one of Beethoven’s most stunning creations, as he ends a lifetime of sonatas with a few shimmering scale passages and a hushed C Major chord.

“This amazing score was clearly in her DNA, as Faliks charged into the brooding introduction when we all thought she was adjusting the piano bench. And from there she had the audience hanging on every note.

…this was one of the most moving performance I’ve ever heard of Opus 111, a work whose stormy opening gives way to a great hymn to humanity.”

—Providence Journal (Newport Music Festival), July 2017

“Huang and Aznavoorian returned after intermission with pianist Inna Faliks for a triumphant rendering of Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 67.
For the Camerata players to evoke emotion while excavating Shostakovich’s sharper vocabulary of musical images, figures, and gestures was remarkable. . Faliks’ mash-up of sensitivity and pure fury brought a heightened relevance to this rarely performed, beautifully complex stunner. A simplyenthralling performance!
Prokofiev Flute Sonata… The emotion came from Faliks, whose expressive, spirited, curious interactions brought life to even the conventional accompaniment patterns of the four-movement piece.”

—Stage and Cinema, September 2017

Here are two lovely preview articles from some of last month’s engagements!

First, a personal essay I wrote about my new recording, “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist,” for the Newport Music Festival:

I know that I am the artist that I am now, partially thanks to growing up in the Odessa of the past – seven people in a three-room apartment, surrounded by books, music, ideas and friends (one of whom is Misha. You will meet him in the story. He is my husband and the father of my two children).

Recording this story, and this music, is the most personal project I have ever done.

Full article here.

Second, here’s a nice article on my appearance at the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango:

The Ukranian-born pianist has played in our festival before, so she knows the territory and the drill. If you want a sneak peek, there will be an open rehearsal from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at the Festival Tent. You can also see and hear Faliks play a number of different works on YouTube. Calm, elegant and self-possessed, she’s a marvelous musician whom critics have described as playing with “grace and raw power.”

Faliks has had a distinguished concert and recording career. She’s also professor of piano and head of keyboard studies at the UCLA Department of Music, which frees her to concertize at summer festivals all over the world, including ours.

Full article here.

It was lovely to return to the Newport Music Festival for a week of intense and magical music-making. Here’s an excerpt from the Providence Journal’s review of my performance of Beethoven Opus 111.

“…it was Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks who blew the other two pianists out of the water with her enthralling account of Opus 111, the last of the three sonatas and one of Beethoven’s most stunning creations, as he ends a lifetime of sonatas with a few shimmering scale passages and a hushed C Major chord.

“This amazing score was clearly in her DNA, as Faliks charged into the brooding introduction when we all thought she was adjusting the piano bench. And from there she had the audience hanging on every note.

…this was one of the most moving performance I’ve ever heard of Opus 111, a work whose stormy opening gives way to a great hymn to humanity.”

—(Newport Music Festival), July 2017

Dear Friends,

Happy Spring!

It is with boundless excitement that I share with you the flurry of upcoming premieres and performances this spring, and look forward to a thrilling summer. Join me for concerts in Chicago, New Haven, NYC, Los Angeles, Music/Words with the Poetry Foundation, as well as the brand new Dialogues Festival at UCLA, featuring at least 20 world premieres.

These lead into great summer appearances—my return to Newport Festival, concerto with the wonderful orchestra at Music in the Mountains Festival, and my Ravinia Festival debut, which heralds an exciting 17-18 season.

Inna Faliks performing Music/Words at the Getty, in celebration of Degas’s Russian Dancers

April 7—Chicago, IL
12pm: WFMT Live Broadcast @ Pianoforte Chicago
6pm: Recital @ Pianoforte Chicago

April 9—New Haven, CT
3 pm: Recital @ Lyric Hall (Impromptu Classical Series)

*World Premieres by Drozdoff, plus music of Schubert, Freidlin, Takemitsu

April 11—New York, NY
7:30pm: Recital @ Hunter College, Ida Lang Hall (Impromptu Classical Series)

April 12—New York, NY
6:00pm: Recital @ Yamaha Artist Services (6@6 Series)

May 2—Los Angeles, CA
7:30pm: Inna Faliks & Friends at UCLA @ Schoenberg Hall, UCLA

*Solo and chamber music, including Shostakovich Quintet with faculty and alumni. If you missed this in March, here is your chance to hear it again!

May 27—Chicago, IL
7:00pm, Music/Words @ The Poetry Foundation

May 29—Chicago, IL
8:00pm: Live Recital Series on WFMT Chicago Classical Radio

June 1,2,3—Los Angeles, CA
7:30 pm: Dialogues Festival at UCLA @ Ostin Recording Studio

*I am thrilled to put together this festival, where at least sixteen world premieres will be unveiled! Celebrating the link between past and present, this festival explores new music composed in response to Beethoven, Ravel, Schumann, by composers such as Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres, Tamir Hendelman, Ian Krouse, Paola Prestini, and more. The Dialogues Festival also juxtaposes works by Richard Danielpour and Chopin, and presents new compositions by UCLA student composers in response to Bach’s Aria from the Goldberg Variations. Featuring: Inna Faliks (piano), David Kaplan (piano), UCLA piano students, and UCLA composition students.

I look forward to seeing you and hearing from you this spring!.

warmest regards,
Inna

Dear Friends,

Happy 2017!

The year is off to a galloping start, after the whirlwind of fall and early winter.

I returned from a tour of China’s major halls, all architectural and acoustic masterpieces, including the Beijing Center for Performing Arts, the Shanghai Oriental Arts Theater, Tianjin Grand Theater, and more (pictures below)!

I enjoyed my debut with the fantastic group Camerata Pacifica, a collaboration with Bodytraffic modern dance (described as “electrifying and energizing” by the LA Times), and right after that, a very moving experience: playing Beethoven 3rd Concerto on my home turf, with UCLA Philharmonia and Neal Stulberg. You can see the video here.

For another chance to hear this piece, come to the February 19th concert with Peninsula Symphony, and Gary Berkson, details below.

Immediately after the New Year, I completed my forthcoming 2-disc set for Delos, “Polonaise Fantasie, Story of a Pianist”, a monologue-recital of my essays, read by actress-par-excellence Rebecca Mozo, with music ranging from Bach to Chopin to Carter to Birtwistle. Look out for a 2017 release!

Here a some upcoming winter dates to share with you—please come to these if you can, and keep in touch!

January 29
Inna plays Wanderer
LACMA, Sundays Live, 6 pm – recital and livestream.
http://www.lacma.org/event/inna-faliks-4

February 19th
Beethoven 3rd, Peninsula Symphony
Gary Berkson, conductor
http://www.pensym.org/

March 4th
Music/Words at the Getty, in celebration of Degas’s Russian Dancers
http://www.getty.edu/visit/cal/events/ev_1438.html

March 19th
Dilijan Series (Lark Music Society), Zipper Hall
Schostakovich Trio and Quintet
Some of my most beloved chamber music works, with my esteemed colleagues Movses Pogossian, Antonio Lysy, and others.
More information here

May this year be filled with hope, beauty and music for you all.

Warmest,
Inna