MUW Piano Faculty to Perform Duo Recital in Poindexter Hall

COLUMBUS, Miss. (Press Release) — A duo piano recital, titled “Touring the World,” by music professors Dr. Julia Mortyakova and Dr. Valentin Bogdan will feature pieces from various eras and geographical regions.

The concert is set for April 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Connie Sills Kossen Auditorium, Poindexter Hall. It is free and open to the public.

Timeless masterpieces such as the “Fantasy in F minor” by German composer Franz Schubert and “Pieces Romantiques” by the French composer Cecile Chaminade will be performed, as well as two new works written for the two piano medium, by U.S. based composers Olga Harris and The W’s own Bogdan.

The concert also will feature the Columbus premiere of Bogdan’s piano four-hands arrangements of Argentinean tangos.

Mortyakova currently teaches and serves as chair of the Department of Music at The W. Originally from Moscow, she has given solo piano recitals, appeared as a soloist with orchestras and performed in music festivals across the United States and abroad including: Aspen Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Natchez Festival of Music, South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts, Musica Nueva Malaga (Spain), Assisi Music Festival (Italy), Zhytomyr’s Musical Spring (Ukraine) and Symphonic Workshops International Piano Masterclass (Bulgaria). She is the 2012 winner of the Sigma Alpha Iota Career Performance Grant.

Dr. Mortyakova is a published author in the United States and Ukraine, and her first independent solo piano album has sold internationally.

She is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Vanderbilt University, New York University and the University of Miami.

Bogdan serves as assistant professor of music at The W. A native of Romania, he toured as a teenager with the “Tudor Ciortea Music School Orchestra of Brasov” and in countries such as the Netherlands, Great Britain, France and Jordan.

An award-winning pianist and composer, he has performed solo and chamber music recitals in North America and Europe. Among others, Bogdan was a soloist with the Varna Symphony (Bulgaria) and Wayne State Symphony (Michigan). His music was performed at Festival Miami, Music at MOCA Concert Series, the Oregon Bach Festival, the St. Joseph Catholic Church Concert Series in New York and new music concerts in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. He was the 2010 Florida State Music Teachers Association commissioned composer of the year.

Bogdan is a graduate of University of Miami, Michigan State University and Wayne State University with degrees in piano performance and music composition.