...with lovely, daring phrasing she created a passionate glow and a contagious espressivo. 

                                                                                                                                                                                              Fyens Stiftstidende 

 

                                                            ...brilliantly convincing. There is greatness, sonority, and breadth in her music. 

                                                                                                                                                                                              Fyens Stiftstidende

 

Exploring new music and lesser-known repertoire mark much of violinist Pia Liptak’s current performing work. She has been praised as "an extraordinarily good interpreter of contemporary music."  WIth Japanese koto-player, Ryuko Mizutani, she formed Duo vio-LINK-oto, a collaboration that produced a number of new compositions written and dedicated to this ensemble. The duo appear together on three CDs, "Vista", "Ice Flosers", and "Taking the Scarlet."  In 2009, she founded the chamber orchestra Cordancia with oboist Kathleen Suher. Pia serves as the concertmaster and is co-artistic director with Kathleen. This ensemble is dedicated to vibrant, rarely performed repertoire from all eras. Pia is also currently the concertmaster of the University of Rochester Symphony Orchestra and teaches violin and chamber music at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance.

 

                                                            Through her sensitive and beautiful music making she is capable of continuously capturing her audience. 

                                                                                                                                                                                              Fyns Amts Avis

EDUCATION

Pia earned two graduate Diploma degrees as a double major in violin and piano at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in her native Odense in Denmark. She also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in violin performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music, graduating in 1992. Among her teachers were Catherine Tait, Palle Heichelmann, Arthur Feldthusen, and Rosalind Bevan. During the time of her studies, she attended master classes throughout Europe, including the Lake District Summer Music in England, L’Academia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, Die Hochschule für Music in Vienna, Austria, and string programs at the Meadowmount (New York), and Encore (Ohio) schools. Pia had masterclasses with and was coached by artists including Sylvia Rosenberg, Arve Tellefsen, Chilingirian String Quartet, and The Israeli Trio. She spent one full year in Oslo, Norway, studying with the renowned pianist Robert Riefling, sponsored in part by the Danish-Norwegian Foundation.

 

                                                           When Pia plays Bach one suddenly becomes aware of relationships between form and the composer's                                                                           expressive imagination.                                                                                      BCN. Amts Avisen

 

PREVIOUS PERFORMANCE

While living in Rochester, Pia has worked in a number of collaborations, including the Liptak-Beaudette Duo with pianist Sylvie Beaudette, and the Legno Duo with violinist Margaret  Leenhouts, a Hochstein faculty trio with Kathleen Kemp and Doleen Hood, and she has been much involved with the new music scene. The Liptak-Beaudette Duo’s activities focussed upon music by Scandinavian and Canadian composers featured in the series “Nordic Harmonies”. The group also has an extensive repertoire of American music. Legno Duo presented a wide range of repertoire from Baroque to contemporary music often flexibly expanding the instrumentation to quartet and quintet combinations. 

 

Prior to her relocation in the USA in 1998, Pia served as the concertmaster of the Danish string ensemble Den Fynske Sinfonietta and was a member of the Odense Symphony Orchestra, the Sønderjyllands Symphony Orchestra, the Harlequin Ensemble, and a founding member of Trio la Corda. She has performed extensively with a large variety of chamber music ensembles working with standard chamber music repertoire, music for violin and organ, Baroque music with period instruments, and contemporary music; she has appeared as a soloist with orchestra; and frequently performed as a piano accompanist. Her performances have included concerts in Italy (Rome), Scandinavia, Poland, England, Germany, Russia (Moscow and St. Petersburg), Spain, Minnesota (St. Paul), California (San Francisco), and throughout New York State.

 

                                                           … quite uncompromising music making. 

                                                                                                                                                                                              Fyens Stiftstidende

TEACHING

The richness of interchange between performing and teaching has always been an essential key in Pia’s work. For more than three decades, she has been teaching both privately and at music institutions that include several years at the Odense Music School. She is currently a faculty member at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance. Pia has presented lectures and workshops at colleges and conferences, and performed in schools encouraging an understanding of music among children of all ages. On many occasions, she has had the opportunity to adjudicate youth competitions including the Steinway Festival in Odense, the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competitions, the University of Rochester Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competitions, and the SUNY Geneseo’s Young Artists Competition. She has also served as the administrator of concerts and public relations at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music.

 

                                                           She brings a wider vision to her field by her many intellectual pursuits.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Catherine Tait

AWARDS AND HONORS

Among many grants and honors, Pia has received support from the Danish Cultural Ministry and State Music Council, the Rochester Arts & Cultural Council/New York Foundation for the Arts, the Chapin Grant, the Knud Højgaards Fond, the Augustinus Fond, the Jacob Gade Travel Stipend, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Denmark-America Fond. At 16, she received first prize at the Berlingske Music Competition in Copenhagen. On three occasions, she was granted month-long stays for research projects at San Cataldo in Southern Italy, a center for Danish scientists and artists.

 

                                                           … a skillful performer, a thorough scholar and an imaginative and sensitive artist. 

                                                                                                                                                                                              Catherine Tait

 

Raised in Denmark, with some years spent in Switzerland, Pia’s travels and studies in Europe and the USA has included extended time in Norway and Italy. She now resides in Rochester, New York, with her husband, composer David Liptak.

 

                                                           She played with “unheard-of” effect and strength. She sings on her violin with constantly varied colors of                                                                      sound. The first movement … was performed with a very beautifully played elegiac melody, and it developed -                                                            after robust dance rhythms - into a great liberated song, fresh and unsentimentally played. She gave great                                                                  humoristic effect to the second movement that grew to almost infernal turmoil… It is something vivid,                                                                        varied, and very alive that characterizes her playing, securing that the audience is always captivated. 

                                                                                                                                                                                              Fyens Stiftstidende