Musical Arts International, Inc.

Praised by critics for his lyricism, virtuosity and an intensity of performance, pianist Martin Labazevitch appeared in many concert halls and festivals in Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Peru and the United States.

Born in Poland, Mr. Labazevitch studied at the Odessa Conservatory in Ukraine and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. In 2019 he received Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Rome School of Music, Drama and Art in Washington D.C. His main teachers and mentors include Nina Svetlanova, Horacio Gutierrez, Dmitri Bashkirov, Bella Davidovich and Jorge Luis Prats. He has been a soloist with orchestras in Spain, Poland, Lithuania, Japan, and the United States. Of his debut album release on the Delos label, of the Chopin Concerto with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra lead by Ewa Strusinska, the Fanfare Magazine wrote: “His way of Chopin is fluid and convincing. He plays with a superb control of rubato and has the most beautiful way of melting a phrase.” Of the same album, ConcertoNet wrote, “...he pleasantly refrains from overtaxing Chopin’s conclusive Allegro vivace with shimmering grandeur and eloquent precision that could even rival that of Arthur Rubinstein.” An avid chamber musician, he has collaborated with Isidore Cohen, Lukas Foss, Ruth Laredo, Andres Cardenes, Amit Peled, Ju-Young Baek, Michael Mermagen, as well as the Spokane and Vilnius String Quartets. After his piano trio debut at Carnagie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, The Strad Magazine wrote: “... exuberant, multi-faceted, ...gripping from first note to the last.” Mr Labazevitch has worked with several prominent contemporary composers, such as Lukas Foss, Richard Danielpour and Lori Laitman.

Performance highlights of the recent seasons include: Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Terrace Theater at Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Damme Myra Hess Series in Chicago, Chopin Foundation in Miami and the Philharmonic Society of Lima, Peru. An enthusiastic educator, Mr Labazevitch has been sharing his passion for teaching with students at the Levine School of Music in Washington D.C. He is also the Founder of the Berkshire Piano Academy, in Massachusetts as well as the Artistic Director of the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition and Chopin Piano Academy in Washington D.C. In 2022 Mr Labazevitch co-founded The Paderewski Academy, a pioneer hybrid piano academy based in Zurich, Switzerland. Mr Labazevitch is a Steinway Artist.

Misha Tumanov is a frequent performer at festivals and conferences, both as a solo and collaborative pianist, including the Washington International Piano Festival, the International Double Reed Society conference, MTNA, Piano Technicians Guild, and Orfeo Music Festival in Italy. He has been a featured soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the National and Youth Symphony Orchestras of Costa Rica, ProArte Chamber Orchestra, and the Ball State Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Tumanov has won numerous awards and competitions, including 2nd place at the East-Central Division of the MTNA National Competition, the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale, and 1st Prize at the Pinault International Competition in New York.

Born in Ukraine, Misha Tumanov started his musical education in Costa Rica at the Instituto Superior de Artes and the Pre-College Program of the National University, studying with Dr. Alexandr Sklioutovsky. After graduating with honors from the National University at age seventeen, he continued his studies with Dr. Ray Kilburn at Ball State University, receiving a Master’s Degree and Artist Diploma in piano performance. Dr. Tumanov earned his Doctorate at the University of Maryland, under Dr. Larissa Dedova. Dr. Tumanov’s major teachers also include Dr. Anna Balakerskaia and Ludmila Melzer.

In 2021, Dr. Tumanov released his second solo CD featuring works by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Feinberg, and Deshevov. A CD of Shostakovich’s complete early works for solo piano is planned for 2025.

 

Tickets: regular $25, student $20. Please mail a check to MAI, PO Box 2284, Silver Spring, 20915 or email a message to musicalartsinternational@yahoo.com or call 301-933-3715 for Venmo deposit.

 

Solo Program:

• D. Scarlatti: Sonatas, K. 32, 210 & 56
• W.A. Mozart: Fantasia in C minor, K. 475
• F. Liszt: Totentanz, S. 126 and also pieces by Medtner, Scriabin, Rybicki and Liszt

 

Date: Sunday, March 2nd, 2025 @3 pm

 

Address:

Calvary Lutheran Church

9545 Georgia Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910

Between 495 and Georgia Ave. Metro red line to Forest Glen. Free parking on Flora Lane, reception follows. Handicap accessible.

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Internationally acclaimed pianist and Yamaha Artist Nikita Fitenko has performed recitals and with orchestras in the former Soviet Union, Europe, Asia, and South and North America. He has appeared as a soloist with such orchestras as St. Petersburg Capella Symphony, Russian Chamber Philharmonic, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra of Moscow, St. Petersburg State Conservatory Orchestra, State Hermitage Orchestra, Slovak National Philharmonic, Corvallis Symphony Orchestra, Lewisville Symphony, Rapides Symphony, and Northwestern Symphony Orchestra among others.

While performing a wide and diverse repertoire, Nikita Fitenko is an acknowledged master of Russian piano music. His CDs for Altarus Records of complete piano works by leading contemporary Russian composers Georgy Sviridov and Sergei Slonimsky have garnered rave reviews from the international music press. Fanfare Music Review wrote, "Fitenko plays magnificently!" Slonimsky himself described Fitenko's interpretation of his piano music as "outstanding." He also added, "It is very vivid, imaginative, virtuosic, fascinating, and pianistically brilliant." Mr. Fitenko's recording of Scriabin's Piano Concerto with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra of Moscow was released internationally on Classical Records label. His latest solo recordings of works by Bach, Beethoven, Mussorgsky, and Rachmaninov as well as 'All Tchaikovsky CD' for Classical Records were released in 2015 & 2017 (all recordings are available through Amazon & iTunes).

