Celebrating 14 years! PIANO SUNDAYS at the Old Capitol Presented by West Music and the University of Iowa

Sunday, March 7th, 2021 at 1:30 p.m. Old Capitol Senate Chamber PROGRAM

Piano Sonata Op. 78 No. 24 in F major (1770-1827) I. Adagio cantabile-Allegro ma non troppo

II. Allegro vivace

FEIYANG LI, PIANO

Fantasy in F sharp minor, Op. 28 Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1846) I. Con moto agitato. Andante. Con moto agitato

II. Allegro con moto

III. Presto

YI WANG, PIANO

Piano Sonata No. 4 in F# Major (1872-1915)

ALICE (SHU-MIN) CHANG, PIANO

Poème, Op. 25 Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)

Scherzo from “FAE” Sonata in C minor (1833-1897)

Melodie P.I. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

AVITA DUO KATYA MOELLER, VIOLIN KSENIA NOSIKOVA, PIANO PERFORMERS FEIYANG LI Feiyang Li, from Henan Province, China, is currently a D.M.A student at the University of Iowa studying with Dr. Ksenia Nosikova. Ms. Li received her B.M degree in Piano Performance at Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL under Prof. Adam Neiman’s instruction. She was also selected as one of the students as the winner of piano showcase competition held in the Roosevelt University in 2015. She received her M.M in piano performance in 2020 at Indiana University Bloomington (Jacobs School of Music) under Prof. Arnaldo Cohen and worked as a TA in Piano Academy Summer Program in IU Jacobs School of Music in 2019. She participated in many music festivals during her piano study; she joined in several summer music festivals held by ETSU in 2013. She took part in St. Andrews Music Festival in 2016 and won the second prize in the St. Andrews International Concerto Competition in Canada that year. In 2017, she participated in the MMF (Manchester Music Festival) in Vermont. She also joined ACIMA (Ameri-China International Music Association) New York Winter Festival in 2018. During the years of performing piano, she had some chances to have master classes with several famous professors from different Conservatories. For instance, Professor Mengjie Liu from Curtis Institute, Professor Matti Raekallio and Ernest Barretta from Julliard School. YI WANG Yi Wang, from China, is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts degree student at The University of Iowa under Dr. Nosikova, while holding the position of Performance Assistant of Center of New Music. She received her Master’s degree and Performance Diploma from Manhattan School of Music, study with Dr. Sinkevych. Yi Wang was a winner of Asian Piano Competition. She was a Third Place of Hong Kong International Piano Competition. Yi has given numerous piano recitals at New York, New Jersey, Roma, Shanghai, Beijing, and Qingdao. Yi has been playing the piano for more than 20 years. During those years she studied under many different teachers from all over the world. Yi is not only interested in classical music, but also contemporary music. She joined a lot of contemporary music ensembles in New York. ALICE (SHU-MIN) CHANG Alice (Shu-Min) Chang, from Taiwan, is an active soloist, collaborative pianist, chamber musician and piano teacher currently based in Iowa City, IA. She is currently working towards her D.M.A. degree under the tutelage of Dr. Ksenia Nosikova.

Alice has attended music festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe, including the PianoSummer Festival at New Paltz, NY (2011), the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival in Maiori, Italy (2012), the Semper International Music Festival in Vols am Schlern, Italy (2016), and the International Society for Improvised Music (ISIM) in May 2019. She has performed in master classes given by notable artists such as Aldo Ciccolini, Mikhail Voskresensky, Tamas Ungar, Asaf Zohar, Thomas Mastroianni and Paul Barnes. In May 2018, she was selected to play for Paul Lewis at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival.

Alice has participated in numerous competitions. Several recent awards she has received include Minnesota Music Teachers Association Artistic Ambassador Competition Winner (2012), winner of the Concordia College Concerto and Aria Competition (2013), winner of the University of Iowa Concerto and Aria Competition (2015), and Honorable Mention in the MTNA Competition, West Central Division (2017).

Besides to piano, Alice played both violin and oboe in orchestra since elementary school. Violin is her Secondary Area for her D.M.A. program. PERFORMERS Continued... AVITA DUO Katya Moeller (violin) and Ksenia Nosikova (piano) have played together for over 10 years. They have most recently performed in Iowa, Illinois, Maine, Colorado, and Minnesota, as well as internationally in Brazil, Italy, Austria, and . The Duo presented 5 very successful concerts in Brazil in September 2019 and toured Southeast Asia (Singapore and Bangkok) in February 2020. When the pandemic started, all planned future events were canceled or postponed. But being closely related and living under the same roof allowed the Avita Duo to continue performing either virtually or by preparing pre- recorded broadcasts. They performed on friends’ front lawns when the weather permitted in the summer of 2020 and they also recorded a couple of programs for Iowa City/Coralville senior centers in their home studio. They were featured on a Piano Sundays at Old Capitol pre-recorded broadcast and presented a live livestreamed concert in Voxman in September 2020. In the summer of 2021, Avita Duo will be recording the complete 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano by a contemporary American/Russian composer Lera Auerbach in Voxman Concert Hall at the University of Iowa.

Violinist Katya Moeller, 16, played her first solo recital at the age of six. She continues to share her love of music and joy of performing by regularly presenting diverse programs to appreciative audiences. She made her orchestra debut when she was twelve and since then has been a featured soloist with several symphony orchestras in the Midwest. As a member of the vibrant Avita Duo, she performed multiple concerts in Brazil, Thailand, and Singapore in the fall of 2019 and early 2020. A successful competitor, most recently, Katya was named the First Prize Winner of the World Bach Competition (2020), First Prize Winner of the ODIN International Music Competition (2020), First Prize Winner of the 1st World Violin E-Competition “Napolinova” (2020), Grand Prize Winner of the ENKOR International Violin Competition (2019), 2nd Prize Winner of the 1st Harmonium OnlinePlus International Music Competition (Yerevan) (2020), Prize Winner of the Semper International Music Festival Competition (2018) in Italy and was one of the ten semi-finalists of the 2019 Ysaÿe International Music Competition in Liege, Belgium.

