Marika Bournaki, piano

Marika Bournaki, a 19-year-old sophomore at The Juilliard School, already boasts an extensive international career. The Montreal native began piano lessons at age 5, and has been studying with Yovehed Kaplinsky at Juilliard since she was accepted into the Pre-College Division at age 12. At the Verbier Academy in Switzerland, Ms. Bournaki played master classes given by Dmitri Bashkirov, Claude Frank, and Stephen Kovacevich, and she received chamber music coaching from Gabor Takacs-Nagy. At the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg, she played in master classes for Andras Schiff.

At the 2009 Palaces of St. Petersburg Festival in Russia, Ms. Bournaki played the Schumann Piano Concerto with the St. Petersburg Symphony under the baton of Vladimir Lande. The performance was aired on Russian television and made into a DVD.

During the 2009-10 season, she performed Grieg's Piano Concerto with the Montreal Symphony, Andrew Grams, conducting; recitals of Chopin and Schumann at the National Arts Centre Debut Recital Series in Ottawa and at the Seoul Arts Center Opera House in South Korea; and at the Flanders Festival in Belgium and on the Accordate Konzerte Series in Aachen, Germany. Other 2009-10 highlights included Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon; a sold-out fundraising recital for the Glenn Gould Foundation at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall; and an opening-night performance at the Luminato Festival in Toronto. In addition to a broadcast of National Public Radio's From the Top, she has been featured on radio in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and on television in Canada and Europe.

Ms. Bournaki’s web site is www.marikabournaki.com.

April 3, 2011