PIA LIPTAK
 

Violinist Pia Liptak, an imaginative and sensitive artist who brings a wider vision to her field by her many intellectual pursuits, has performed in Europe and the United States. She holds diplomas in violin and piano from the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music, Denmark, completing, as a Fulbright student, her MM and DMA in violin from the Eastman School.

Exploring contemporary and less performed music marks much of Pia Liptak’s performing work. Her collaboration with Japanese koto-player Ryuko Mizutani produced three CDs with new music, including works written for their Duo vio-LINK-oto. She is also part of the recording Stars.Stories.Song with music by Eastman faculty composers. With pianist Yi-Wen Chang she has recently recorded a new CD, Reflections, spanning 100 years of American music. Other performances have included Violin Plus, concerts with a pulse, featuring a kaleidoscope of collaborations in repertoire by living composers. 

In 2009, Pia co-founded Cordancia Chamber Orchestra with oboist, Kathleen Suher, an ensemble dedicated to rarely heard music from all eras. She is the concertmaster of the orchestra and was the artistic director of Cordancia 2009-2022. In 2016, Cordancia was awarded second prize in the national competition, The American Prize, for the orchestra’s programming. Pia was previously a member of the Odense Symphony and the concertmaster of The Fynske Sinfonietta in Denmark. For nearly two decades, Pia served as the concertmaster for the University of Rochester Symphony Orchestra. With Liptak-Beaudette Duo, Pia performed extensively with pianist Sylvie Beaudette. The duo’s series Nordic Harmonies focused on music by Scandinavian and Canadian composers while Americana for violin and piano explored American music. 

The interchange between performing and teaching has always been an vital part of Pia’s work. Since 2007, Dr. Liptak has been on the faculty of the Hochstein School where she in 2019 was the recipient of the Hochstein Faculty Service Award. Prior to moving to Rochester, Pia was on the faculty at the Odense Music School. Wishing to share her interest in contemporary music with her students, she co-commissioned and published a collection of new pieces, Woods, Water, Wonder, written by young composers for young violinists and pianists.

Among many grants and honors, Pia has received support from the Danish Cultural Ministry, the Rochester Arts & Cultural Council, the Jacob Gade Travel Stipend, and the Denmark-America Fond. On three occasions, she was granted residencies for research projects at San Cataldo in Southern Italy, a center for Danish scientists and artists.