Nationally, she earned Honorable Mention in the National YoungArts Foundation Competition (Miami), and she also was a prize-winner at Schubert Club Student Scholarship Competition (Minneapolis), MTNA West Central Division Junior Strings Auditions, American Music Institute Violin Competition (Chicago), Sejong Music Competition (Chicago) and one of seven finalists of the 2019 National MTNA Auditions. In May 2020, as part of Dasani String Quartet, Katya was the Grand Prize Winner at the Chicago International Music Competition (2020) and received a Silver Medal Award at the Fischoff Chamber Music National Competition (2020). Katya is the 2020 Iowa MTNA and West Central Division winner and will advance to the National Finals in March 2021.

Katya is a violin student of Professor Almita Vamos (Chicago), and a Fellowship member of the prestigious Music Institute of Chicago Academy. She started taking violin lessons at the age of four at the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City. Katya has attended the Aspen Music Festival, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Semper International Music Festival in Italy. She has participated in master classes and lessons with renown musicians and pedagogues, such as Midori (Philadelphia), Rachel Barton Pine (Chicago), Georgy Pauk (London), Naoko Tanaka (New York), Paul Huang (New York), Sergey Kravchenko (Moscow), Donald Weilerstein (Boston), Paul Kantor (Houston), Regina Brandstätter (Vienna), Alexander Brussilovsky (Paris), Vladimir Landsman (Montreal), and the Cavani Quartet (Cleveland). Her 2021 solo engagements include an artist PERFORMERS

residency and 3 performances of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra and invitations to perform with Ottumwa, Bemidji Symphony, and the Iowa City String Orchestra.

Pianist Ksenia Nosikova, praised as “First rate” (Germany’s Fono Forum), “Full of dramatic intensity” (London’s International Piano), “Subtle and expressive” (France’s Journal L’Alsace) “Impressive musicianship, musically very poetic” (Boston Globe), and “Refined sensibility and exquisite pianism” (New York Concert Reviews), has performed extensively in Europe, Asia, Russia, USA, Canada, and South America. The scope of her concert engagements expands from prestigious professional concert venues, such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall in New York City, Shanghai City Hall in China, City Hall Theatre in Hong Kong, Chetham’s International Piano Series in England, and Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, to major academic institutions world-wide, including over 180 American universities’ guest artist series. She performed in various music festivals including Amalfi Coast (Italy), Schlern (Italy), Rimini (Italy), Munster (France), Rovin (Yugoslavia), Gabrovo (Bulgaria), and Novi Sad (Serbia), as well as the Aspen and Sarasota Music Festivals in the United States. Her diverse and extensive repertoire list consists of masterworks and lesser-known pieces, as well as over 30 piano concertos.

Ksenia Nosikova has recorded for Profil Medien, Albany Records, Centaur Records, and Capstone Records labels. Among her nine critically acclaimed CD recordings are the complete Years of Pilgrimage by . Her recording of the Italie volume was called a ‘super disc’ and chosen as one of six recommendable recordings, along with recordings of Brendel, Berman, and Bolet by London’s International Piano magazine. Ksenia Nosikova’ s collaboration with an American composer, Lera Auerbach, led to her enthusiastically reviewed release of Flight and Fire (2007) by Profil Medien GmbH. Her solo CD recording Schumann and Schumann was released in 2013 on the same label. Ms. Nosikova has been featured on several live radio and television programs, including WQXR in New York City, WFMT in Chicago, WGBH in Boston, KMZT in Los Angeles, and Zagreb TV.

Ksenia Nosikova is a graduate of , where she received her Undergraduate and Masters’ (with highest honors) degrees. She earned her Doctoral degree from the University of Colorado. Presently, Dr. Ksenia Nosikova is a Professor of Piano and Co-Chair of Piano Area at the University of Iowa, where she devotedly teaches an international studio of graduate and undergraduate students. Her students have won prizes at numerous competitions, including Eastman Young Artist International Competition, New York International Competition, Liszt-Garrison International Competition, Hilton Head International Competition, Louisiana International Competition, Ibla Grand Prize, and National MTNA Auditions. They performed as soloists with professional symphony orchestras, including Fort Worth Symphony (TX) and Des Moines Symphony (IA), and were featured on national concert series and radio broadcasts, such as the Dame Myra Hess and Phillips Collection Concert Series, and From the Top radio program. Many of her students obtained college teaching jobs and were accepted to leading undergraduate and graduate music programs, including Curtis, Juilliard, Colburn, Eastman, NEC, and Peabody. Since joining the University of Iowa faculty in 1998, Dr. Nosikova has presented over 300 master classes in the US and abroad. Among her most recent appointments are Honorable Professor of Music at the Wenzhou and Shenyang Normal Universities (China), and guest artist faculty of the Wiener MusikSeminar (Austria), Amalfi Coast Music Festival (Italy), and the Semper International Music Festival (Italy).

The prize-winner of three international competitions, she often serves on competition jury panels, including Liszt-Garrison International Competition (USA), E-Piano Competition (USA), Los Angeles International Liszt Competition (USA), Ibla Grand Prize (Italy), Schmidbauer International Competition (USA), and MTNA auditions. She is a member of the American Liszt Society’s Board of Directors and one of the founders and the Artistic Director of Piano Sundays at Old Capitol Concert Series (IA). Ksenia Nosikova is a Steinway Artist.