Oct. 13, 1995
Acclaimed Russian Cellist Sets Nov. 5 Appearance
By Jaime Larson
UW-RF News Bureau
Acclaimed Russian cellist Tanya Remenikova will appear Nov. 5 at UW-River Falls. She will perform at 7 p.m. in William Abbott Concert Hall in the Kleinpell Fine Arts Building. Admission is free for students and $5 for non-students. Tickets will be available at the door.
Remenikova is a well-traveled performer. She has performed in cities such as London, Moscow, Jerusalem, Brussels, Bonn, Frankfurt, Florence, Taipei, and Shanghai. In the United States, Remenikova has performed in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Kansas City, and at the Aspen Music Festival.
The "St. Paul Pioneer Press" commended Remenikova's "Full command of brilliant technique . . . unusually vital rhythmic sense . . . (and) beautiful fluency and grace." The London "Daily Telegraph" said, "The young Russian Tanya Remenikova has all the attributes of the great players . . . complete mastery of light and shade."
Remenikova graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire and was a Gold Medalist at the Cassado Competition in 1969. In 1979 Remenikova received the Eugene Ysaye Award for Cultural Contribution, and she and her husband were once invited to perform for then-West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.
Born in Moscow, Remenikova applied to leave the Soviet Union in 1971. Between this time and her eventual departure, she was made an outcast.
She emigrated in 1972 and began performing concerts in Europe and Israel. She and her husband and accompanist Alexander Braginsky came to the United States in 1976. Remenikova didn't return to Russia until 1990, when one of her students competed in the International Tchaikovsky Competition.
Not only a performer, Remenikova also teaches. Since 1976, she has attracted students worldwide as a professor and chamber music coach at the School of Music. She was an Artist-in-Residence at Cambridge University in England, and has taught internationally, including master classes in Taiwan and the Republic of China.
Remenikova's intense music training with musicians Valentin Berlinsky and Mstislav Rostropovich and Russian composer Edison Denisov is an important element in her teaching style. Besides being a cellist, she also minored in piano, and accompanies her students in lessons.
Remenikova has made recordings of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Britten, and her performances have been broadcast around the world on networks such as the BBC in London, National Public Radio, and American Public Radio.
Currently a professor of chamber music and cello at the University of Minnesota, Remenikova lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Braginsky.
Remenikova's performance is presented as part of the Wyman Concert & Lectures Series. For more information, contact Concerts & Lectures at 715/425-3904.