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 WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago, and WETA Washington. Stepanova’s debut solo album Tones & Colors: Music and Visual Art (CAG Records, 2018), recorded with GRAMMY-winning producer Adam Abeshouse, was featured on Performance Today, in the BBC Music Magazine, and in a release celebration at National Sawdust in New York City. 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 Guild Competition, in Canada, Mexico, and across the United States at Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the Crescent City Festival in New Orleans, Norton Museum in Palm Beach, and more. Highlights of past seasons include performances at international festivals at Castleton, La Jolla, Music@Menlo, Mostly Mozart, Copenhagen (Denmark), and Davos (Switzerland), and collaborations with leading artists including violinist Cho-Liang Lin, violist James Dunham, clarinetist Charles Neidich, soprano Lucy Shelton, mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer, and members of the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and the Atlanta Symphony. With the Lysander Trio, Stepanova has toured extensively across the United States and abroad with performances in most major music centers. Deeply committed to new music, she has premiered works by Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Tom Cipullo, Jakub Ciupinski, Reinaldo Moya, and many others, and has given regional premieres of works by George Crumb, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Frederic Rzewski. In 2020, Stepanova is scheduled to premiere a newly commissioned chamber work by Lowell Liebermann. Stepanova holds degrees from the “Hanns Eisler” Academy in Berlin, Germany (B.M.) and The Juilliard School (M.M., D.M.A.) 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 associate professor of piano at the University of Georgia.