Internationally acclaimed pianist Margarita Shevchenko will join the Michigan State University faculty as an associate professor of piano beginning Fall Semester 2016.  

“Margarita Shevchenko is an artist, pianist and teacher who will be an exciting addition to the piano faculty,” says Professor Deborah Moriarty, chair of the Piano Area. “We look forward to collaborating with her.”

Shevchenko's international performance experience as well as teaching success, comments Dean James Forger, will greatly add to the caliber of the MSU faculty dedicated to training a new generation of performers, scholars, and music educators.

“Margarita Shevchenko, a major competition winner with proven skills as a long-time teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Music, is a superb pianist and musician who will bring a new and distinctive musical voice to the College of Music,” Forger says.

Shevchenko has been praised for her Romantic music interpretations, particularly Chopin. She has won major international competitions in Europe, Japan, South Africa, and Israel, and the United States. She has toured worldwide giving solo and concerto performances, and has recorded a collection of works by Schubert, Chopin, Beethoven, Scarlatti and others.

VIDEO: Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 (first movement), Margarita Schevchenko
Mexico State Symphony, video courtesy Margarita Schevchenko

Shevchenko says she was excited to learn about MSU, including its achievements and traditions of excellence during her visit. She says she also enjoyed the warm and friendly atmosphere she experienced among colleagues, students and staff at the College of Music.

“It will be my honor to serve at this great College,” Shevchenko says. “I am planning on contributing to the piano area by performing, attracting high quality students from across the country and abroad, and working closely with my colleagues on future projects to benefit the College of Music. I am looking forward to many wonderful things to come.”

The College reviewed 94 applicants for the piano faculty position after an extensive national search. Search members included a cross-disciplinary committee of both faculty and students from the College of Music. Chaired by Moriarty, the committee included faculty members Suren Bagratuni, Kevin Bartig, Panayis Lyras, and Zhihua Tang; student members were Hyekyung Lee and Bronwen McVeigh; and faculty consultant Derek Polischuk.

About Margarita Shevchenko

Margarita Shevchenko has won major international competitions including the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw; Leeds International Piano Competition, England; UNISA International Piano Competition, Pretoria, South Africa, Cleveland International Piano Competition, USA; and the Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Israel. Praised for her Chopin interpretations, additional recognitions at competitions include the special "Chopin Prize."

Shevchenko has toured throughout the world, giving recital and concerto performances in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Russia, Israel, South Africa, and throughout Europe. Highlights of her orchestral appearances include performances with the “Moscow Virtuosi” orchestra under Vladimir Spivakov, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and Cape Town Symphony under JoAnn Faletta, Polish National Philharmonic, Ohio Chamber Orchestra, Wuerttemberg Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra Symphonica Braziliera, and many others.

She has given critically acclaimed solo recitals at New York's Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Old Opera House in Frankfurt; Salle Cortot, and Chatelet Theater in Paris; Tchaikovsky Hall and the Big Hall of Moscow Conservatory; Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary; Mann Auditorium, Tel-Aviv, Israel and many others.

Her four CD's include a collection of works by Schubert, Chopin, Beethoven, Scarlatti and others. The music critic for the American Record Guide described them as “object lessons in musical intelligence and decorum."

As a former member of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Miami International Piano Academy, Shevchenko has served as a judge of the American Paderewski International Piano Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition, and the National Chopin Piano Competition of the USA among others.