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Press Release

February 14, 2024

For Immediate Release

Press Contact:

Gail Wein ~ (646) 484-9691

ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com

Pianist Inna Faliks premieres piano concerto by Clarice Assad in Washington, D.C.

Program celebrating International Women's Day also features Clara Schumann's piano concerto

March 10 concert at National Gallery of Art features Faliks as soloist with Inscape Chamber Orchestra

On March 10 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the internationally renowned Ukrainian-American pianist and author Inna Faliks performs the world premiere of Lilith, a new piano concerto by Grammy-nominated composer Clarice Assad.

Written for Faliks, Lilith refers to the biblical character who was considered a primordial she-demon. Each of the movement titles (Spellbinder, Forbidden Charms, and Unchained) outline Lilith's iconic phases and sensuality. On the same program, Faliks plays the Piano Concerto by Clara Schumann.

The concert on March 10 at 3 pm falls within days of International Women's Day. Admission is free; details on the National Gallery of Art's website. Students from regional youth ensembles will join the Grammy-nominated Inscape Chamber Orchestra, led by Richard Scerbo, for this world premiere performance.

Faliks performs regional premieres of Lilith in Durango, CO (April 20) and Farmington, NM (April 21) with the San Juan Symphony and conductor Thomas Heuser.

Calendar Listing

National Gallery of Art presents

Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 3 pm

Inna Faliks with the Inscape Chamber Orchestra

World premiere of Lilith by Clarice Assad

Inna Faliks, piano

Robert Scerbo, conductor

Inscape Chamber Orchestra

with students from the DC Youth Orchestra Program and Washington Musical Pathways Initiative

National Gallery of Art

(West Building, Main Floor - West Garden Court)

6th St and Constitution Ave NW

Washington, DC 20565

PROGRAM

Fanny Mendelssohn Overture in C Major

Clara Schumann Piano Concerto in A Minor

Clarice Assad A Retirada

Clarice Assad Lilith, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (World Premiere)

Coming Up

February 18 (Los Angeles, CA): Four-hand Mahler with Daniel Schlosberg at St. James in-the-City Episcopal Church
March 2 (Chapel Hill, NC): Recital at UNC Chapel Hill
March 10 (Washington, D.C.): Lilith Concerto world premiere by Clarice Assad at National Gallery of Art (written for Ms. Faliks)
March 22 (Torrance, CA): "Polanaise-Fantasie: The Story of a Pianist" recital at El Camino College Center for the Arts
April 5 (New Orleans, LA): Recital at Tulane University Piano Series
April 20 (Durango, CO): Lilith Concerto with San Juan Symphony led by Thomas Heuser
April 21 (Farmington, NM): Lilith Concerto with San Juan Symphony led by Thomas Heuser
May 19 (Santa Monica, CA): Recital/book celebration at Broad Stage
May 23 (Brooklyn, NY): Recital/book celebration at National Sawdust
June 8 (Healdsburg, CA): "Polanaise-Fantasie: The Story of a Pianist" recital at the 222

“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.

Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Her discography includes Manuscripts Don't Burn (Sono Luminus, May 2024), which consists of world premiere recordings alongside 19th and 20th century works. Also in her catalogue: Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel (Navona), and all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs on MSR Classics.

In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, she is is head of Piano Studies at UCLA and is a critically acclaimed writer. Her memoir, Weight in the Fingertips: A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage (Backbeat Books) was published in October 2023, and her articles and essays have appeared in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.