About this Artist
Originally from Moscow, Ms. Reznik has performed as a recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestras throughout North America, Europe and Russia. Wrote Stephen Perry, a concert pianist:
Phenomenally talented pianist YANA REZNIK is capable of expressing the emotional extreme of human experience with textural refinement and blistering virtuosity. She has an intensity on stage which is captivating—aurally and visually.
Ms. Reznik gave a sold?out Carnegie Hall Debut in New York in 2004 as a winner of the Artists
International Competition. The program consisted of a wide variety of solo works, Franck’s Piano Quintet with the renowned St. Petersburg String Quartet as her guest artists and a world premiere by Ruben Yessayan, commissioned especially for the event. She appeared at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, performing with the “Violin Family” of Albert, Alexander and Marina Markov. Ms.Reznik’s performance of Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto with violinist Mikhail Simonyan took her to the Moscow Conservatory Grand Hall, with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Konstantin Orbelian.
Ms. Reznik’s concerto appearances have included performing Liszt’s Concerto No.1 with Lucinda Carver and the USC Symphony Orchestra. In 2007 Yana won the Torrance Symphony Orchestra Competition and collaborated with Frank Feta. More recently, Michael Powers, a conductor of USC Concert Orchestra invited her to perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. She also performed Rhapsody in Blue with Giancarlo Aquilanti and the Stanford Wind Ensemble in 2008 and 2009.
Ms. Reznik currently resides in Los Angeles, having completed her Bachelors in Music from the Manhattan School of Music, her Masters Degree from the University of Southern California, and a Professional Studies Certificate from the Colburn School of Performing Arts, under the tutelage of Phillip Kawin and John Perry. She received a full scholarship at all three institutions. Ms. Reznik is Music Director and Organist for the Congregational Church of the Messiah. An avid chamber music collaborator she is developing a Piano Trio project with Indira Rahmatulla on the cello and Moni Simeonov on the violin. She is collaborating with cellist Tina Guo on a crossover duet project, while staying active as a concerto soloist and recitalist around the world.
Early Career
Ms. Reznik developed her artistic talents at an early age. Both her grandparents and her mother were professional opera singers. Yana began piano lessons at the age of six at the Rachmaninoff School Of Music for Gifted Children where she studied with Raisa Bekerman. At the age of eleven Yana had her debut performance at the Moscow Conservatory Hall, which motivated her to become a professional pianist. She was asked to return to the Hall for four consecutive years, and in 1995 she was named one of the “Top Young Pianists of Moscow” as a result of the 6th Annual Young Pianist Competition of Moscow. In 1993 she participated in a foreign exchange program with pianists from France, studying at “Vivaldi?Neuilly? Plaisance?Stage Musical International” in Paris. Adding to her overall artistic development, Yana attended Moscow’s Musical Theater for Young Actors for five years, where she took acting, singing, stage movement and dance classes. Assigned with many leading roles, she toured with the group in Switzerland, Germany and Russia.
In 1995 Ms. Reznik’s family moved to Orange County, California. Between 1995 and 1997, she won the Disneyland Creativity Challenge, Ed Doyle Music Award, Cypress College Piano Competition, Southwestern Young Musicians Festival, Young Musicians Foundation Competition and Chamber Music Program, Colburn School of Music Scholarship, and the Southern California Bach Festival. When internationally acclaimed piano teacher John Perry heard her play, he said:
Yana Reznik is an unusually talented young pianist whom I have only recently agreed to teach privately. This is significant in that I have taken no private students for many years, but I feel compelled to help this extraordinary girl.
In 1997 Yana received a full scholarship to study at the Interlochen Arts Camp and Academy (IAA) in Michigan under the guidance of Stephen Perry. During two consecutive years she was a Concerto Competition winner performing under Timothy Russell and Byron Hanson with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Reznik appeared as a guest on From the Top, Live from Jordan Hall, where she was selected among the nation’s top young musicians. The program was aired on NPR nationwide. That same year she received an ARTS award for exceptional artistic achievement and the Jean Dake Memorial Award. Yana represented IAA in tours throughout the US that were aired on Interlochen Public Radio, including a performance for Bishop Desmond Tutu. While at IAA Yana started taking conducting lessons with Stanley Ross. She received a Young Artist Diploma in 1999, an award given to the Academy’s top graduating pianist.
College Years
In 1999 Ms. Reznik received a full scholarship plus living stipend from the Manhattan School of Music to study with Phillip Kawin. At age 19 Yana became the Music Director, Organist, and Choir Director at the St. Francis of Assisi Parish in New York. She was responsible for the church’s music programming, singing instruction, and eventually developed three choirs for the church. In 2000 Ms. Reznik became an assistant conductor for Glen Cortese and served as pianist, harpsichordist, and organist for the East?West International Symphony Orchestra and Academy in Altenburg, Germany. She conducted the Academy Orchestra while playing the complete Brandenburg Concertos from the harpsichord.
Ms. Reznik has spent many summers at numerous music festivals: Aspen ? studying with Yoheved Kaplinsky; Tanglewood ? as a chamber music pianist, performing music by David Chaitkin and working with the Mark Morris Dance Company; Norfolk, Kent Blossom, Sarasota, Piano Summers at New Paltz, the International Academy of Music in Russia ? performing at the Philharmonic Hall of St. Petersburg and Sheremetev Palace. She has greatly benefited from the masterclasses of renowned pedagogues like Claude Franck, Isidor Cohen, Frank Morelli, Robert Lipsett, Yehuda Gilad, Jim Walker, Lynn Harrell, Ron Leonard, Peter Frankl, Vitaliy Morgulis, John O’Conor, Eugene Istomin, Boris Berman, Lang Lang, Mark Silverman, Eduardo Delgado, Robert Levin and Ann Shein, among others.
Since moving to Los Angeles, where she completed her studies at the University of Southern California and the Colburn Conservatory, Yana has become a Founder and Artistic Director of the Southern California Brahms Festival, performing the complete piano chamber works of Johannes Brahms. In addition to her concerto performances with the USC Symphony Orchestra, the Torrance Symphony Orchestra, the USC Concert Symphony Orchestra, and the Stanford Wind Ensemble, her concerts have included appearances in Zipper Hall, Thayer Hall, the Los Angeles Bach Festival, Maestro Foundation, Steinway Hall, Laguna Beach Live, Sundays Live at Four (KUSC), Sunset Series in Los Gatos, Classical Underground, the Colburn Chamber Music Series, the Huntington Arts Festival in New York, Classical Music Encounters of Orange County, and the Western Society Of Chamber Music. Chamber music collaborations included her work as a member of the Yangati Trio, Trio Angelino and “Thrice”.