NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

4/20/2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES -Pianist Marian Lapsansky will perform at Northwestern State University Sunday, April 23 at 3 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. The performance is final one of the Louisiana Piano Series International's 2005-2006 season. Tickets are $10. Students from Northwestern, the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts and all students from the state of Louisiana are admitted free.

Lapsansky is noted as an outstanding soloist, as well as one of the most sought-after chamber players on the contemporary scene. He is preparing a concert with the famous Czech violinist Josef Suk featuring the complete works for violin and piano by Antonin Dvorak.

His performance will include works by Zdenek Fibich, Leos Janacek, Eugen Suchon, Edvard Hagerup Grieg and Issac Albeniz.

Lapsansky's first major success came while he was still a student at the Bratislava Conservatory, and subsequently at the Academy of Music in Prague, when he took the top prize at the Smetana Piano Competition in Hradec Kralove and the Prize for the best interpretation of the works of Mozart (1971). He later won the Anda-Buhrle Prize (1972) while attending masterclasses in Zurich. Other awards which contributed to his rapid rise as a concert performer included the Czech Critics' Prize, a Gold Medal from the Katia Popova Laureate Festival (Bulgaria) and the First Prize at the International Tribune of Young Performers under the aegis of UNESCO, held during the Bratislava Music Festival.

During his career, Lapsansky has been a frequent guest on nearly every prestigious concert stage in the world, appearing with such celebrated orchestras as the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic, the Orchestre de la Radio Suisse Romande, the Dresdner Staatskapelle, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and many others. Lapsansky's recent engagements include performances at Prague Spring Festival, in the Olivier Messiaen Hall in Paris, and in Suntori Hall in Tokyo.

His recordings have also received prestigious prizes. In 1995, together with cellist Jiri Barta, he won the Supraphon Prize and the Zlata Harmonie Prize for their CD featuring the works of Rachmaninov, Schnitke and Part. In 1997 his 12-CD set Zdenek Fibich: Moods, Impressions and Reminiscences was named the recording of the year. He also won the 2002 Gustav Mahler European Prize awarded by the European Union.

Lapsansky is also frequently invited to judge international piano competitions. He also teaches music at the Universities of Bratislava and Prague.

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