Russian Performers Highlight MSMTA Convention at SU

SALISBURY, MD---Russian performers Anna Ouspenskaya and Miron Yampolsky highlight the Maryland State Music Teachers Association’s fall convention at Salisbury University Saturday, November 1. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. in the Great Hall of Holloway Hall.

A pianist who made her Kennedy Center debut in February, Ouspenskaya comes from a family of professional musicians. Her father was a principal conductor of the Yaroslavl Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, for which her mother played violin. Ouspenskaya debuted with the orchestra at age 6 ½, performing Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D Major.

After earning her master’s at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1989, she made her first trip to the United States in 1991. She won second prize in the Bach International Piano Competition in Washington, D.C., and was a finalist at the Bach International Piano Competition in Germany. She released her first compact disc in 1995. Another followed this summer.

She recently debuted with the Einstein Symphony Orchestra in New York, performing Saint-Saens’ Concerto No. 4 for Piano. Ouspenskaya resides in Reston, VA, teaches at Levine School of Music and is pursuing her doctorate at the Catholic University of America.

Yampolsky studied cello with the legendary Mstislav Rostropovich for 16 years. After earning one of the top prizes at the International Chamber Music Competition in Munich, Germany, he performed extensively as an orchestral soloist. After leaving the USSR for Israel, he soloed with the Kol Israel and Haffa symphony orchestras.

He debuted in New York to rave reviews at Alice Tully Hall and has since performed with many groups including the Baltimore Symphony and Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. He was chosen to perform the world premiere of Herman Berlinsky’s Sonfonia No. 10 for Violoncello and Organ in the Washington Cathedral and later repeated the performance in New York and San Francisco. He also received the Villa Lobos Memorial Medal for his efforts in promoting the composer’s music in the United States.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Music, Office of Cultural Affairs and Museum Programs and MSMTA, the concert is free and the public is cordially invited. For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.