Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks has established herself as one of the most communicative, and poetic artists of her generation. She has made a name for herself through commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending, interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. Her new memoir, Weight in the Fingertips, A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage, was published by Globe Pequot Press in October 2023, and she has just finished her first novel.

Ms. Faliks’s distinguished career has brought thousands of recitals and concerts throughout the US, Asia, and Europe. Recent seasons have included performances at Alice Tully Hall, National Sawdust, Ravinia Festival, National Gallery of Art, the Wallis Annenberg Center, Oji Hall in Tokyo, tours of China, with appearances in all of its major halls including the Beijing Center for Performing Arts, Shanghai Oriental Arts Theater and Tianjin Grand Theater; debuts at the Festival Internacional de Piano in Mexico, the Fazioli Series in Italy, Israel’s Tel Aviv Museum, Portland Piano Festival, Camerata Pacifica and a collaboration with the contemporary dance company, Bodytraffic at the Broad Stage. She has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Concert Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Salle Cortot in Paris, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall and at many important festivals such as Verbier, Mondo Musica Cremona, Gilmore, Newport Classical and the Peninsula Music Festival where she has appeared frequently , Music in the Mountains, Brevard, Taos, the International Keyboard Festival in New York, Bargemusic Here and Now, and Chautauqua. Since her acclaimed teenage debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Harvey Felder she has been regularly engaged as a concerto soloist: New Haven Symphony with Perry So in Clara Schumann’s Concerto, Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto with Dmitry Sitkovetsky and the Greensboro Symphony, Gershwin with Daniel Meyer and the Erie Symphony, Clara Schumann with Erin Freeman at the Wintergreen Festival, Beethoven 3rd with the Williamsburg Symphony, Prokofiev 1 and 3 with Victor Yampolsky and the Peninsula Festival Orchestra, Tchaikovsky 1 with Robert Moody and the Memphis Symphony, and numerous concerti under the batons of such renowned conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart, Edward Polochick, and Neal Stuhlberg, as well as important emerging conductors like Thomas Heuser and Yaniv Attar.

Inquisitive and versatile, Inna Faliks has had a strong commitment to contemporary music, giving premieres of works composed for and dedicated to her by Timo Andres, Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Paola Prestini, Ljova, Clarice Assad, Peter Golub. Her newest CD recording , “Manuscripts Don’t Burn” on Sono Luminus, was featured on NPR Morning Edition in May 2024. Her most personal recording, the disc features five world premieres composed for Faliks by Clarice Assad, Mike Garson, Veronika Krausas, Ljova and Maya Miro Johnson, as well as Schubert-Liszt, Fazil Say and Fanny Mendelssohn, featuring music for solo piano and spoken word. In her “Reimagine Beethoven and Ravel” performance project and recording, nine contemporary composes responded to Beethoven Bagatelles and Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit. “13 Ways of Looking at the Goldberg” included new variations by contemporary composers based on Bach’s Goldberg Variations. This season, she gave the world premiere of Clarice Assad’s “Lilith” concerto, composed for her. Ljova’s “Voices” for piano and historical recording was composed for her and commissioned by the Milken Center of American Jewish Music in 2020.

Faliks created a one-woman show “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist”, an autobiographical monologue for pianist and actress, premiered in New York’s Symphony Space and performed worldwide. A committed chamber musician, she has had notable collaborations with Rachel Barton Pine, Gilbert Kalish, Ron Leonard, Fred Sherry, Ilya Kaler, Colin Carr, Wendy Warner, Clive Greensmith, and Antonio Lysy, among many others.

Inna Faliks has been featured on radio and television throughout the world. She co-starred with Downton Abbey’s Lesley Nicol in “Admission – One Shilling,” a play for pianist and actor based on the life of the great British pianist, Dame Myra Hess.

Her CD releases, Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel on Navona Records and The Schumann Project Volume 1, on MSR Classics, received rave reviews, and were named to several “best of 2021” lists. With her all-Beethoven CD release on MSR, WTTW called Faliks “High priestess of the piano, concert pianist of the highest order, as dramatic and subtle as a great stage actor.” Sound of Verse, was released in 2009, featuring music of Boris Pasternak, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist” on Delos captures her autobiographical monologue-recital with short piano works from Bach to Carter.

Faliks is founder and curator of Music/Words, an award-winning poetry-music series: performances in collaboration with distinguished poets. Her long-standing relationship with Chicago’s WFMT radio has led to multiple broadcasts of Music/Words, which she produced alongside some of the nation’s most recognized poets in performances throughout the United States.

A past winner of many prestigious competitions, Inna Faliks is currently Professor of Piano and Head of Piano at UCLA. She is in demand as Artist Teacher and is frequently invited to judge competitions and give masterclasses at major conservatories and universities. As a writer, she has been published by the LA Times and Washington Post. During Covid, she started a weekly online recital series, Corona Fridays, featuring children’s concerts, new music, and poetry.

Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.   www.innafaliks.com

Native of Armenia, violinist Movses Pogossian made his American debut performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Boston Pops in 1990, about which R. Dyer of the Boston Globe wrote: “There is freedom in his playing, but also taste and discipline. It was a fiery, centered, and highly musical performance…” Movses Pogossian has since performed with orchestras such as the Brandenburger Symphoniker and the Halle Philharmonic in Germany, the Sudety Philharmonic in Poland, the Tucson Symphony, the El Paso Symphony, the Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra of New York, and the Toronto Sinfonia. He is a prizewinner of the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Competition, and the youngest-ever First Prize winner of the 1985 USSR National Violin Competition, previous winners of which included David Oistrakh and Gidon Kremer. An active chamber musician, Mr. Pogossian has performed with members of the Tokyo, Kronos, and Brentano string quartets, and frequently collaborates with the Apple Hill Chamber Players, touring worldwide and teaching annually at their summer music festival in New Hampshire. A committed propagate of new music, he has premiered over 30 works, and worked closely with composers such as G. Kurtag, A. R. Thomas, T. Mansurian, and V. Sharafyan. His latest releases include a solo violin CD of World Premiere recordings and “Thoughts and Dreams” with the Baird Trio, both on Albany label, as well as upcoming release of G. Kurtag’s “Kafka Fragments” for soprano and violin on Bridge label. Since earning his advanced degrees from the Komitas Conservatory in Armenia and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow, Mr. Pogossian has held teaching positions at Duquesne, Bowling Green, Wayne State, and SUNY Buffalo Universities, and is currently Professor of Violin at UCLA.

He made his American debut performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Boston Pops in 1990, about which the Boston Globe wrote: “There is freedom in his playing, but also taste and discipline. It was a fiery, centered, and highly musical performance…” Laureate of several competitions, including the Tchaikovsky International Competition, he performs worldwide in a wide variety of genres. A devoted chamber musician and Founding Artistic Director of the acclaimed Dilijan Chamber Music Series, Pogossian has performed with members of the Tokyo, Kronos, and Brentano string quartets, and with such artists as Kim Kashkashian, Jeremy Denk, Lynn Harrell, Ani and Ida Kavafian, and Rohan de Saram. He frequently collaborates with the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, teaching annually at their summer music festival since 1992. A committed champion of new music, Pogossian has premiered over 100 works, and works closely with composers such as G. Kurtág, K. Saariaho, T. Mansurian, Gabriela Lena Frank, and many others. Pogossian’s extensive discography includes the Complete Sonatas and Partitas by J. S. Bach, “Con Anima” (ECM), and solo CDs “Inspired by Bach”, “Blooming Sounds”, “In Nomine”, and, most recently, “Hommage à Kurtág” (2022). Pogossian is Distinguished Professor of Violin at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and Founding Director of the UCLA Armenian Music Program. As Head of the Music for Food’s Los Angeles Chapter, he actively participates in projects which raise awareness of the hunger problem and give the opportunity to experience the powerful role music can play as a catalyst for change.

His principal teachers were L. Zorian, V. Mokatsian, V. Klimov, and Louis Krasner. Movses Pogossian is a Founder and Artistic Director of the Dilijan Chamber Music Series in Los Angeles (http://dilijan.larkmusicalsociety.com), a member of the new music group XTET, and a regular participant at several music festivals. He resides in Glendale, California with his wife, Los Angeles Philharmonic violinist Varty Manouelian, and their three young children.

Varty Manouelian won first prize at the 1993 Bryan International Competition. A prize winner in the 1977 Kozian International Competition in Czechoslovakia, the 1985 Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poland, and the 1991 Performers of Connecticut, she has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, the El Paso Festival, and the Olympic Music Festival. She has collaborated with Bruno Canino, Garrick Ohlsson, Nobuko Imai, Thomas Adès, and members of the Juilliard, Guarneri, Tokyo, Brentano, Borromeo, and Mendelssohn string quartets. A current member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, she holds degrees from the State Music Academy in Bulgaria and the Cleveland Institute of Music.  She has collaborated as a chamber musician with such artists as Joshua Bell, Yuja Wang, Kim Kashkashian, Rohan de Saram, Garrick Ohlsson, Nobuko Imai, Thomas Adès, and members of the Juilliard, Guarner, Tokyo, Brentano, Borromeo, and Mendelssohn string quartets.

Cellist Ben Hong joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1993 at age 24 as a section player and six months later, he won the assistant principal cello position. He currently serves as associate principal cello, appointed by LA Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel in 2015. Hong also performs frequently as a soloist and as a member of chamber music ensembles. He has collaborated with such artists as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Janine Jansen, Lang Lang, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Sir Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Concerto appearances with the LA Phil have included the U.S. premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s cello concerto Kai, with Rattle conducting at the Ojai Music Festival; the LA Phil premiere of Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger Concerto, conducted by Long Yu at the Hollywood Bowl; and the U.S premiere of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s concerto for cello and orchestra, en forme de pas de trois, conducted by Susanna Mälkki.

DreamWorks Pictures hired Hong to train Jamie Foxx and several other cast members of the 2009 film The Soloist. In addition, he was the featured soloist on the soundtrack, which was released on the Deutsche Grammophon label. In 2020, Hong was asked by the Los Angeles Lakers to perform a rendition of “Hallelujah” at the Staples Center as part of a pre-game tribute in memory of Kobe Bryant.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Hong won his native country’s national cello competition three years in a row before leaving home at age 13 for the Juilliard School. Later, he studied with Lynn Harrell at the USC School of Music before joining the LA Phil. Hong currently serves on the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music and the Colburn School. Additionally, he frequently performs and teaches at music festivals throughout the U.S., Asia and Europe.