Native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Nikita Fitenko graduated from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with a citation for excellence given to only five other graduates in the last fifty years. After receiving the Anton Rubinstein Memorial Award, he came to study to the US pursuing his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of North Texas. His principal teachers included Roman Lebedev, Igor Lebedev, and Joseph Banowetz.

Dr. Fitenko has been invited to serve on many international piano competition juries. Among his students are winners of national and international competitions including the National MTNA Competition.

Currently, Dr. Fitenko holds a position of Professor of Piano at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Prior to that he was Associate Professor and Coordinator of Keyboard Area at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He is the Artistic Director of the American International Piano Festival & Competition (www.aipfc.us) and the Washington International Piano Festival (www.washingtonpianofest.com). Dr. Fitenko was also the founder of the Louisiana International and Florida International Piano Competitions.

Katerina Zaitseva

Praised by the Fanfare magazine as a pianist with “imaginative and colorful interpretive approach”, Katerina Zaitseva has performed in the United States, Germany, Luxemburg, France, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia at major venues that have included the Moscow State Conservatory Hall, John F. Kennedy Center, National Gallery of Art, Yamaha Hall in New York, as well as the opening of the Meadows Museum of Art in Dallas, with Juan Carlos II of Spain in attendance. Ms. Zaitseva has been featured as soloist with orchestras including the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Meadows Symphony Orchestra, Corvallis Symphony, Lewisville Lake Symphony, and Rapides Symphony Orchestra among others. She has recorded seven CDs for the Classical Records label, including Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 1 and Symphonic Dances for two pianos with Nikita Fitenko; piano solo works by Rachmaninoff; piano solo works of Scriabin, and Medtner; piano solo works by Schubert, Schumann, and Liszt; Glazunov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra; works for piano four hands by Schumann and Brahms with Nikita Fitenko; and flute trios by Beethoven, Kuhlau, and Donizetti with flutist Dennette McDermott and bassoonist Douglas Bakenhus.

As a chamber musician, Katerina performs extensively in piano duo with Nikita Fitenko. Praised by critics for their “superlative sound, superlative interpretation, and superlative pianism…” (European Piano Teachers Association Journal), the duo has performed worldwide with most recent appearances at the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Ginza Yamaha Hall (Tokyo, Japan), Munetsugu Hall (Nagoya, Japan), Harbin Conservatory (China), University of Florida Young Pianists Festival, the Moscow State Conservatory Hall (Russia), Nancyphonies Music Festival (France), and Madeira Music Festival (Portugal).

Currently Katerina Zaitseva is on the piano faculty at the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C. Prior to that she was an Artist in Residence at Louisiana College and the Coordinator of Class Piano at the University of Maryland. Among her students are winners of state and national competitions. She holds her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland, Master of Music from the Southern Methodist University, Bachelor of Music from the University of North Texas, and Diploma from the Music School affiliated with the Moscow State Conservatory in Russia. Her principal teachers include Joaquín Achúcarro, Larissa Dedova, Pamela Mia Paul, and Neil Rutman.

Nikita Fitenko and Katerina Zaitseva have been playing as a duo since 2001. Hailed by critics for their “superlative sound, superlative interpretation, and superlative pianism…” (European Piano Teachers Association Journal), the duo has performed and presented masterclasses worldwide with most recent appearances at the Moscow State Conservatory Hall (Russia), the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Tokyo College of Music (Japan), Ginza Yamaha Hall (Tokyo, Japan), Munetsugu Hall (Nagoya, Japan), Harbin Conservatory (China), Nancyphonies Music Festival (France), and Madeira Music Festival (Portugal). In the review of their performance of the Hungarian Dances by Brahms and Slavonic Dances by Dvorak at Nancyphonies Festival, the music critic wrote: “Zaitseva and Fitenko created music that breathed without extravagance…the four hands putting clarity between the notes which made ribbons fly, lace dance, and wooden floors crack” (L’EST REPUBLICAIN, France). Available through Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify, their critically acclaimed CDs featuring works for piano four hands by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms as well as Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 1 and Symphonic Dances for two pianos were released internationally by the Classical Records label.

Tickets: regular $25, student $15. Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fitenko-zaitseva-piano-duo-concert-tickets-1661463384709?aff=oddtdtcreator

Or mail a check to MAI, PO Box 2284, Silver Spring, 20915 or call 301-933-3715

Program:

• Piano 4-hand, Schubert Fantasy; Brahms Three Hungarian Dances, Glinka Waltz Fantasie; Debussy Petit Suite; Poulenc, Sonata FP8
• Katerina solo, Liszt, Rhapsodie espagnole 
• Nikita solo, Chopin Three Waltz, Fantasy Impromptu op 66.

 

Date: Sunday, November 2nd, 2025 @3 pm

 

Address:

Calvary Lutheran Church

9545 Georgia Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910

Between 495 and Georgia Ave. Metro red line to Forest Glen. Free parking on Flora Lane, reception follows. Handicap accessible.

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Musical Arts International, Inc. is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization.