Piano duo to perform in Chicago (11/05/00)

Piano duo to perform in Chicago

CHICAGO - The piano-duo of Valentina Lisitsa and Alexei Kuznetsoff, both former students at the Kyiv Conservatory who have been winning critical acclaim since coming to the United States in 1991, will appear in their third concert performance at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, on Sunday, November 19, at 2 p.m.

The husband-and-wife piano duo made their United States debut in Chicago, securing the following response from the Chicago Tribune's music critic, John von Rhein: "... I cannot recall when I have heard a more exciting or more accomplished two-piano team. They have the colossal technique and temperament you associate with pianists of the Russian school; they also have virtually flawless ensemble, the kind most duos labor for years to achieve, if they are even so fortunate."

Ms. Lisitsa and Mr. Kuznetsoff, while still students at the conservatory, decided to give up solo piano study and work as a two-piano team with Lumdilla Tsvierko in Kyiv. In 1990 they won first prize at the Ukrainian Chamber Music Competition.

In 1991 the duo was awarded first prize in the Third International Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition held in Miami. Shortly thereafter, the couple made their home in the United States as scholarship students of Alexander Toradze, head of the piano department at the University of Indiana in South Bend.

Since making their New York debut with the Mostly Mozart series under Gerard Schwartz in the summer of 1995, the duo has been performing exensively throughout the world with orchestras and in recitals.

They appeared with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Florida Philharmonic.

Last season the duo continud its busy schedule of recital appearances with a 30-city recital tour of North America. They have performed at such venues as the Tisch Center for the Arts at New York's 92nd Street Y, Van Cliburn Recital Series in Fort Worth, Grant Park Festival in Chicago, the Professional Concert Series at the University of Chicago, Sheldon Hall in St. Louis, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, Bravo! Vail Festival, Dallas, San Antonio, San Diego, Kansas City, Los Angeles and many others.

The duo, which has been cited for their contribution to the rich but, seldom-heard music for two pianos, has recorded two compact disks for the Audiofon label.

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