With the release of Marianna Rashkovetsky's debut album on the Angelok label in 2002, the distinguished critic Jed Distler, in Classics Today, extolled her playing as both eloquent and ravishing, with " imagination and character at every turn." Likewise Clavier Magazine singled her out for her "magical" music making, "dramatic temperament", and "masterful delivery".

Indeed, since her first appearances in the west a decade ago, Russian born Marianna Rashkovetsky has beguiled critics and audiences for her vivacious and authoritative performances of the music of J.S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, evoking enthusiastic comparisons to such celebrated early music interpreters as Glenn Gould and Rosalyn Tureck.

In 2002 she came to the attention of Constantine Orbelian, the distinguished conductor of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. He was so impressed that he engaged Ms. Rashkovetsky to perform several Bach concerti with that august ensemble for its 2004 American tour. In addition to her solo appearances in concert throughout the US and Europe, Ms Rashkovetsky also performs frequently in chamber music with the RAMA Trio, which she founded in 1999. Her recitals at two festivals, Les Floraisons Musicales in France, and Armonie Sotta la Roca in Brescia, Italy, earned critical acclaim.

Marianna Rashkovetsky is a musical descendant of the great Russian pianist and pedagogue, Heinrich Neuhaus, who numbered Richter and Gilels among his students. A graduate of the Gnessin Academy of Music, where she studied with Neuhaus protégeé Lina Bulatova, Ms Rashkovetsky went on to serve on the faculties of the Dunaevsky school of Music and the Allegro Center for Music and Aesthetics in Moscow. She performed frequently throughout the Eastern Block, with concerts throughout Russia, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria.

In the historical, but politically uncertain days of 1990, as glasnost and perestroika were transforming the former Soviet Union, Ms Rashkovetsky was among a handful of artists the Soviets allowed to emigrate without penalty to the United States. Shortly thereafter, she became an American citizen, settling in Boston. Once there, she founded the Russian-American Music Association (RAMA), to cultivate Russian musical traditions and facilitate communication between musicians of both nations through concerts, workshops, and a competition for young people. In recognition of her both her talent and her efforts on behalf of young musician, she was the recipient of two generous grants from private arts organizations in Boston.

Since then, Ms Rashkovetsky, who serves on the faculty of the Indian Hills Music Center in Boston, has recorded for both the Americus and Angelok labels. In addition to Bach and Scarlatti, she is heard in the music of Schubert and Liszt. A privately released recording, available at Amazon.com, features Ms. Rashkovetsky in music of Grieg, Chopin, and Brahms. Constantine Orbelian has also invited her to record with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. Her latest album, for the Americus Label, is devoted entirely to the music of J.S. Bach. Upcoming engagements include an appearance in October 2004 at the Festival Musique en Euroregions in France; and with the San Diego Baroque Music Festival Orchestra under the direction of Navroj Mehta in May 2005. .

Marianna Rashkovetsky with Constantine Orbelian

REVIEWS

"Rashkovertsky can summon any degree of virtuosity, and does so at the service of the music… [She] performs with clear direction, careful attention, and masterful delivery, above all; she has the best piano sound for every occasion. Her dramatic temperament darkens the sound and gives it body, while here rhetorical flare and fine timing deliver each phrase as a newly minted idea." The Lisztian side of Scarlatti seems intuitive in her playing, with a magical glitter of turns, shakes, arpeggiated flashes, and scales scraping to goals with detached notes at breakneck speeds, Nothing is accidental, repeats reveal her alert ear and evolving narrative:"

Robert Dumm, Clavier
 

"As a Scarlatti interpreter, Marianna Rashkovetsky proudly pulls out all the pianistic stops, coloring a group of seven sonatas with a palette of dynamics, articulations and pedalings…Her playing oozes imagination and character at every turn. Listen to how ravishingly she shades the B flat sonata's repeated phrases, or to the eloquent, rounded diction of her comely trills in the D major and E flat major … In the [Schubert sonata] she achieves a perfect balance...[while her] Liszt is brisk, precise and supple. Rashkovetsky s beautifully adjusted soft runs and repeated notes in the tender central episode ..are worth the price of admission."

Jed Distler, Classics Today
 

"...A very fine pianist whose playing is distinguished by...the depth and sincerity of the performance, the filigree technique, the sound palette, [and] the artistry."

Michael Manning, The Boston Globe
 

"Marianna Rashkovetsky is a Bach player to the manner born. Here is an interpreter who grasps the inborn vivacity and affective nuance that lends to this music its rhythmic life as it pays homage to the dances that inspired its composer. In the post-twilight of Glenn Gould and Rosalyn Tureck, Ms. Rashkovetsky may well earn the moniker of the new First Lady of Bach."

John Bell Young, the St Petersburg Times

DISCOGRAPHY

• 2001 Marianna Plays Bach, an all Bach program on the MP3 label.
  Released in Spring 2001.
• 2002 Marianna Rashkovetsky, Piano, works of D. Scarlatti, Schubert and Liszt on the Angelok label.
  Released in March 2002.
• 2003 Marianna Rashkovetsky, Piano, works of Brahms, Chopin and Grieg, available at Amazon.com.
  Released late 2003. 2003 Marianna Rashkovetsky, Piano, works of Brahms, Chopin and Grieg
  Released late 2003.
• 2004 J.S. Bach-French Suites Nos. 3 and 5, Partitas Nos. 1 and 2, on the Americus label.
  Released early 2004. www.americuscd.com

AUDIO SAMPLES

CHOPIN: Two Etudes

• F minor
• C minor

BACH: French Suites Excerpts

• Allemande Bb
• Gigue B min
• Menuet & Trio B min
• Rondeau C min

Scarlatti: Sonata in A

• Sonata in A

Contact details

E-mail IMCA