Svetlana Smolina performs with orchestras and in recitals worldwide. Some recent notable solo appearances with orchestras include with the Mariinsky Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, New York Philharmonic at Avery Fischer Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Orchestra National de France, Odessa and Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, Florida Philharmonic, Shreveport Symphony, New York Chamber and many other ensembles. A frequent guest at festivals worldwide, Ms. Smolina has performed at the Salzburg Festival, Hollywood Bowl Festival in Los Angeles, Ravinia Rising Stars Festival in Chicago, White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Mikkeli Festival, Ruhr Festival, Easter Festival in Moscow, Rotterdam Phillips Gergiev Festival in Holland, International Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Settimane Musicali di Stresa, Festivale di Bologna, Michelangeli Festival in Brescia, Hennessy Artists Series at the Hanoi Opera House in Vietnam, The Voice of Music in Upper Galilee in Kfar Blum, Corfu and Samos Summer festivals in Greece, Philadelphia International Festival, Rock Hotel Piano Festival Series in NYC and many others. As a recitalist she has concertized in prestigious halls Conservatory Hall, Mozarteum and Großen Saal in Salzburg, Merkin Hall in NYC, Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Lincoln Theater in Miami, NJPAC Hall in New Jersey, Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Grand Artists Series in Tel-Aviv, Academia Santa Cecilia in Rome, Miller Theater at Columbia University, NYC, Vienna’s Sacher Hall, and many others.
Recent recordings and broadcasts include Stravinsky’s Les Noces with Valery Gergiev conducting on the Decca/Phillips label, and on the Mariinsky Label, which received the 2011 ICMA award for Best Choral Work. Others include a solo Chopin album for the Chopin iTunes Project, a recital with violinist Vadim Repin for Deutsche Grammophone in Berlin, a Benjamin Britten Young Apollo live recording from Walt Disney Hall for BCM+D records, and many network broadcasts including NPR, BBC, PBS, RAI, and Cultura TV.
Dr. Smolina is DMA graduate from the University of Michigan, a recipient of the “New Names” Scholarship program in Russia, and has been a prizewinner of many international competitions, including Citta di Senigalia International Piano Competition (Italy), Kingsville International Piano Competition, Wideman Piano Competition and the Murray Dranoff International Duo Piano Competition in Miami, Florida. Svetlana‘s principal teachers include Alexander Toradze, Arthur Greene, Natalia Fisch, Evgeny Mogilevsky, and Monique Duphil. In the summer of 2011 Svetlana joined the iPalpiti Festival of International Laureates in Los Angeles, making her debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the iPalpiti Orchestra (Eduard Schmieder, conductor) and in solo and chamber concerts. That same summer, she won the Beverly Hills Auditions, worked as collaborative faculty at the Mozarteum Summer Academy and was appointed as the Samuel Barber Artist -In-Residence at West Chester University of Pennsylvania’s School of Music in The College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Since 2011 Svetlana has joined the piano faculty at the Philadelphia International Summer Festival. In 2013 Svetlana was appointed as Artist in Residence at Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music & Dance, in the Department of Instrumental Studies.
Career highlights include recitals on the Horowitz Steinway at Steinway, DE and for the Crossover Show at WRTI–FM in Philadelphia, NYC recitals at Rotunda Hall at 57th St. Steinway and Merkin Hall, Greene Space Performance Center in NYC, at Barge Music NY, in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange County, California for the Tri-County Emerging Artist Concert Series, at WRTI-FM Radio Station, the Live Connections Series at World Cafe Live! In Philadelphia, Powell Concert Series in Tennessee, Steinway Artist Series in PA and NJ, at Tribeca Film Festival in NY, concerto and solo appearances at iPalpiti International Laureates Festival in Los Angeles, the Summit Festival, Philadelphia International Music Festival, Long Island Mozart Festival, NY, Beethoven Festival in Long Island with Chamber Players International and collaboration with Composer Concordance in NYC, performances in Ragusa, Sicily and with Nizhny- Novgorod Philharmonic in Russia.
2013 projects included recording a solo album at Cove City Sound Studios, and recording the soundtrack for the upcoming drama You are Not You, starring Hilary Swank. In January 2014 Vadim Repin gave a chamber concert with Svetlana for the metropolitan public in the residence of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to the USA Sergey Kislyak in Washington DC. The concert was to draw attention of news agencies to the Vadim Repin Transsiberian Art Festival in Novosibirsk. In December 2014 Svetlana will tour as a soloist with the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra in China and with the Thailand Philharmonic in Bangkok.
“Svetlana Smolina, an outstanding Russian pianist with a luxuriant tone, was the evening’s soloist. She caught both the flicker of the young Sun- god and also found urgency in the flashy solo part”
– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times
“The performance ( Stravinsky Les Noces) had plenty of fervor and clattering colors. Yet it was nuanced, dusky and organic.The soloists – dynamic Russian pianists ( Svetlana Smolina) were mesmerizing”
– Anthony Tomassini, NY Times, April, 2010
“Smolina displayed full command and charmed her way through Preludes of op. 28… Playing with vigor and vitality, easily shifting from one mood to another, sure of technique and subtle phrasing.The second part of program was devoted to Etudes and Waltzes.. the pianist produced dazzling effects entirely appropriate to the genre..Smolina brought audience close to frenzy, just as dear Fryderick did in his concerts.”
– Gayle Williams, Richard Storm, Sarasota Herald Tribune, November, 2010
“Svetlana Smolina created a storming, breathing piano in Scriabin’s Fantasy in B minor...”
– Paul Griffiths, the New York Times, 2005
This artist is presented in association with Live On Stage.