'Manuscripts Don't Burn' in LA and NYC

View with Images

Pianist Inna Faliks highlights new album and book in performances in LA and NYC

May 19: BroadStage (Santa Monica, CA) &
May 23: National Sawdust (Brooklyn, NY)

Recitals feature works written for Faliks by Clarice Assad, Maya Miro Johnson, and more

Pianist Inna Faliks highlights her forthcoming album Manuscripts Don't Burn (rel. May 17, 2024, Sono Luminus) and her new book with recitals in Southern California and New York City.  On May 19 at 2 pm, she performs at the BroadStage in Santa Monica, CA and on May 23 at 7:30 pm she performs at National Sawdust in Brooklyn. Tickets and program details below.

The program features many works featured on the new album, including the premiere of Mike Garson's "Psalm for Odesa" (written in tribute to the Ukrainian city in which she was raised), and works written for the pianist by Ljova, Veronika Krausas, and Maya Miro Johnson. Other program highlights include Beethoven's "Eroica" Variations alongside works by Rodoin Shchedrin, Chopin, Paganini, and Bach. 

The forthcoming album Mansucripts Don't Burn features five world premiere recordings alongside works by Schubert, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Fazil Say. Several of the selections on the album relate to a seminal novel of art censorship - Mikhail Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita"; and others speak to the pianists' homeland of Ukraine and her Jewish heritage.  

"I consider this very personal recording to be something of a mirror image to my memoir, as it intertwines the literal images from "Master and Margarita" with more autobiographical themes and layers," says the pianist who first read the book as a child growing up in Soviet Ukraine. "I took it with me when my parents and I immigrated to the U.S. Throughout the years, the book played a role in my life. My childhood best friend from Odesa reread the book in adulthood and decided to find me - we are now together for 20 years, with two kids."

The recitals also feature Inna Faliks reading excerpts from her recently published memoir The Weight in the Fingertips: A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage (Backbeat Books, October 2023). The memoir has been widely praised, most recently in the LA Review of Books. Anne Midgette (formerly of The Washington Post) writes "There are a lot of musician's memoirs out there; this one, about a piano prodigy turned professional, is a standout. Highly recommended."

Pianist Inna Faliks
Manuscripts Don't Burn in recital

MAY 19, 2024 at 2 PM
BroadStage (1310 11th St., Santa Monica, CA)
Tickets start at $30 and are available at BroadStage.org

MAY 23, 2024 at 7:30 PM
National Sawdust (8 North 6th St, Brooklyn, NY)
Tickets are $25 and are available at NationalSawdust.org

PROGRAM
Ljova Zhurbin: Sirota for piano and historical recording*      
Mike Garson: Psalm for Odessa (world premiere)*
J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor, Book 1
Rodion Shchedrin: Basso Ostinato                                 
Veronika Krausas: Have You Stopped Loving Me?*
Veronika Krausas: 14th on the Month of Nisan*
Maya Miro Johnson: Manuscripts Don't Burn*
Frederic Chopin: Polonaise-Fantasie
L.V. Beethoven: "Eroica" Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme
Paganini (arr. Liszt): La Campanella

*written for Inna Faliks

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.

Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Her discography includes Manuscripts Don't Burn (Sono Luminus, May 2024), which consists of world premiere recordings alongside 19th and 20th century works. Also in her catalogue: Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel (Navona), and all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs on MSR Classics.

In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, she is is head of Piano Studies at UCLA and is a critically acclaimed writer. Her memoir, Weight in the Fingertips (Backbeat Books) was published in October 2023, and her articles and essays have appeared in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.

New album from Inna Faliks: "Manuscripts Don't Burn"

View with Images

Pianist Inna Faliks releases new recording on May 17: Manuscripts Don't Burn

Features works written for Faliks by Clarice Assad, Ljova Zhurbin, Veronika Krausas, Maya Miro Johnson, and Mike Garson

Plus music by Fanny Mendelssohn, Fazil Say, and Schubert

Album is companion piece to Faliks' memoir Weight in the Fingertips (Backbeat Books, 2023)

"Inna Faliks is a superb concert pianist" – Berkshire Fine Arts

The pianist Inna Faliks’ new album, Manuscripts Don’t Burn, is released on May 17, 2024 on Sono Luminus. “It is my most personal album yet, with five premieres written for me in celebration of my favorite book, Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, my Ukrainian-Jewish heritage, my hometown of Odesa, and so much more,” says Faliks. "This collection of music speaks to my love of dialogue between music and words. The connections between text and sound here are not just literal but emotional, based on memory, intuition, dreams and hopes."

