Sunday, December 8, 2024 | 4 PM
Peace United Church
900 High St. Santa Cruz, CA

Pianist Yuliya Gorenman

Program

Mozart Fantasy in C Minor, K. 475
Sonata in C minor, K. 457
Chopin Barcarolle in F sharp major, op. 60
Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade Symphonic Suite,
arranged for piano solo by Yuliya Gorenman

Tickets: $40 General
$40 Suggested Donation at the door or Pay What You Can

Generously Sponsored by Michael and Lesley Tierra

About the Artist

Award-winning American pianist Yuliya Gorenman has been rightfully called “a pianist without fear.” Now firmly established in her performing career, Gorenman first achieved international acclaim as a prizewinner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium. Since then, she has been continually invited to perform solo, chamber, and orchestral concerts throughout the world, earning consistent praise for her artistic fire, extraordinary virtuosity, and the depth of her interpretations.

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, and raised in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Gorenman began studying with her mother, Svetlana Gorenman, an outstanding musician in her own right. Gorenman continued to shape her performance style while attending the St. Petersburg Conservatory. After immigrating to the United States, she studied first at the San Francisco Conservatory and at the Peabody Conservatory with mentors such as Nathan Schwartz and Leon Fleischer. Schooled in two musical traditions, but wholly defined by neither, Gorenman has drawn on both heritages in performances of the masterworks of the baroque, classical, romantic, and contemporary repertoire that continue to stir audiences around the world.

After leaving the former Soviet Union, Gorenman earned a steady procession of awards and honors. She gave a joint concert with Billy Joel, performing his classical concert works, which she arranged. The concert was broadcast nationally on NPR.

Gorenman performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic of Flanders, Liège Philharmonic, and many other orchestras, as well as chamber music ensembles worldwide. As a soloist she has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, Merkin Hall in New York, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, and many other venues. She performed at L’été musical dans la vallée du Lot (France), Chamber Music West, Sitka Music Festival, El Paso ProMusica Festival, and Northwest BachFest.

Hailed as one of the most exciting Beethoven interpreters of her generation, Yuliya Gorenman has recorded all the Beethoven piano concerti and the Triple Concerto live with the Bavarian Chamber Orchestra in France and Switzerland. Her sold-out performances of the complete cycle of the Beethoven piano sonatas in Washington, D.C. were critically acclaimed. Her CD “The Gorenman Beethoven Project: Piano Sonatas 1, 2, 3” was featured as the Album of the Week by the Washington, DC WETA Classical radio station.

After joining the Recording Academy she has served as an Advisor to the Board of Governors of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the GRAMMY. Yuliya Gorenman has been a professor of piano at the American University in Washington, DC for 26 years. She recently performed Bach’s major keyboard works. Gorenman made her debut at the 8 Days of Bach Music Festival in Croatia by performing Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier in its entirety.

Yuliya lives in the Washington DC area with her husband and two teenage children. When not at the piano, she can be found in her self-designed kitchen cooking one of her many elaborate and delicious dishes, in her beautiful garden tending to her numerous vegetables and flowers, practicing Latin ballroom dancing, or deep-sea fishing. She also enjoys learning new languages and is currently fully immersed in studying Turkish language.