Lydia Artymiw

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Pianist Lydia Artymiw was born in Philadelphia on September 9, 1954, to Ukrainian parents and began piano studies at age four with George Oransky at the Ukrainian Music Institute. Her principal teachers were Freda Pastor Berkowitz (who taught for over fifty years at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia) from 1962-1967 and Gary Graffman, her mentor, with whom she studied from 1967 to 1979. Artymiw graduated summa cum laude from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 1973 (at age eighteen) and later received a “Distinguished Alumna” award from the University of the Arts.

The Los Angeles Times described Artymiw as “an important pianist because she combines so many diverse qualities: she wields power and delicacy with equal ease; she is securely equipped with technique, and she feels deeply and knows how to communicate her feelings. She stirred her audience repeatedly.” Artymiw has also been hailed by the New York Times as “a pianist with a beautiful touch, a creative imagination, and a feeling for color and texture far in advance of that cultivated by most of the young virtuosos we hear.” She has succeeded in every facet of an important international career: as soloist with orchestra, in recital and chamber music, and in solo and chamber music recordings. Artymiw has appeared with over one hundred orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Far East. Her American orchestral appearances include the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as the American, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Columbus, Denver, Detroit, Florida, Kansas City, National, New Jersey, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Pittsburgh, Rochester, San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis Symphonies, and the St. Paul and St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestras. As a solo recitalist, she has performed in major venues in London, Berlin, Basel, Cologne, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Rome, Milan, Paris, Taipei, Seoul, New York (at the Metropolitan Museum, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and Weill Hall), Washington (at the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Renwick Gallery, and the Smithsonian), Chicago (Orchestra Hall), Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Boston. She has concertized throughout Europe (in Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Sardinia, Switzerland, Estonia, Finland, and Ukraine) as well as in Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, and Singapore.

Artymiw’s festival appearances include Aspen, Bantry, Bard, Bellingham, Bravo! Colorado, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, Chautauqua, Eastern Shore Maryland, Grand Canyon, Hampden-Sydney, Hollywood Bowl, Maverick, Montreal, Mostly Mozart, Music Mountain, Newport, Seattle, South Mountain, Tucson, Virginia Waterfront, and Marlboro (where she has returned several times as a “senior artist/participant). Since 1982, she has performed regularly with the Guarneri String Quartet throughout the US and in Canada and has also collaborated with the American, Borromeo, Miami, Orion, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Vermeer Quartets. She has performed many recitals with some of the most distinguished musicians of our time including Yo-Yo Ma, Kim Kashkashian, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, John Aler, and Benita Valente (with whom she recorded two discs, for the Centaur and Pantheon labels), and she has toured numerous times with “Music From Marlboro” groups throughout the US. Artymiw is a member of the Steinhardt-Artymiw-Eskin Trio (with violinist Arnold Steinhardt and cellist Jules Eskin).

Artymiw is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1989 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award and the 1987 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and she has garnered top prizes in major competitions such as the 1978 Leeds International in England (third prize), the 1976 Leventritt in New York (finalist, no major prize awarded), and first prize in the 1972 Koszciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition in New York. In recent years she has been a juror for the Esther Honens International Piano Competition in Canada, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in Indiana, the Corpus Christi National Competition in Texas, and the William Kapell International Piano Competition in Maryland.

Her seven solo albums for the Chandos label in England have been critically acclaimed. Her debut record (Variations) was a Gramophone Magazine “Critic’s Choice” and “Best of the Year” disc, she was featured on the cover of Gramophone Magazine for the release of her Schumann record, her Mendelssohn record was hailed by Hi-Fi News and the Monthly Guide to Recorded Music as “Best of the Month,” and Ovation Magazine honored her Schubert recording as “Recording of Distinction.” Her Tchaikovsky Seasons (released by Chandos in 1982) is still in print and has sold over 14,000 copies. She has also recorded for the Artegra, Bridge, Centaur, and Pantheon labels.

Since 1989, Artymiw has been on the faculty of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, which has honored her with the “Dean’s Medal” for Outstanding Professor in 2000 and with the Distinguished McKnight Professorship in 2001. She was the first performing artist at the University of Minnesota to receive both of these awards. Artymiw’s studio (with 29 doctoral graduates) is one of the most prolific and successful at the University of Minnesota, and her students have attained international careers as performers and professors at universities and colleges throughout the US, Canada, and Asia. Her doctoral graduates include Jeri-Mae Astolfi (Henderson State University in Arkansas), Yung-Eun Choe (Southeastern University in Florida), Alejandro Cremaschi (University of Colorado at Boulder), Corey Hamm (University of British Columbia in Vancouver), Grace Huang (Millikin University in Illinois), Young Kim (Union College and the College of St. Rose in New York), Matthew McCright (Carleton College in Minnesota), Margaret McDonald (University of Colorado at Boulder), and Wonny Song (first prize winner of the 2005 YCA international auditions, the 2003 Prix d’Europe, and the 2001 WAMSO Competition).