Master and Margarita is a seminal Russian novel of art censorship and dictatorship. Several of the works on the album are directly related to this book: Maya Miro Johnson's theatrical and extended techniques-filled "Manuscripts Don't Burn" (the phrase is a crucial line in the book) and the elegant, understated "Master and Margarita Suite" by Veronika Krausas. Clarice Assad's "Godai" for speaking pianist features a poem by Steve Schroeder depicting the same imagery of the "manuscripts don't burn" line. The lieder of Schubert transcribed for solo piano by Liszt alludes to the mythical and Faustian lore that is also in Master and Margarita: "Gretchen [Margarita] at the Spinning Wheel," a mystical love story "By the Sea," a monstrous Elf King and the death of a child in "Erlkonig." The rarely heard "Notturno" by Fanny Mendelssohn* connects to the story through the dark, impassioned character of Margarita.

The other works tie into the pianist's experiences and memories growing up Jewish in Ukraine. Fasil Say's "Black Earth"* takes the listener on a journey from Odesa across the Black Sea, while Mike Garson's "Psalm to Odesa" pulls from a well-known Odesan song and features improvisatory elements. "Voices" by Ljova Zhurbin features historical recordings of Jewish cantorial and klezmer music alongside Faliks' piano.

The recording is a mirror image to Faliks's newly-published memoir, The Weight in the Fingertips: A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage (Backbeat Books, rel. October 2023), as it intertwines the literal images from Master and Margarita with more autobiographical themes and layers. The memoir has been widely praised, most recently in the LA Review of Books. Anne Midgette (formerly of The Washington Post) writes "There are a lot of musician's memoirs out there; this one, about a piano prodigy turned professional, is a standout. Highly recommended."

* the works by Fanny Mendelssohn and Fazil Say are only available on the digital album

Pianist Inna Faliks

Manuscripts Don't Burn

Release date: May 17, 2024 | Sono Luminus (DSL-92275)
Note: physical CD (DSL-92259) does not include Fanny Mendelssohn & Fazil Say tracks

TRACK LISTING

Veronika Krausas (words by Mikhail Bulgakov, trans. Inna Faliks)
Master and Margarita Suite for Speaking Pianist^
[01] I. Time to Go – a Sarabande 1:37
[02] II. 14th of the Month of Nisan 3:06
[03] III. Night Streets of Moscow – a Polonaise 2:00
[04] IV. Yellow Flower Waltz 2:40
[05] V. Fantasia, “Have you stopped loving me?” 2:30
[06] VI. Behemoth’s Somersaults into Cognac – a Bagatelle 2:08
[07] VII. Listen to the Silence – Epilogue 2:330

Franz Schubert (arr. Franz Liszt)
[08] Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel) S. 558/8 4:30

Maya Miro Johnson (words by Mikhail Bulgakov, trans. Inna Faliks)
[09] Manuscripts Don’t Burn, for Speaking Pianist^ 6:59

Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn (digital album only)
[10] Notturno in G minor, H337 4:23

Franz Schubert (arr. Franz Liszt) 
[11] Erlkonig (Erlking)  S.558/4 4:43

[12] Am Meer (By the Sea) S. 560/4 4:37

Fazil Say (digital album only)
[13] Black Earth 7:06

Mike Garson
[14] A Psalm for Odesa^ 4:36

Ljova Zhurbin
Voices, Suite in Three Movements for piano and historical recordings^
[15] I. Sirota 6:51
[16] II. Alter(ed) Zhok 5:16
[17] III. Freydele 6:05

Clarice Assad (words by Steve Schroeder)
Godai, the Five Elements, for Speaking Pianist^
[18]I. Dry Bones – Wind 2:30
[19] II. Absence – Fire and Water 3:07
[20] III. Earth 2:01
[21] IV. Ascension-Sky 2:19

[22] Hero for piano solo 2:22

Total Time = 84:10

^ – signifies world premiere recording

ARTIST BIO

“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.

Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Her discography includes Manuscripts Don't Burn (Sono Luminus, May 2024), which consists of world premiere recordings alongside 19th and 20th century works. Also in her catalogue: Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel (Navona), and all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs on MSR Classics.

In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, she is is head of Piano Studies at UCLA and is a critically acclaimed writer. Her memoir, Weight in the Fingertips (Backbeat Books) was published in October 2023, and her articles and essays have appeared in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.

Pianist Inna Faliks: Insider Interview

The pianist Inna Faliks is gearing up for an action-packed year. Her forthcoming album Manuscripts Don’t Burn (Sono Luminus; rel. May 17, 2024) features world premiere recordings written for her by Clarice Assad, Mike Garson, Ljova Zhurbin, Maya Miro Johnson, and Veronika Krausas. Her memoir Weight in the Fingertips was released October 2023, and has been widely critically acclaimed, and this spring she performs the premiere of a piano concerto by Clarice Assad. We recently spoke to her about the forthcoming album, its connection to a cult Ukrainian novel, and more.

The centerpiece of the concept of your new album, Manuscripts Don’t Burn is the cult novel The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, which the album’s title work by Maya Miro Johnson is based on. What is the significance of the book to you? 

This book is about so many things, and has so many layers. It is, fundamentally, about the power of art to survive, transcend evil regimes, in this case Stalin's totalitarian murderous Soviet Union. It is about censorship, it is also a great love story, a retelling of Faust and the story of Christ, all in one book. It is a book that many Russian speakers are obsessed with.

I first read it at age 10 and brought it with me through immigration. It had been banned in the USSR, and my grandfather had typed it out on his typewriter, a "Samizdat" thing. I had memorized the book, because I read it so many times. It is also a burlesque, magnificently funny and whimsical. It, in some ways, continues Nikolai Gogol's literary tradition, as far as its fantasy elements go. Bulgakov was born in Ukraine, as, of course, was Gogol. 

When at 15, I had won the Illinois Young Performers Competition and played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, they made a short biographical clip about me , and in this clip,  I am reading the book out loud - and also playing Tchaikovsky Concerto # 1, 3rd movement, with Chicago Symphony.  

When my best friend from childhood, Misha, read the book as an adult, he remembered me. That made him want to find me. And now we are married and live in LA with our two kids. When my Mom had a stroke and I flew, during Covid, to help her regain language and movement skills (this was before we found out that she had brain cancer), I read the book to her out loud and she read it back to me.  

A film version of The Master and Margarita will be released in the US year. What do you make of that timing? 

It is completely coincidental but delightful. I had the luck to be at a screening and love what the director Michael Lockshin had done with the film - I think it is the first truly successful screen adaptation of the very complicated material. And, of course, politically it makes a stand. As the book did. 

How does the work by Johnson tie into the overall program of the new album?

It complements the other Master and Margarita piece on the disc - the Suite by Veronika Krausas. Maya's piece is wild, it imagines Margarita, the muse of the Master, in the moment that she has become a witch and is about to meet Woland the devil. The piece uses a lot of extended techniques and has me whisper a phrase from the novel, in Russian. In contrast, Veronika's Suite plays on the Baroque dance suite. It is very elegant, understated, extremely beautiful and evocative, powerful in its contained grace.

You recently premiered a piano concerto by Clarice Assad, called “Lilith” at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Lilith is a primordial she-demon, and “The Master and Margarita” is essentially a retelling of Faust. Am I seeing a throughline? (Devil in literature, perhaps? Or, Famous Devils I have known?)

What can I say. Devils are fun! It somehow is a coincidence too, Lilith and Master and Margarita. In the novel, Satan actually saves the main character, the master. And, as Goethe says, "I am that power that always wishes for evil but ends up doing good." Bulgakov really plays on this phrase.

Pianist Inna Faliks premieres concerto by Clarice Assad

View as webpage

Pianist Inna Faliks premieres piano concerto by Clarice Assad in Washington, D.C.

