(WATCHUNG, NJ) -- Award-winning pianist, recording artist and educator Sophia Agranovich will perform a solo recital, sponsored by the Watchung Arts Center, on Saturday, June 4 at 8:00pm. The program will feature Fantasie in F-Sharp Minor (Sonate ecossaise), Études and other works by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Liszt, Schubert/Liszt and Debussy.
Internationally acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator, Sophia Agranovich is “a bold, daring pianist in the tradition of the Golden Age Romantics…A tigress of the keyboard” - Fanfare. Her performances are captivating audiences by the “orison of uncommon beauty” - Audiophile, “the ideal balance she achieves between the intellectual and the emotional” - Fanfare, “interpretation that dares to be different”, “magnificent shading and superior musicianship” - American Record Guide.
A Steinway Artist, Ms. Agranovich has performed in USA, Europe, Israel, and Canada. Recently she played solo concerts at the Pennautier Festival and Juan-les-Pins in France and was invited to China. Among her venues are Avery Fisher Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium and Paul Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Steinway Hall, and Bargemusic, all in New York City, Salle Cortot in Paris, Ehrbarsaal in Vienna. Ms. Agranovich has collaborated with prominent musicians and members of the major orchestras.
Tickets are $25 and available for purchase online and at the show. The Watchung Arts Center is located at 18 Stirling Road in Watchung, New Jersey.
A native of Ukraine, Sophia Agranovich won the Ukrainian Young Artists Competition—now Mykola Lysenko International Competition--at 10, being the youngest participant. Her concerts were broadcasted on national TV and radio stations since she was 6. Her teachers were Anna Stolarevich and Alexander Edelmann, peers of Vladimir Horowitz in the class of Felix Blumenfeld and disciples of Heinrich Neuhaus. At 15, Ms. Agranovich entered the Juilliard School in New York where she studied with legendary professors Sascha Gorodnitzki and Nadia Reisenberg. Ms. Agranovich earned Bachelor and Master Degrees from the Juilliard, holding full scholarship and a Fellowship teaching Piano Minor at Juilliard, and won a First Prize in the Bergen Philharmonic Competition. Ms. Agranovich was working towards her Doctorate at the Columbia University, but deferred that pursuit to raise a family.
Sophia Agranovich is an esteemed pedagogue, lecturer, master class clinician, adjudicator, and is a recipient of numerous teaching awards. Her students are consistently winning top prizes in regional, national and international competitions and are performing at prestigious venues. Ms. Agranovich is the voting member of NARAS, is listed in ‘Who’s Who in America’ and ‘Who’s Who in the World’, active member of various professional music organizations, Artistic Director of classical music series at the Watchung Arts Center and Program Chair of Music Educators Association of New Jersey.
The Watchung Arts Center (WAC) thrives in historic Watchung in Somerset County, NJ. The nonprofit, volunteer-run Center excels in cultivating an eclectic mix of professional and emerging artists in the performing and visual arts. Quality works in fine arts, exciting music, and comedy events are presented to enthusiastic audiences.
Appreciation of painting, photography, and music from classical to folk to jazz to coffee house, comedy, theater, and mind/body arts is fostered through classes, workshops, and performances. All are structured to catch and expand the interest of youngsters of an early age to seniors of any age.
