SILL’s Music Mondays Marks First Engagement of the 2019 Olga Kern International Piano Competition Winner

SILL’s popular Music Mondays series entitled “Musical Conversations with Great Performers” features informal performances and lively conversations with renowned performers of all disciplines. For the first time in its history, the program will host the first prize winner of the prestigious Olga Kern International Piano Competition Winner. Tetiana Shafran, a 31-year-old pianist from Ukraine, was announced as the first-prize winner of the 2019 competition in November. She will share her talents with Music Monday audiences on March 23.

Ed Alley, the producer and host of Music Mondays, describes the cross-fertilization between SILL and the Olga Kern International Piano Competition as a “natural creative collaboration.”

“I was lucky enough to meet Olga Kern during her two recent performances in Sarasota,” he explains. “Last season, she agreed to be a guest on Music Mondays, and we spoke about hosting the first-prize winner of her 2019 competition. It’s a wonderful opportunity to share the talents of a rising star with the local community. We’re especially delighted that this will mark Ms. Shafran’s first performance after winning the prize.” Alley adds that, as part of winning the competition, Shafran will give recitals at prominent venues in New York City, Moscow, Milan, and elsewhere around the world. “But we get her first,” he says with a smile.

The Olga Kern International Piano Competition (OKIPC) is presented by Olga Kern and the New Mexico Philharmonic. This globally recognized competition is designed to provide a platform for gifted young pianists to launch their international careers. The 2019 competition was held October 27 to November 3 in Albuquerque, N.M., and awarded more than $30,000 in cash prizes. The first-prize winner is awarded a $15,000 cash prize, a series of national and international concert engagements, and a professional recording on the Steinway & Sons label.

Tetiana Shafran was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1989. Three years later, her fingers found their first piano keyboard—and the rest is history. Shafran became the prizewinner of 18 international piano competitions and has performed in some of the most renowned concert halls of Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia. Shafran selected the challenging Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30, for her finalist performance in the 2019 Olga Kern International Piano Competition,

The 2020 Music Mondays are January 6 through March 25. The morning sessions, hosted by the series’ producer, Edward Alley, are 10:30 a.m. at Church of the Palms, 3224 Bee Ridge Road. Afternoon sessions, hosted by Dr. Joseph Holt or Robert Sherman of WQXR, are at 3 p.m. at Venice Presbyterian Church, 825 The Rialto. Tickets are $10 per session. To purchase tickets, visit www.sillsarasota.org. For more information, call 941-365-6404.