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Svetlana Transky, piano
Dr. Svetlana Transky is an accomplished piano soloist, chamber music collaborator and music educator. Her musical training and background, acquired at the prestigious Odessa Stolyarsky Music School for Gifted Youth in the former Soviet Union, stems from the pianistic traditions of eminent Heinrich Neihaus and Konstantin Igumnov. In Los Angeles, Svetlana continued her education with a reputable Master teacher Dorothy Hwang at the Colburn School of Music. Subsequently, she became a recipient of the prestigious John Crown Memorial Music Award and obtained her Bachelors, Masters and the Doctoral of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance with a minor in Music Education under the tutelage of esteemed artist-teacher Daniel Pollack at the USC Thornton School of Music. Concurrently, Dr. Transky obtained the Masters in Russian Literature and Linguistics and presented lectures, seminars and classes on the works of Russian writers and composers. Svetlana’s research has led her to a collaboration with opera singer Dmitrii Nabokov on lieder set to poetry of his father, notable writer Vladimir Nabokov.
As a prize winner of the Michelstadt International Music Festival in Germany and Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, Svetlana has concertized as a soloist throughout Europe and the United States. Dr. Transky is in great demand as a chamber musician and a vocal coach, collaborating with various chamber ensembles, prominent instrumentalists and world-class vocalists. Her professional partnership includes collaborative work with Yehudi Menuhin, Rodion Shchedrin, and Frederica Von Stade. She has performed for Sundays Live – KUSC Radio program from LACMA and was a recording pianist for PBS-NOVA movie special Darwin’s Darkest Hour, shown on KCET. For several years, Dr. Transky was a pianist with the Synergy chamber ensemble and performed in the Recovered Voices series, founded by conductor James Conlon, and is an active member of the award-winning Enlightenment Music Series, dedicated to bringing high-caliber chamber music performances conjointly with Music Appreciation presentations.
During the summers, Dr. Transky joins the faculty of Montecito International Music Festival in California, where she conducts master classes, coaches chamber ensembles, performs in recitals and teaches individual lessons. For the past ten years Dr. Svetlana Transky was on the piano faculty at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, where she taught applied individual and group piano classes. Currently, Dr. Svetlana Transky runs a large private piano studio, and together with her husband composer Dominic Pietropaolo teaches successful Online Interactive Music Theory and Music Appreciation classes for all ages and levels.