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The Russian-born American pianist, Marianna Rashkovetsky, is a musical descendant of Heinrich Neuhaus, a giant of Russian piano pedagogy, whose students included Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels. At the age of six Marianna began studying piano with Julia Nebolsin. In 1971 she was accepted for study at the prestigious Gnessin College of Music, one of the oldest music schools in Russia. Graduating with honors, she then entered Moscow’s Gnessin Academy of Music, where she continued her education with Lina Bulatova, the distinguished pedagogue who had studied with both Elena Gnessina and the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus. She earned a masters degree from that institution.
After completing her studies, Marianna Rashkovetsky served on the faculties of the Dunaevsky School of Music, and the Allegro Center for Music and Aesthetics, in Moscow. In addition, she performed throughout the former Soviet bloc, including Russia, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria.
In 1990, Marianna Rashkovetsky immigrated to the USA where she settled in Boston, and eventually became an American citizen. She founded the Russian-American Music Association (RAMA), a non-profit organization which continues to work toward preserving the traditions of Russian musical pedagogy and performance, and to facilitate communication between American and Russian musicians by sponsoring concerts, workshops and a competition for your people. Rashkovetsky is also a founding member of the RAMA Trio.
Marianna Rashkovetsky maintains an active concert schedule both in the USA and Europe where her engagements also include solo, chamber music, and orchestral soloist performances. In 2003, she performed recitals as part of two international music festivals -chamber music for Les Floraisons Musicales in Chateauneuf du Pape, France, and, solo piano for Armoie Sotto la Rocca, in Brecsia, Italy. Her performances there and at other prominent international music festivals, including Musique en Euroregions and Nancyphonies in France, have invoked high praise from fellow musicians and audiences alike. In addition, she gave several solo recitals in and around Boston. In February 2004, she was soloist with The Moscow Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Constantine Orbelian, performing three J.S. Bach’s concertos at Hesston College in Kansas, and at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachesetts. She was honored to be invited to perform as a soloist also with the Sebestyen String Orchestra with Katalin Sebestyen conducting; the Indian Hill Symphony, under the baton of Bruce Hangen; and, the Ventura Festival Orchestra, with Navroj Mehta. In March 2007, Rashkovetsky performed the Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the New York Scandia Symphony Orchestra, Dorrit Matson conductor.
Marianna Rashkovetsky’s knowledge of repertoire is sweeping she performs works from the Baroque period to those by contemporary composers. Her interpretation of Scarlatti, J.S. Bach, and Frédéric Chopin has earned accolades. Rashkovetsky has worked directly with American composer Gerald Shapiro and French composer Francoise Choveaux. In April 2005, Rashkovetsky premiered Choveaux’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, in Messina, Italy.
Marianna Rashkovetsky has beguiled both critics and audiences with her vivacious and authoritative performances, evoking enthusiastic comparisons to such celebrated pianists as Glenn Gould and Rosalyn Tureck. The distinguished critic Jed Distler, writing for Classics Today about Rashkovetsky’s 2002 album on the Angelok label, praised her playing as eloquent and ravishing, with imagination and character at every turn. Other critics have noted her magical music making, dramatic temperament, and masterful delivery.
Currently, Marianna Rashkovetsky teaches private students at her piano studio and also serves on the faculty of the Indian Hill Music Center in Littleton, Masachusetts, west of Boston.
In addition to her work as a pedagogue and concert pianist, Marianna Rashkovetsky has recorded privately and for the Americus and Angelok labels. Her recordings, which have elicited glowing critical notice, present works by J.S. Bach, Scarlatti, Schubert, Franz Liszt, Grieg, F. Chopin, and Johannes Brahms. Her debut CD on the Angelok label was released in May of 2002, followed by two additional CDs released in 2003 and 2004. |
