Lydia Artymiw, piano

Lydia Artymiw has such a satisfying musical soul; she is a pleasure to hear” wrote Bernard Holland in a recent New York Times review. The recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Prize, Philadelphia-born Lydia Artymiw has performed with over one hundred twenty orchestras world-wide, with many of the leading conductors of our time. American orchestral appearances include the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, and with the Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Seattle Symphonies, and with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Minnesota and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras.  Solo recital tours have taken her to all major American cities and to important European music centers, and throughout the Far East (Taiwan, China, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines). Critics have acclaimed her seven solo recordings for the Chandos label, and she has also recorded for Bridge, Centaur, Pantheon, Artegra, and Naxos. Her debut recording for Chandos (Variations) was a Gramophone Magazine “Critic’s Choice,” her Mendelssohn CD was hailed by both Hi-Fi News and the Monthly Guide to Recorded Music as “Best of the Month,” and Ovation Magazine honored her Schubert recording as “Recording of Distinction.” Her CD of the Tchaikovsky Seasons (released by Chandos in 1982) is still in print and has sold over 25,000 copies. Festival appearances include Aspen, Bantry (Ireland), Bay Chamber, Bravo! Vail Valley, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, Chautauqua, Grand Canyon, Hollywood Bowl, Marlboro, Montreal, Mostly Mozart, Seattle, and Tucson.

An acclaimed chamber musician, Artymiw has collaborated with such celebrated artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Stoltzman, Alexander Fiterstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, Kim Kashkashian, John Aler, Benita Valente, and the Guarneri, Tokyo, American, Alexander, Borromeo, Daedalus, Miami, Orion, and Shanghai Quartets, and has toured nationally with Music from Marlboro groups. Along with Arnold Steinhardt (first violinist of the Guarneri Quartet) and Jules Eskin (principal cellist of the Boston Symphony), she was a member of the Steinhardt-Artymiw-Eskin Trio for over ten years. A recipient of top prizes in the 1976 Leventritt and the 1978 Leeds International Competitions, she graduated from Philadelphia’s University of the Arts and studied with distinguished concert pianist and former Director of the Curtis Institute of Music, Gary Graffman, for twelve years.

In 2014, pianist Lydia Artymiw celebrates her 25th year as Distinguished McKnight Professor of Piano at the University of Minnesota. Artymiw also received the “Dean’s Medal for Outstanding Professor” in 2000.

For more information, please visit Artymiw’s website at lydiaartymiw.com.