Main Stage - Free, Advance Registration Required
About the Recital
Dvořák’s Poetical Tone Pictures, an evocative and imaginative set of thirteen pieces with programmatic titles, are unfortunately not very often played, even though the work is a fantastic cycle of character pieces for the piano; the pieces demonstrate Dvořák’s warm musical depictions and allusions to nature, mythology, folk song and dance, Czech history and culture, and of course his flowing melodies and unique harmonies. This recital will showcase Dvořák’s lesser known piano works in celebration of his 181st birthday!
About Margarita Rovenskaya
Pianist Margarita Rovenskaya has performed extensively in the US and abroad, with performances in Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Center, Zimmerli Museum, Ukrainian Museum, Teatro Machiavelli in Sicily, and Salmagundi Art Gallery, among others. Prizewinner of the WPTA Finland International Competition, Constantine the Great International Competition, American Music Talent Competition, Mary Smart International Concerto Competition, and Chopin Society Malaysia Competition, Margarita has also performed and studied internationally at festivals such as the Sicily International Piano Competition, Tel Hai Piano Masterclasses, Summit Music Festival, PianoSummer at New Paltz, Beethoven Institute at Mannes, and Round Top Festival Institute. Margarita performs in several chamber concert series as well as the annual Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival, which celebrates the music of avant-garde Ukrainian composers.
Dr. Rovenskaya especially enjoys chamber music, and has collaborated with internationally acclaimed artists, including concertmaster of Russian orchestra Moscow Virtuosi, Alexey Lundin. In summer of 2013, she performed in Vermont as part of the six-week Manchester Music Festival chamber series. In the summer of 2015, Margarita was Visiting Artist and Piano Fellow at the Heifetz. Her performances also include premieres of new music, such as the US premier of Frank Ticheli’s Clarinet Concerto, where she was the orchestral pianist, and Christopher Dietz’s premiere of Sonoromoro for chamber orchestra, piano and percussion. Dr. Rovenskaya is also a member of the Desdemona Ensemble, a chamber ensemble which commissions and performs music of living composers; composer Finola Merivale’s album, Tus, was recorded by Desdemona Ensemble and won Best Contemporary Classical Album this year. It features “Release”, a work for violin and piano, with Dr. Rovenskaya on piano.
Born in Ukraine, Margarita Rovenskaya began studying the piano at the age of six in Chicago. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at Oberlin Conservatory in May 2012, her Masters in Piano Studies at New York University in May 2014, and earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts at Rutgers University in 2022. Her teachers include Efrem Briskin, Peter Takacs, Eteri Andjaparidze, and Vladimir Valjarevic. Dr. Rovenskaya is currently based in New York City. She has served as Co-Adjunct Faculty at Rutgers University, Adjunct Piano Instructor at New York University, and is currently Head of the Piano Department at Newark School of the Arts as well as Piano Faculty at the Spence School.
The Makin Waves Song of the Week is "ICE SS" by the Central Jersey punk act Sally Draper.
