How Fair This Spot - Liza Stepanova
Resources for Studying & Performing Russian Romances
Duration: 53 minutes
About:
In this lecture, geared primarily towards performers who are new to the Russian repertoire, pianist Dr. Liza Stepanova touches on multiple aspects of singing (and playing) romances: main diction challenges, aspects of style, Russian poetry, performance tradition and recordings, and finding repertoire. Dr. Stepanova is a native speaker of Russian and a close-to-native speaker of German, having lived and studied in Berlin for ten years. On the faculty at SongFest since 2011, she has curated and coached multiple popular recitals in both languages for the festival over the years.
Resources:
About the Presenter
Liza Stepanova
Liza Stepanova
Praised by The New York Times for her “thoughtful musicality” and “fleet-fingered panache,” Liza Stepanova has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Weill and Zankel recital halls at Carnegie Hall; Alice Tully, Merkin, David Geffen, and Steinway halls in New York City and at the Kennedy Center. She has appeared as a soloist with conductors James DePreist and Nicholas McGegan and live on WQXRNew York, WFMT Chicago, and WETA Washington. Stepanova’s solo CD “Tones & Colors: Music andVisual Art” (2018), recorded with Grammy-winning producer Adam Abeshouse, was featured onPerformance Today, in the BBC Music Magazine, and in recital at National Sawdust. Her most recent project "E Pluribus Unum” (PARMA Recordings, 2020) features piano music by contemporary immigrant composers. 2019-2020 concert highlights include invitations to the Bowdoin Music Festival and Prague Piano Festival, solo recitals at USF Steinway Piano Series and East Carolina University Piano Series, and chamber music tours with the Lysander Piano Trio, winner of the Concert Artists GuildCompetition, in Canada, Mexico, and across the US at Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the Crescent City Festival in New Orleans, Norton Museum in Palm Beach, and more.Stepanova is one of the founders of theChamber Music Athens festival in Georgia and has been actively involved in performance, teaching and administration of the annual event.At the 2020 CMA, she will give the world premiere of a new substantial chamber music work by Lowell Liebermann, which was commissioned especially for her with her ensemble, the Yargo Trio.Stepanova has a special interest in art song having worked in multiple festivals with the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Since 2010, she has been a faculty member and, for two years, was Associate Artistic Director at SongFest at The Colburn School in Los Angeles. Stepanova holds degrees from the “Hanns Eisler” Academy in Berlin, Germany (BM) and The Juilliard School(MM, DMA) where she studied with Joseph Kalichstein, Seymour Lipkin, Jerome Lowenthal, and George Sava. Following teaching positions at Juilliard and Smith College, Stepanova is currently an assistant professor of piano at the University of Georgia. Her UGA students have been invited to theAspen, Bowdoin, Chautauqua, Piano Texas, and Salzburg Mozarteum summer programs, have been admitted to elite graduate programs, and consistently win competitions and awards.
