Pianist impresses audiences

This woman moved to the USA from Ukraine in 1990 and is now an assistant professor at the SC School of Music and is also a well known pianist around the world. DP

Classical musican shares why she loves the piano

By GARY PANETTA of the Journal Star

PEORIA — She's been called the reigning classical music celebrity of Columbia, S.C.

But Marina Lomazov has been impressing listeners across the United States as well.

Her performances have been broadcast regularly on National Public Radio, including on NPR's "PerformanceToday." In addition to earning degrees from The Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music, Lomazov has won top prizes in several of the world's major piano competitions.

Lomazov is a native of Ukraine, which was still part of the former Soviet Union when she lived there. She and her family emigrated to the United States in 1990. Today she is assistant professor of piano at the University of South Carolina School of Music.

I recently interviewed Lomazov, who will perform Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto on Saturday with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra. Here is an excerpt:

Panetta: Tell me about the Grieg Piano Concerto.

Lomazov: It's inspired a lot of very great piano concertos that came after it. Like Rachmaninov's Second, actually. I know that he admired the Grieg concerto very much.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.