Program celebrating International Women's Day also features Clara Schumann's piano concerto

March 10 concert at National Gallery of Art features Faliks as soloist with Inscape Chamber Orchestra

On March 10 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the internationally renowned Ukrainian-American pianist and author Inna Faliks performs the world premiere of Lilith, a new piano concerto by Grammy-nominated composer Clarice Assad.

Written for Faliks, Lilith refers to the biblical character who was considered a primordial she-demon. Each of the movement titles (Spellbinder, Forbidden Charms, and Unchained) outline Lilith's iconic phases and sensuality. On the same program, Faliks plays the Piano Concerto by Clara Schumann.

The concert on March 10 at 3 pm falls within days of International Women's Day. Admission is free; details on the National Gallery of Art's website. Students from regional youth ensembles will join the Grammy-nominated Inscape Chamber Orchestra, led by Richard Scerbo, for this world premiere performance.

Faliks performs regional premieres of Lilith in Durango, CO (April 20) and Farmington, NM (April 21) with the San Juan Symphony and conductor Thomas Heuser.

Calendar Listing

National Gallery of Art presents

Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 3 pm

Inna Faliks with the Inscape Chamber Orchestra
World premiere of Lilith by Clarice Assad

Inna Faliks, piano
Robert Scerbo, conductor
Inscape Chamber Orchestra

with students from the DC Youth Orchestra Program and Washington Musical Pathways Initiative

National Gallery of Art 
(West Building, Main Floor - West Garden Court)
6th St and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

PROGRAM

Fanny Mendelssohn Overture in C Major
Clara Schumann Piano Concerto in A Minor
Clarice Assad A Retirada
Clarice Assad Lilith, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (World Premiere)

Coming Up

• February 18 (Los Angeles, CA): Four-hand Mahler with Daniel Schlosberg at St. James in-the-City Episcopal Church

• March 2 (Chapel Hill, NC): Recital at UNC Chapel Hill

• March 10 (Washington, D.C.): Lilith Concerto world premiere by Clarice Assad at National Gallery of Art (written for Ms. Faliks)

• March 22 (Torrance, CA): "Polanaise-Fantasie: The Story of a Pianist" recital at El Camino College Center for the Arts

• April 5 (New Orleans, LA): Recital at Tulane University Piano Series

• April 20 (Durango, CO): Lilith Concerto with San Juan Symphony led by Thomas Heuser

• April 21 (Farmington, NM): Lilith Concerto with San Juan Symphony led by Thomas Heuser

• May 19 (Santa Monica, CA): Recital/book celebration at Broad Stage

• May 23 (Brooklyn, NY): Recital/book celebration at National Sawdust

• June 8 (Healdsburg, CA): "Polanaise-Fantasie: The Story of a Pianist" recital at the 222

“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.

Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Her discography includes Manuscripts Don't Burn (Sono Luminus, May 2024), which consists of world premiere recordings alongside 19th and 20th century works. Also in her catalogue: Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel (Navona), and all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs on MSR Classics.

In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, she is is head of Piano Studies at UCLA and is a critically acclaimed writer. Her memoir, Weight in the Fingertips: A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage (Backbeat Books) was published in October 2023, and her articles and essays have appeared in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.

From coast to coast with pianist Inna Faliks

View Release with Images

Ukrainian-American Pianist Inna Faliks' 2022 Fall Season

Highlights include performances of "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" and auto-biographical recital "Polonaise-Fantasie: the Story of a Pianist"

Performances at Lincoln Center, Evanston Symphony, Red Rocks Music Festival and more

"A pianist of the highest order" - Berkshire Fine Arts

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
October 21 at 7:00 pm | Lincoln Center (New York, NY)
October 30 at 2:30 pm | Pick-Staiger Concert Hall (Evanston, IL)

In October, pianist Inna Faliks performs Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" in two appearances. On October 21, she joins the Pegasus Orchestra and conductor Karén Hakobyan at Lincoln Center. She is one of five stellar pianists  in a program that also includes all of Rachmaninoff's works for piano and orchestra. On October 30, she joins the Evanston Symphony to perform the work with conductor Lawrence Eckerling. 

