Fairmount Presbyterian Church presents pianist Halida Dinova in a concert this weekend in Cleveland Heights. She came to WCLV to preview the program with Jacqueline Gerber.
Sunday, November 15 at 4:00 p.m.
Baird Memorial Concert - Mozart! Featuring the Fairmount Choir, Orchestra, and pianist Halida Dinova
On the program: Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 5 in D, K. 170
Halida Dinova performs across the United States and the globe. Recently she performed a solo recital marathon consisting of five different programs in Beijing and Hunan cities in China in addition to a teaching residence at the Beijing China Conservatory. Her solo program, “Music that tells a story”, also captivated audiences in Australia and New Zealand where she will return in May for another busy concert tour.
Her new CD album, “Music That Tells Stories”, gained outstanding reviews in New Zealand and the USA in 2011.
Currently, in addition to a busy concert career, Ms. Dinova is a PhD candidate and is writing her dissertation on Ernest Bloch and American Neo-Romantic piano concertos, at the St. Petersburg Rimsky Korsakov Conservatory, Russia.
Mrs.Dinova is always searching for interesting new additions to her repertoire and is open to collaboration with composers.
Her favorite repertoire ideas are the 20th Century concertos-Strauss Burleske, Ravel Concerto for the Left Hand (which she played for the first time with great success in Jan 2011 with conductor Mei-Ann Chen in USA.
Born in Kazan, Russia, Ms. Dinova studied at the Kazan State Conservatory, with Natalia Fomina, who was a student of the legendary pianist, Henry Neuwhaus.
After finishing her undergraduate degree there, Ms. Dinova completed her Masters Aspirant Degree, in solo piano performance, at the St. Petersburg, Rimsky- Korsakov Conservatory in Russia, under the legendary pianist, Anatol Ugorski. She then taught piano as associate professor for four years at the Kazan State Conservatory.
She then moved to the United States and earned an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music and attended the master classes of Rudolf Buchbinder. She also studied in the UK with Murray Perahia and in Toronto, Canada with Anton Kuerti and André LaPlante.
A champion of rare and interesting twentieth-century repertoire from her native Russia and America, she is known for her virtuosity and exquisite interpretations.
In 2003 Chandos Records released her recording of Ernest Bloch's Piano Concertos with the St. Petersburg State Capella Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Tchernoushenko. Critics from Gramophone and American Record Guide called it the best recording of those works to date.
In 2004 Cantius Classics Records released her recording of Brahms's Second Piano Concerto with the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under Gustavo Plis-Sterenberg. This recording was described by critics as, "a bold, deeply poetic reading, marked by a technical command that many pianists couldn't muster..."
In November of 2002, with the Symphony Orchestra of the State Capella in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ms. Dinova premiered the concerto "Shadow of the Swan" which was written for her by American composer Dennis Eberhard. In 2004 NAXOS Records (American Classics series) released a CD of this performance which was inspired by the memory of those who lost their lives in the Challenger Space Shuttle and Kursk submarine disasters. The premiere garnered international attention and has been made into a documentary film by Laura Paglin, which won prizes at the Calgary International Film Festival in September 2005.
In summer of 2005 CANTIUS CLASSICS released her solo album "Masterpieces for Children by Bach, Debussy, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky." The CD was made in collaboration with the Chicago and Detroit Diocese of Russian Orthodox Churches Outside of Russia. The proceeds from the sales of this recording will benefit orphanages in Russia.
In 2003 DOREMI Records released her Scriabin solo album which received outstanding reviews and has sold thousands of copies. The resounding acclaim called Ms. Dinova "A Scriabinist destined to lead all others...", "Dinova is indeed a great Scriabinist...", "In the most breathtaking recital devoted to the composer I've heard in more than 30 years, she proves she has everything, at least where Scriabin is concerned...", "A thorough identification with the music's philosophy...", "In this work (Scriabin's Tenth sonata) Dinova is entirely at home offering a visceral, larger than life account that, if not as diabolical as Horowitz's or as emotionally unsettling as Sofronitsky's, easily holds its own in comparison."