Founded in 2015 and directed by piano professor Dr. Susan Chan, the PSU Steinway Piano Series brings internationally recognized performers and educators to Portland for a weekend of public recitals and master classes each year. Acting as a bridge between world-class stages and the college classroom, the series elevates awareness for PSU’s outstanding music program while providing students and concertgoers with access to a broad spectrum of the highest level professional pianists performing today.
 

"one of the secretly best concert series in Portland: PSU’s Steinway Series … brings an impressive array of some of the best pianists alive to the city for concerts and masterclasses."
- Oregon ArtsWatch

Pianist Oxana Yablonskaya holding the hand of an orchestra conductor with the orchestra in the background.

Spring 2024 Guest Artist: Oxana Yablonskaya

The PSU Steinway Piano Series looks forward to its Spring 2024 residency with star pianist Oxana Yablonskaya. 

“…Yablonskaya is a mixture of passion, power and poetry” - Toronto Star

CONCERT

Piano Repertoire Gems of the 18th-20th Centuries
Music by Franck, C.P.E. Bach, Liszt, Schubert, Rachmanioff, and Tchaikovsky

Starring Oxana Yablonskaya

Friday, May 10, 2024
7:00 PM
Lincoln Recital Hall, Room 75

Ms. Yablonskaya will also perform the piano 4-hands version of Franck’s Prelude, Fugue and Variation, Op. 18 with Susan Chan.

These events are presented by the PSU Steinway Piano Series.

GUEST ARTIST MASTER CLASS

Saturday, May 11, 2024
7:00 PM
Lincoln Recital Hall, Room 75
Free and open to the public. 

Featuring current and former PSU students with Oxana Yablonskaya.

FACULTY MASTER CLASS

Sunday, May 12, 2024
2:00 PM
Lincoln Recital Hall, Room 75
Free and open to the public. 

Featuring students from the community with PSU Professor Susan Chan.

A black and white photo of Oxana Yablonskaya leaning on a piano when she was younger

About Oxana Yablonskaya

“…Yablonskaya’s musicality never gives way…If tastefulness and stylistic insight mean anything to you, you will thoroughly enjoy listening to Oxana Yablonskaya” - Los Angeles Times

“a technique as impressive as ever...  Being perfectly able to manipulate the keyboard however she wants, Yablonskaya knows when to take risks and when to pull back and let the music speak for itself.” - Chicago Sun-Times

Pianist Oxana Yablonskaya delivers charismatic performances and profound interpretations that garner worldwide acclaim. Celebrated for her powerhouse virtuosity, exquisite sensitivity, and deep emotional drive, “Yablonskaya is a mixture of passion, power and poetry.” (Toronto Star) With a storied career that spans more than half a century, Yablonskaya performs with “a technique as impressive as ever...  Being perfectly able to manipulate the keyboard however she wants, Yablonskaya knows when to take risks and when to pull back and let the music speak for itself.” (Chicago Sun-Times) 

An American-Israeli pianist born in Moscow, Yablonskaya launched her career by winning top prizes in the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in 1963, Rio de Janeiro Piano Competition in 1965 and the Vienna Beethoven Competition in 1969. Yablonskaya was invited to perform as soloist and with orchestras in concert halls in the West during the 1960s and 1970s, but was never allowed to accept invitations. She performed throughout the USSR and made numerous recordings on the Melodya label. She was named a "Soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic" and was highly active as a soloist with the Bolshoi Orchestra. Frustrated by the limitations of her artistic freedom, she emigrated to the United States in 1977, but only after two years of waiting as “Refusnik” stripped of her job at the Moscow Conservatory and concert career. 75 prominent musicians, actors, composers, and senators, including Leonard Bernstein, Kathryn Hepburn, Shelly Winters, Henry Miller, Isaak Bashevis-Singer (Nobel Prize Winner) and even President Carter appealed to the Soviet government to let her leave. Her Carnegie Hall debut recital the following October was attended by a capacity crowd and deemed “a vibrant dialogue.” (The New York Times) As "one of the country's most distinguished musical residents," (New York Times) she has since taken her place among the major pianists of the world. 

Yablonskaya taught as a member of the piano faculty at the Juilliard School for more than 25 years, has toured in concerts and recitals throughout the world, and has made numerous, acclaimed recordings. She is a recipient of the Einstein Medal for Outstanding Achievements in the Arts, Winner of Grand Prix du Disque from the Liszt Society in Budapest for her recording of music by Schubert-Liszt and Liszt, and is an Honorary Academician of the International Academy of the Arts at the United Nations, International Academy of the Arts in San Francisco, and Independent Academy of Liberal Arts at the Russian Academy of Sciences. In addition to her concertizing and teaching, Yablonskaya made editions for International Music Co. in New York. Yablonskaya now lives in Israel and teaches at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She continues to dazzle audiences throughout Israel and abroad.

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors

The PSU Steinway Piano Series is sponsored by the Arima Schumann Fund of Schwab Charitable, Ausplund Tooze Family Foundation, Layzell Family Foundation, Steinway & Sons Portland, and other donors with additional support from PSU College of the Arts and PSU School of Music & Theater.

Susan Chan headshot

Susan Chan: Piano Professor, Founder, and Director

Thank you for your interest in the PSU Steinway Piano Series. If you have questions about our piano program at PSU, please see ‘Piano at PSU’ below. We look forward to seeing you at future events!

Piano student in recital

Piano at PSU

The PSU School of Music & Theater's Piano program equips pianists with the skills and tools they will need to succeed as professional musicians.

Instructor and student edit a score at the piano

Support the Steinway Piano Series

The PSU Steinway Piano Series is sponsored by the Arima Schumann Fund of Schwab Charitable, Ausplund Tooze Family Foundation, Layzell Family Foundation, Steinway & Sons Portland, and other donors. Join our sponsors and help us continue to bring world-class piano performers to Portland with a gift today!