Polonaise-Fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist
November 13 at 7:00 pm | The Sofia, Home of B Street Theatre (Sacramento, CA)
November 20 at 4:00 pm | Bethel Lutheran Church (Madison, WI)

"Polonaise-Fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist" is the hybrid of a piano recital and an autobiographical monologue, and Inna Faliks considers it the most personal project she has ever done. She says: “It is my hope that, in sharing this story, I offer audiences a glimpse into a life of a performing musician, as well as into my very personal story – the story that makes me the artist I am today.” Ms. Faliks recorded the project as an album on Delos in 2017. 

Red Rocks Music Festival: "Mainly Beethoven"
December 4 at 3:00 pm | Steele Indian School Park (Phoenix, AZ)

Ms. Faliks joins violinist Liba Schacht (Roosevelt University) and cellist John Sharp (Chicago Symphony) for a program of chamber music at Red Rocks Music Festival in Phoenix. They'll perform the Southwest premiere of Veronika Krausas' "Master & Margarita Suite" alongside Fanny Mendelssohn's "Notturno" and the Archduke Trio and Appassionata Sonata by Beethoven. 

Forthcoming musical memoir

Inna Faliks has announced that Weight in the Fingertips will be published by Globe Pequot on June 15, 2023. The book is "a memoir of experiences growing up in Ukraine and immigrating to the States, becoming a musician, the adventures of a musical life, the trials of being a woman in a male dominated field, a paean to teachers and mainly a love affair with the music itself."

Recent Recordings

Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel (Navona NV6352)
Listen on Spotify
Purchase album

The Schumann Project, Volume 1 (MSR Classics)
Listen on Spotify
Purchase album

Biography

“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.

Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Besides Reimagine, her discography includes all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs for MSR Classics, and the Master and Margarita project, featuring three world premieres on Sono Luminus.

In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, Faliks is a respected educator and is head of Piano Studies at UCLA. She is also a published writer, with articles and essays appearing in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, among other media outlets. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.

July in NYC and Newport: Pianist Inna Faliks in recital

Ukrainian-American Pianist Inna Faliks in recital at Brooklyn's Bargemusic July 3 & Newport Classical Music Festival July 7

Programs feature works by Clara Schumann, Ravel, and more

This July, the Ukrainian-American Pianist Inna Faliks brings the high romance of Clara Schumann's Piano Sonata in G minor and the colorful impressionism of Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit to two recital programs on the East Coast.

The pianist returns to Brooklyn's floating concert hall for Bargemusic (Brooklyn, NY) on July 3, 2022 at 4 pm. Pairing the Schumann with Ravel, the program marks Ms. Faliks' only NYC appearance this Summer.

This season, Ms. Faliks has performed the works works in recitals across the country. In her only New York appearance this summer, she brings the two pianistic masterpieces together on this compelling program.

On July 7 at 7:30 pm she performs the same repertoire at Newport Classical Music Festival, adding music by Timo Andres, Paola Prestini, and Billy Childs that she commissioned and recorded on her highly acclaimed album "Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel".

Ms. Faliks recorded Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit on her debut album "Sound of Verse" (2009), and her performance of Clara Schumann's G minor Sonata is on her 2021 album "The Schumann Project, Vol. 1".

Calendar Listing

Masterworks Series: Clara Schumann & Ravel

July 3, 2022 at 4 pm

Bargemusic
1 Water St.
Brooklyn, NY

Tickets and details available here

PROGRAM

Clara Schumann: Piano Sonata in G minor
Maurice Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit

---

Newport Classical Music Festival
July 7, 2022 at 7:30 pm

Castle Hill Inn
590 Ocean Ave.
Newport, RI

Tickets and details available here

PROGRAM

Clara Schumann: Piano Sonata in G minor
Maurice Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit
Paola Prestini: Variations on a Spell
Timo Andres: Old Ground
Billy Childs: Pursuit

---

“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.

Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Besides Reimagine, her discography includes all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs for MSR Classics, and the Master and Margarita project, featuring three world premieres on Sono Luminus.

In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, Faliks is a respected educator and is head of Piano Studies at UCLA. She is also a published writer, with articles and essays appearing in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, among other media outlets. Her musical memoir, “Weight in the Fingertips,” will be out in 2023, published by Globe Pequot. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.

June 22: Pianist Inna Faliks at The Wallis and beyond

June 22: Ukrainian-American Pianist Inna Faliks performs works by Billy Childs, Timo Andres, Paola Prestini and more at The Wallis

Program features first live performance of critically acclaimed album Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel in its entirety

Plus, July 3 recital in Brooklyn and performances in Flagstaff and Madison

A long-awaited recital, the Ukrainian-American pianist Inna Faliks comes to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on June 22, 2022 at 7:30 pm to perform her internationally acclaimed album Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel in full for the first time.

The program features the live premieres of nine imaginative and rich new works for the piano commissioned by Ms. Faliks, alongside masterpieces by Beethoven and Ravel. Nine contemporary composers, including Paola Prestini, Billy Childs, Timo Andres, and six on UCLA's faculty - Richard Danielpour, Peter Golub, Ian Krouse, David Lefkowitz, Mark Carlson and Tamir Hendelman - were commissioned to craft responses to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Bagatelles, op. 126 and Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit.

When Ms. Faliks asked Billy Childs to reimagine Ravel’s “Scarbo” (from Gaspard de la Nuit), he latched on to the image of Scarbo as an evil goblin. “It turned into - in my mind - a sadly familiar American storyline, in which a Black man is being pursued,” said Childs. His composition “Pursuit” brings out the urgency of the moment, simultaneously crafting a new work as fiendishly difficult to play as Ravel’s notorious finger-buster.

In this homage to Beethoven and Ravel, the Ukrainian-born American pianist ties together three centuries of music and a range of social commentary and interpretations with her acclaimed artistry and impressive technique. The entire program is featured on her widely critically acclaimed album Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel (Navona NV6352; release date June 11, 2021), which features the world premiere recordings of the commissioned works.

Tickets for the June 22 concert at The Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center (9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd.) in Beverly Hills, CA are available at TheWallis.org.

In addition to the June 22 recital at The Wallis, Pianist Inna Faliks can be found across the country this Summer:

• June 11 & 12 at Bach Dancing and Dynamite Festival (Madison, WI): Inna Faliks performs chamber music by Roberto Pena, Brahms, Mozart, and Beethoven alongside solo selections from her album Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel.

• June 19 at Flagstaff Piano Festival (Flagstaff, AZ): Ms. Faliks performs a solo piano recital.

• July 3 at Barge Music (Brooklyn, NY): Ms. Faliks returns to Brooklyn's floating music hall to perform Clara Schumann's passionate and rarely heard G minor Piano Sonata and Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit.

Calendar Listing

Pianist Inna Faliks
Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel
June 22, 2022 at 7:30 pm

The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA
Tickets available here

PROGRAM

Peter Golub: Bagatelle
Ludwig van Beethoven: Bagatelles opus 126: Andante con moto, Cantabile e compiacevole
Tamir Hendelman: Bagatelle
Beethoven: Bagatelle # 2, Allegro
Richard Danielpour: Bagatelle
Beethoven: Bagatelle # 3. Andante, Cantabile e grazioso
Ian Krouse: Etude 2a - ‘ad fugam’
Beethoven: Bagatelle # 4, Presto
Mark Carlson: Sweet Nothings
Beethoven: Bagatelle # 5. Quasi allegretto
David Lefkowitz: Bagatelle
Beethoven: Bagatelle # 6. Presto, cut time then Andante amabile e con moto

Pause

Paola Prestini: Variations on a Spell (response to Ondine by Ravel)
Timo Andres: Old Ground (response to Le Gibet by Ravel)
Billy Childs: Pursuit (response to Scarbo by Ravel)
Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit Maurice Ravel

“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.

Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Besides Reimagine, her discography includes all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs for MSR Classics, and the Master and Margarita project, featuring three world premieres on Sono Luminus.

In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, Faliks is a respected educator and is head of Piano Studies at UCLA. She is also a published writer, with articles and essays appearing in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, among other media outlets. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.

Insider Interview with pianist Inna Faliks

Pianist Inna Faliks’ new album Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel features her performance of Beethoven's Bagatelles, op. 126, alongside works she commissioned by Paola Prestini, Timo Andres, Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, and half a dozen others to respond musically to Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit and the Bagatelles. In our insider interview, we spoke with her about the album, the commissioning process, and connecting the past with the future.

