Belsky/Maxwell Piano Duo
Saturday, Januray 21 & Sunday, January 22
Rachmaninoff - Suite Op. 11
I. Barcarolle
II. Scherzo
VI. Slava (Glory)
Schubert - Fantasy in f minor
Patrick Zimmerli - Fantasy
Stravinsky - Three Movements from Petrouchka (arranged by the performers)
I. Russian Dance
II. Petrouchka's Room
III. The Shrovetide Fair
Svetlana Belsky and Jennifer Maxwell, piano
The Belsky-Maxwell Duo began in 2005, when these colleagues and friends discovered – quite by accident – how remarkably well matched they are at the keyboard. Their artistic partnership debuted conspicuously with a standing-room-only performance of Mozart’s glorious Concerto in E-flat Major for Two Pianos with the University of Chicago Symphony Orchestra in January 2006, in celebration of Mozart’s 250th birthday. Since then, the two pianists have been presenting duo concerts throughout the United States, playing repertoire ranging from the great masters to newly commissioned works, earning a reputation as a unique and exciting new ensemble with particular audience rapport.
The duo had been Guest Artists at the Illinois State Music Teachers Association Convention in 2010. Other appearances include Live From WFMT of Chicago’s Classical 98.7 FM Radio, the prestigious Mostly Music Series of Northeastern Illinois University, the annual Music Institute of Chicago Duo Piano Festival, the Southern Illinois Music Festival, the PianoForte Great Pianists Series, Schubertiade Chicago, and the Skokie Steinway Series; concerto engagements with the Southern Illinois Symphony under the baton of Maestro Edward Benyas; and recital and master class engagements at the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, Wheaton College, Winona State University, Illinois Central College, Cardinal Stritch University, Moody Bible Institute, Western Illinois University, and many more. Praised for “how artistically attuned they were to each other...they simultaneously moved from the serene to the staccato, from the merely fast to the positively furious, always at precisely the same time” (Hyde Park Herald), Belsky and Maxwell invite audiences to see – and hear – what two women can do with one piano.
The Duo’s recent CD, (featured on WFMT) including the Rachmaninoff Suite, Op. 11, Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrouchka, and William White’s brand-new Desiderata, written especially for Belsky and Maxwell, is available on www.CDBaby.com.
Svetlana Belsky
Svetlana Belsky is the Coordinator of Piano Studies at the University of Chicago Department of Music. Born in Kiev, Belsky grew up in Chicago, studying with Emilio Del Rosario. She holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Ann Schein, a student of Arthur Rubinstein. She earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at the Manhattan School of Music under Nina Svetlanova, an heir to the tradition of Heinrich Neuhaus. Among her honors are prizes in the Frinna Awerbuch and the AMSA World Piano Competitions. Critically acclaimed as a “passionate pianist and scholar”, Belsky is an active recitalist and chamber performer, serves as an adjudicator at piano competitions throughout the world and writes and lectures on various musical topics. In the past few seasons she has appeared in the US, Europe and Asia. Her book, an annotated translation of Busoni as Pianist by Russian musicologist Grigori Kogan, was published in 2010 by the University of Rochester Press on their Eastman Studies in Music series. Dr. Belsky’s recent CD of Ferruccio Busoni’s compositions has been heard on numerous radio stations in the US, Canada, and Asia.
Jennifer Maxwell
Jennifer Maxwell is currently working on a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at Boston University, where she is a student of Anthony di Bonaventura. Maxwell received a Master of Music degree at the University of Louisville School of Music in the studio of Artist-in-Residence Lee Luvisi, who studied with Rudolf Serkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Iowa School of Music, where she was a student of Daniel Shapiro, himself a student of Leon Fleischer. Formerly with the University of Chicago Department of Music, Maxwell also worked for the Louisville Orchestra, was Artist/Coordinator of the Kentucky Center’s ArtsReach Louisville Piano Program, and taught piano at the University of Louisville. An avid performer and educator, she is active as an adjudicator and clinician at festivals and competitions.