CICA Summer Music Festival
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Piano Faculty Biography
Andrey Ponochevny
Andrey Ponochevny is a prize-winning pianist born in Minsk, Belarus on December 31, 1976. He graduated at the Belarussian State Academy of Music in 2001, and soon afterward was awarded the Bronze Medal at the XIII Tchaikovsky competition. In addition to his success in Moscow, Mr. Ponochevny has won many top prizes, including First Prize at the “Tomassoni International Piano Competition in Cologne”, Germany (1996) and the First Prize at the “William Kapell International Piano Competition in Maryland”, USA (1998). His other competition accolades include top prizes in Prague, Warsaw (Chopin), Dublin (AXA), Moscow, Hong Kong, Riga (Latvia), Alexandria and New Orleans (Louisiana).
Since then, he has toured extensively in the United States (in 24 states). He has performed solo recitals at major venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City; Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection in Washington, DC; Preston Bradley Hall in Chicago and Cleveland Institute of Music.
Mr. Ponochevny has appeared with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, Rogue Valley Symphony and the Illinois Symphony, Nashua Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Irving Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Plano Symphony, Tianjin Symphony, Xinjiang Philharmonic, Orchester der Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele and Belarusian State Symphony among others.
His concerts have been broadcast on WGBH Boston, WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago, WDR Cologne (Germany), Kultura Minsk (Belarus), SIRTVS Ljubljana (Slovenia), ROROR Bucharest (Romania), AUABC Adelaide (Australia), DKDR Copenhagen (Denmark).
In recent seasons, Mr. Ponochevny has been featured in Europe at major venues including the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Philharmonie in Cologne, City Hal in Hong Kong, Salle Alfred Cortot in Paris and the Forum in Ludwigsburg, National Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw and Stadtkasino, Basel.
Andrey Ponochevny performed at several prestigious festivals such as Ruhr Klavier Festival and the Bonner Herbst, International Keyboard Institute and Festival (IKIF) in New York city, International Ludwigsburg Festival; Serie de los Nuevos Virtuosos in Puerto Rico, Bravissimo Festival in Guatemala city, Changchun International festival, China, Music in the Mountains, Durango, CO. He also holds several prestigious awards from China such as Outstanding Artist in China 2009 and 2011, Honorable professor of Jilin College of Arts and visiting professor at the Beihua University.
In his hometown Minsk (Belarus) he was awarded the title “Minskovite of the year 2002”.
Mr.Ponochevny graduated from Belarussian Academy of Music where he received his Bachelor and Master degrees. He also holds his Artist Diploma from TCU, Fort Worth, where he studied with Dr. Tamas Ungar. He continued to refine his skills in the Artist Certificate Program at SMU in Dallas with renowned pianist Joaquin Achucarro.
In addition to his concert schedule, he also teaches piano at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas.