How did you get the idea to commission composers using these particular works as a jumping off point?

I wanted to create bridges between the past and the present, but without making it feel as though the composers were being asked to recreate something or to make something that exhibits particular reverence. The works I chose were meant to be used as a jumping-off point, an inspiration. The Beethoven year was around the corner, when I started planning this, four years ago – and nothing seemed more appropriate than the Bagatelles opus 126. They are his last masterpiece for the piano, and have so much richness, whimsy, transcendence, humor, experimentation – in tiny four minute works!

As the project expanded, I wanted to also include larger works, and turned towards Gaspard de la Nuit by Maurice Ravel. The triptych itself was based on three poems, so, with my Music/Words series background, it seemed like a natural fit for this project. Gaspard was on my first recording, Sound of Verse, on MSR Classics, and is one of the staples of my repertoire. I thought it would be a fantastic challenge and inspiration for the great composers whom I asked to take part of the project. There is so much in these poems and in this music, and I knew these composers would jump in and treat the material as seed of an idea. Indeed, I feel they created profound new works for the piano repertoire.

What fascinates you about this idea of connecting the past with the future via compositions that are inspired by other works?

I love the variation form. I also love to draw connections between different artforms and have done this for a big portion of my performance career – poetry with music, theatre with monologue, etc. To me, this type of connection feels inevitable. It helps the audience make aural, sensory, literary connections between then and now, and also hopefully erases this feeling of “old” music vs. “new” music. It’s all living, breathing music – and composers who write or wrote it were and are living, breathing human beings. Sometimes we tend to forget that.

How has your understanding of the original works been informed or changed by these new works? ie, did you gain a deeper insight after this process?

I tried not to impose my interpretation or view of Beethoven or Ravel onto the new pieces, but rather approach them with total freshness. This made for an interesting dialogue. It was fun finding clues, in character, form, color, to the originals but I wouldn’t say that I tried to play the new Bagatelles like the Beethoven Bagatelles. I tried to capture the individual voices of all the composers.

Both Timo Andres and Billy Childs found underlying themes surrounding race in the original works that informed their compositions. As the person who commissioned these works, how involved were you were throughout the process? What kinds of conversations were you having as the pieces were being written?

I let the composers do what they wanted and stayed out of the process, just waiting for the completed works. I didn’t want to influence or pressure them in any way. Only when the pieces were near finished did we meet and go through them, and sometimes changed small details.

The subject matter from Timo and Billy was coincidental and therefore much more moving than if we had actually planned it that way with both of them. Both just “went there{“, because they could not NOT go there. And I found that to be overwhelmingly powerful.

You commissioned six UCLA composers – in other words, six of your colleagues. Tell us about the similarities and/or differences of the composers in this group.

These are six phenomenal voices – and all are so different. Peter Golub writes for film, primarily, but also has lots of great stand along piano music. His Bagatelle had so much playfulness – a perfect opener for the album. The piece begins, then goes off course, then back on track, then changes its mind. It’s vivid and full of whimsy, just like the entire cycle of Bagatelles.

Tamir Hendelman’s Bagatelle is jagged and jazzy – he is a jazz pianist and composer! It’s also lyrical, and takes the Beethoven idea to far out places while keeping the buzzy energy alive.

Richard Danielpour and I have collaborated a lot. He has a special love for the piano, and is a wonderful pianist himself. I premiered his Bagatelle cycle two seasons ago, with this Bagatelle as part of the cycle, and had my UCLA students play all his Preludes. In the coming seasons, I will be recording his Bagatelle cycles, along with a premiere of a Variations set written for me. His writing is sensuous, rich, gorgeous, very pianistic – it feels so good to play. This particular piece delves into much more dark realms than the Beethoven but, like the Beethoven, has elements of transcendence.

Ian Krouse wrote probably the most difficult piece of the set – it is a Fugue and an Etude, masterfully crafted, and just really wild, jagged and cool. Like the Beethoven, there are two sections that alternate – energetic and driven; and cosmic, quiet, and dreamlike. Ian’s harmonies reminded me of his Armenian Requiem, an absolutely incredible choral work he wrote a few years ago.

