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The Israeli pianist, Pnina B. Becher, was born to American parents in a small village, Moshav Beit Herut. She is the product of a generation of pioneers. After being dubbed ‘prodigy’ in her early childhood, she went on to win medals and scholarships in prestigious piano competitions throughout Israel. Her love for music stretched to vocals as well, and so Pnina was a member of the Efroni Choir, with whom she performed all over Europe, as well as Israel. When the time came, Pnina served in the Israeli Army, just as all other 18 year olds in the country do. Yet even after a two-year break of military service, Pnina returned to her beloved music world. She entered the Tel Aviv Rubin Academy of Music, studying with Emanuel Krasovsky, Peter Vinograde, and Dean Elder. After just a short time at the Academy, it was clear that Pnina would go on to achieve greatness in the music world.
Yet as it so often does, life came knocking at Pnina’s door, when she married in the late 1980's, and moved to New York. She made the decision to take a hiatus from playing the piano… say, eighteen years, during which she built with her husband a family of three daughters, Aviv, Eden, and Asif (and three poodles…) whom she raised in New York.
After the eighteen-year break, and a move to Scottsdale, Arizona, Pnina B. Becher whirled back into her music, truly making an entrance and performed both as a soloist, and with orchestras in the USA, Europe, and Israel, and Australia, where she played at the prestigious Melbourne International Arts Festival and was enthusiastically received in her sold out concerts. She now resides with her husband and 3 daughters in Phoenix, Arizona.
True to her origins, Pnina B. Becher is in fact a pioneer of sorts. Her first album, a glorious recording of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) has been critically acclaimed, and Pnina’s second album, a brilliant recording of Scarlatti, Frédéric Chopin, and Debussy, has just recently been released. |
