The Corwin Concert Series Presents: Recital by GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist Nadia Shpachenko and the Cal Poly Pomona Piano Ensemble. Featuring works for solo piano and multiple pianos by Ukrainian and American composers Zoltan Almashi, Evgeni Orkin, Myroslav Skoryk, Madelyn Byrne, Christopher Cerrone, Ian Dicke, Tom Flaherty, Dana Kaufman, Harold Meltzer, Samara Rice, Adam Schoenberg, Evan Ware, Pamela Z, and Jack Van Zandt. 

Friday, October 20, 2023 at 7:30 pm at Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall. Free admission.

A “gifted and versatile pianist” (San Francisco Chronicle) and GRAMMY® Award winner Nadia Shpachenko enjoys bringing into the world things that are outside the box—powerful pieces that often possess unusual sonic qualities or instrumentation. Nadia’s concert highlights include recitals at Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, on the Piano Spheres and Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella and Chamber Music Series, and with numerous orchestras in Europe and the Americas. An enthusiastic promoter of contemporary music, Shpachenko premiered more than 100 works by Armando Bayolo, Elliott Carter, Christopher Cerrone, Paul Chihara, George Crumb, Ian Dicke, Daniel Felsenfeld, Tom Flaherty, Annie Gosfield, Yuri Ishchenko, Dana Kaufman, Leon Kirchner, Amy Beth Kirsten, Hannah Lash, James Matheson, Missy Mazzoli, Harold Meltzer, David Sanford, Isaac Schankler, Alexander Shchetynsky, Adam Schoenberg, Lewis Spratlan, Gernot Wolfgang, Iannis Xenakis, Peter Yates, Pamela Z, Jack Van Zandt, and many others.

Described as “powerful… impressive… haunting” (Gramophone) and “the outstanding contemporary-music disc of the year” (Fanfare Magazine), Nadia’s 2022 Reference Recordings album Invasion: Music and Art for Ukraine features premiere recordings of music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis Spratlan, and art by numerous Ukrainian artists. 100% of proceeds from Invasion CD are donated to Ukraine humanitarian aid charities Razom for Ukraine (bit.ly/ShpachenkoRazom) and Lisa Batiashvili Foundation (bit.ly/BatiashviliFund). Nadia’s 2019 Reference Recordings album The Poetry of Places, featuring premieres of architecture-inspired works, won the Best Classical Compendium GRAMMY® Award. She can be heard on seven other internationally released albums of world premieres.

Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, she is a Steinway Artist, Schoenhut Toy Piano Artist, and professor of music at Cal Poly Pomona University.

The Cal Poly Pomona Piano Ensemble is directed by GRAMMY®-winning pianist Nadia Shpachenko, who often performs with the group. The Piano Ensemble performs repertoire for piano 4-hands, duo-piano and for 3-10 keyboard players on multiple instruments, which include pianos, toy pianos, and harpsichords. The Collaborative Piano Ensemble also collaborates with singers and instrumentalists. In addition to performing repertoire from the classical canon, the group’s mission is to program and promote newly-written piano ensemble repertoire and to collaborate with contemporary composers. Most recently the Cal Poly Pomona Piano Ensemble worked with composers Zoltan Almashi, William Alves, Armando Bayolo, Madelyn Byrne, Nimrod Borenstein, Martin Bresnick, Tom Flaherty, Dai Fujikura, Christopher Jessup, Thomas Kotcheff, James Matheson, Eugene Orkin, Tristan Perich, John Proulx, Samara Rice, Michael Roth, Isaac Schankler, Adam Schoenberg, William Susman, Alex Weiser, Jack Van Zandt, and others. They recently toured many newly-written works in Florida, New York and California, and made many recordings, often in collaboration with professional guest artists.