Mark Carlson’s piece is dreamy, beautiful, shining – it’s such a pleasure to play. It seamlessly weaves into the Beethoven which is sweetly innocent.

Finally, David Lefkowitz kept the form of Beethoven’s original, but his harmonic language is so surprising and interesting that it feels entirely new. It works wonderfully as a pairing with the last Bagatelle, and the ending to the group.

What do you hope listeners will take away from this album?

I hope they will fall in love with the new works like I did. I also hope they can hear Beethoven, recorded many times already, in a new way. Finally, I hope they seek out my Gaspard de la Nuit recording and hear it as well!

Pianist Inna Faliks: “Reimagine” released June 11

Pianist Inna Faliks brings together some of the most accomplished composers of past and present in Reimagine Beethoven and Ravel, to be released on June 11, 2021

Faliks performs commissioned works by Billy Childs, Timo Andres, Paola Prestini, Richard Danielpour and others alongside Beethoven's Bagatelles Op. 126

Billy Childs’ “Pursuit”, inspired by current events,
released as a single on May 28

When pianist Inna Faliks asked Billy Childs to reimagine Ravel’s “Scarbo” (from Gaspard de la Nuit), he latched on to the image of Scarbo as an evil goblin. “It turned into - in my mind - a sadly familiar American storyline, in which a Black man is being pursued,” said Childs. His composition “Pursuit” brings out the urgency of the moment, simultaneously crafting a new work as fiendishly difficult to play as Ravel’s notorious finger-buster. “Pursuit” will be released as a single on May 28, 2021 on Navona Records.

The versatile Faliks also commissioned Timo Andres, Paola Prestini, Richard Danielpour and a half dozen others to compose responses to Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit and Beethoven's Bagatelles, op. 126. The world premiere recordings, alongside her performance of the Bagatelles, are collected on her new album, Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel (Navona NV6352; release date June 11, 2021).

In this homage to Beethoven and Ravel, the Ukrainian-born American pianist ties together three centuries of music and a range of social commentary and interpretations with her acclaimed artistry and impressive technique.

Faliks chose Bagatelles Op. 126, the last work that Beethoven wrote for piano, as a jumping off point. "This group of six pieces fascinates me with its childlike wonder, wit, moodiness, charm, rhythmic energy, transcendence, and experimentation," wrote Faliks in the album's liner notes.

She commissioned six of her colleagues at UCLA, where she is head of piano studies: Peter Golub, Tamir Hendelman, Richard Danielpour, Ian Krouse, Mark Carlson, and David Lefkowitz. Each composed a response to a single bagatelle. "Interspersing the new Bagatelles with the original felt like the most organic way to present them," said Faliks. "I hope that the emerging dialogue between then and now highlights the unique character of the original while forming a wholly new sonic adventure."

Expanding the scope of the project, Ms. Faliks turned to an iconic work - Gaspard de la Nuit - which she chose for Ravel's use of rich experimentation and sonic contrasts, as well as its vast pianistic challenges, all traits she sought in the responses. Each of the composers was inspired by a particular aspect of Ravel's music, which itself was inspired by poetry by Aloysius Bertrand.

These three composers - Paola Prestini, Billy Childs, and Timo Andres - are all recognized for their works that are relevant beyond the notes, connecting to current events and societal issues. In addition to Childs’ “Scarbo: Pursuit”, Timo Andres’ “Le Gibet: Old Ground" examines how Bertrand's poem romanticizes the image of a hanged corpse at sunset, which Timo chose to end with a fragment of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit". Paola Prestini's "Ondine: Variations on a Spell" similarly draws inspiration from Ravel's music and Betrand's poetry.

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel
Navona Records (NV6352)
Release date: June 11, 2021

Inna Faliks, piano

Program notes and track list

View Inna Faliks' Digital Press Kit

Request a copy of this CD

---

“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.

Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Besides Reimagine, her discography includes all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs for MSR Classics, and the Master and Margarita project, featuring three world premieres on Sono Luminus.

In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, Faliks is a respected educator and is head of Piano Studies at UCLA. She is also a published writer, with articles and essays appearing in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, among other media outlets. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist, and is represented by John Gingrich Management.