Inna Faliks, piano

Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks "infuses every note with brilliance and personality," according to Jane Shaw in the Island Packet (Hilton Head, South Carolina). Writing in the Washington Post, Joseph McLellan described her playing as "poetry...A kind of panoramic vision that looks ahead almost to the world of Gustav Mahler emerged in Faliks' performance of Beethoven's sonata opus 111...." In the Baltimore Sun, Phil Greenfield wrote, "A delight to hear...Riveting...passion and playfulness, warmly poetic," and Tim Smith wrote, "Vivid, vibrant, and powerfully driven...firm tonal weight and great expressive flourish...."

Ms. Faliks has performed under conductors such as Leonard Slatkin and Keith Lockhart, played her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 15, and performed recitals in prestigious venues in the U.S. as well as Russia, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Japan. She has been invited to record her debut CD of Beethoven and other works for the Connoisseur Society label.

Ms. Faliks has had numerous competition successes, including first prizes in the International Hilton Head Piano Competition, the National Federation of Music Clubs Competition, and the Yale Gordon Competition at the Peabody Conservatory. Among other competitions that she has won are the Kosciuszko Competition, MTNA Yamaha Competition, and Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.

Ms. Faliks has performed solo, concerti, and chamber music in summer festivals such as Verbier (Switzerland), Gilmore (Kalamazoo, MI), Taos (New Mexico), Brevard (North Carolina), LaGesse (Toulouse, France), and Chautauqua, Shandelee, and Honest Brook (New York). She has performed chamber music with members of the Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and Israel Philharmonic.

As National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist, Ms. Faliks has been presented in recitals and orchestral appearances around the country for the past two seasons. Most recently, she performed with Concert Artists of Baltimore and at the Chautauqua and Brevard Festivals, toured Arkansas and Kentucky, and gave her European debut in Toulouse, France. In November 2000, Ms. Faliks gave a recital in New York's Weill Hall. She has given a concert tour of Japan and performed the Shostakovitch First Piano Concerto at Chicago's Eastern European Music Festival. Other recent appearances include recitals in Chicago's Dame Myra Hess series, the Shriver Hall Concert Series (sponsored by the Yale Gordon Trust), the Baltimore Hebrew Congregational Concert Series, the Embassy of France, the Washington College Concert Series (Chestertown, MD), the Muldoon Concerts (Annandale, VA), and the Steinway Artist Alumni Concert Series (Skokie, IL). She has been invited back to perform at the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Concert Series and Carnegie's Weill Hall.

Ms. Faliks was born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1978. She comes from a musical family; her mother, Irene, was her first teacher. By the time Ms. Faliks immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 10, she had already composed an opera and played her debut solo recital in Rome, Italy. She studied with Emilio del Rosario in Chicago, and went on to the Peabody Conservatory to study with Ann Schein and Leon Fleisher. She is also a writer and poet.