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NEWS RELEASE
Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu
)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
3/23/2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES -Pianist Nikita Fitenko will present a concert Tuesday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.
The program will include works by Bach-Siloti, Beethoven, Debussy, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev.
An internationally acclaimed Russian pianist, Fitenko has performed recitals and with orchestras in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and South and North America. He has appeared as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Capella Symphony, Belarus National Philharmonic, St. Petersburg State Conservatory Orchestra, Lewisville Symphony, Rapides Symphony, State Hermitage Orchestra and the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra.
While performing a wide and diverse repertoire, Fitenko is an acknowledged master of Russian piano music. Since 1997, he has been under contract with Altarus Records to record a series of works by leading Russian composers of the 20th century. His initial recording of solo piano works by Georgy Sviridov (1997) and his two-CD set of music by Sergei Slonimsky (2000) garnered rave reviews from the international music press. Fanfare Music Review wrote, "Fitenko plays magnificently!" Slonimsky himself described Fitenko's interpretation of his piano music as "outstanding." He said, "It is very vivid, imaginative, virtuosic, fascinating and pianistically brilliant."
A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Fitenko graduated from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with a citation for excellence given to only five other graduates in the last fifty years. After receiving the Anton Rubinstein Memorial Award he came to study to the U.S. pursuing his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of North Texas. His principal teachers included Roman Lebedev, Igor Lebedev and Joseph Banowetz.
Fitenko is a winner of numerous competitions including the Byelorussian International Piano Competition, the Beethoven International Piano Competition, and the Houston Symphony National Young Artist Competition.
He is artistic director of the Louisiana Piano Series International one of the most interesting and diverse classical piano series in the US. The series is in its third year and has brought internationally acclaimed pianists from Europe, Asia and the United States to perform solo recitals as a part of the series.
His future engagements include concerts around the United States and in France, Germany, Luxembourg, South Korea, China and Russia.