PIA LIPTAK
 

Violinist Pia Liptak has been described as an imaginative and sensitive artist who brings a wider vision to her field by her many intellectual pursuits. She has performed as a soloist, chamber and orchestra musician in Europe and the United States.

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Exploring contemporary music and lesser-known repertoire mark much of Pia Liptak’s performing work. Through her work with living composers, she has commissioned music and new works have been dedicated to her. Her collaboration with Japanese koto-player, Ryuko Mizutani, in Duo vio-LINK-oto produced three recordings for violin and koto with music written for this ensemble. The duo’s CDs include Taking the Scarlet and Ice Flowers. In addition, Liptak is part of the recording Stars.Stories.Song, a CD featuring music for voice and instrumental ensemble by faculty composers at Eastman School of Music. Her most recent CD, “Reflections” (2024/Centaur), was performed with pianist Yi-Wen Chang, presenting American music including her own compositions. 

 

While living in Rochester, NY, Pia Liptak has collaborated with many performers and ensembles. For 17 years, she served as the concertmaster for the University of Rochester Symphony Orchestra and, in 2009, she co-founded Cordancia Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to rarely-performed music intersecting with more familiar classical repertoire from all eras. Pia is the concertmaster and former artistic director of this ensemble. Cordancia was, in 2016, awarded second prize in the national competition, The American Prize, for the orchestra’s innovative programming.

 

Pia Liptak is known for her thematic programming. As the violinist in Liptak-Beaudette Duo, Pia performed extensively with pianist Sylvie Beaudette. The duo’s series Nordic Harmonies and Americana for violin and piano focused on music by Scandinavian, Canadian and American composers. With a variety of performers she has presented concerts with contemporary music including the program Violin Plus-Violin with a Pulse. 

 

In Denmark, Pia was a member of the Odense Symphony Orchestra and the concertmaster of the Fynske Sinfonietta. She was also on the faculty at the Odense Music School and the concert manager at The Carl Nielsen Academy of Music. Solo performances with orchestra have included concerts throughout Denmark, in Rochester, and on a tour of Poland.

 

The interchange between performing and teaching has always been a vital part of Dr. Liptak’s work. For nearly two decades, she has been on the faculty of The Hochstein School where she teaches violin and chamber music. At Hochstein, she founded the adult student string orchestra HochStrings in 2012, she was the co-chair of the string department for ten years, and similarly, the coach for the string section of the Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Liptak was the 2019 recipient of the Hochstein Faculty Service Award. She has adjudicated youth competitions including the Steinway Festival in Odense, the concerto competitions for Rochester Philharmonic Youth Symphony Orchestra, the UR Symphony Orchestra, and the SUNY Geneseo’s Young Artists Competition.

 

Wishing to share her interest in contemporary music with her students, Pia commissioned and published, with a colleague, a collection of new pieces, Woods, Water, Wonder, written by young composers for young violinists and pianists. She has also published her own compositions including a set of piano piano pieces and "Four Haiku" for violin and piano.

 

Among many grants and honors, Pia has received support from the Danish Cultural Ministry, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Chapin Grant, the Knud Højgaards Fond, the Augustinus Fond, the Jacob Gade Travel Stipend, and the Denmark-America Fond. 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.