Russian pianist Sofya Gulyak will perform Sunday, Oct. 21, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The UAB Piano Series, presented by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music, brings the world’s finest pianists to Birmingham. Distinguished Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence Yakov Kasman, a Van Cliburn medalist, directs the series.
Gulyak was awarded the first prize and the Princess Mary Gold Medal in 2009 at the 16th Leeds International Piano Competition — the first woman in the history of the competition to achieve this distinction. Gulyak has performed with dozens of orchestras around the world. She is also professor of piano at the London Royal College of Music. Gulyak has been praised for her “tremendous precision and coloration ... exquisite soft playing ... with delicacy” and described as a “Rach star” by the Washington Post.
On the program for Gulyak’s performance are selections by Bach-Busoni, Clementi, Franck-Bauer, Wagner-Liszt and Ravel. The performance is set for 4 p.m. in UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall. Tickets are $15 general admission, $5 for students through grade 12 and UAB employees, and free to UAB students. Call 205-975-2787 for tickets. Call 205-934-7376 or visit www.uab.edu/cas/music for more information.
Gulyak’s resume includes prizes from many prestigious piano competitions. She is a first-prize winner of the William Kapell International Piano Competition in the United States, the Maj Lind Helsinki International Piano Competition, the Tivoli Piano Competition in Copenhagen, the Isang Yun International Piano Competition in South Korea, and the San Marino Piano Competition, and winner of the Busoni Competition in Italy and prize winner of the Marguerite Long Piano Competition in Paris.
Gulyak is a native of Kazan (Russia) where she studied in a Special Music College under Nailya Khakimova, and then in Kazan State Conservatoire under Professor Elfiya Burnasheva. After that, she continued her studies at the Piano Academy “Incontri col Maestro” (Imola, Italy) with Boris Petrushansky, and at the Royal College of Music in London with Vanessa Latarche. Gulyak attended as a jury member the international piano competitions in Italy, Serbia, France, Greece and the United States, and was invited to teach master classes in China, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Mexico, the United States and Germany.