Acclaimed young American pianist Drew Petersen is a sought-after soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. “With technique to spare as well as tenderness and lyricism that many pianists gloss over” (The New York Times), he has already appeared in major series including the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Ravinia Festival, and Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. He is the recipient of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the 2017 American Pianists Awards and Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship. Petersen continually advocates for the necessity of classical music and other arts in society, and was named a 2006 Davidson Fellow for his portfolio entitled Keeping Classical Music Alive.

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Drew Petersen

California State University Fresno Concert Hall

Born in Moscow and now a resident of Berlin, Zlata Chochieva has gained international recognition for her “consistently inspired, masterfully executed and beautiful sounding interpretations” (Gramophone). Protegé of the legendary Mikhail Pletnev, she is firmly established as one of the leading pianists of her generation having performed to great acclaim in many of the world’s major venues including Herkulessaal in Munich, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, and the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

Zlata Chochieva

Prize winner at the Queen Elisabeth, Schumann, Bach, and Sydney International Piano Competitions, Svetlana Navasardyan has gained legendary status for her shining virtuosity and multicolored musical palette. Her vibrant performing career has taken her to prestigious festivals and major concert halls around the world including the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Opera House of Sydney, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Gewandhaus of Leipzig, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and the Asahi Hall of Tokyo.

Svetlana Navasardyan

An artist of extraordinary depth and versatility, Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky has been described as “the most trailblazing and meteoric performer of all” (Gramophone). “A pianist with everything impressively under his command” (The Guardian), he has established a regular presence on the world’s most prominent stages. He possesses “one of the most complete and remarkable keyboard arsenals of our day” (Chicago Classical Review), and his “immense technical fluency and innate musical quality” (Gramophone) have won him the “Diapason d'Or”, the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik”, and the “Gramophone Editor's Choice”.

Nikolai Lugansky

Master Class with Barry Douglas

Recipient of a doctoral degree from The Juilliard School of Music, complemented by studies at the École Normale de Paris - Alfred Cortot, this French-Canadian artist is now recognized as one of America’s most virtuosic organists. Recent highlights of her vast performance activities include her debuts at Davies Hall in San Francisco and Disney Hall in Los Angeles as well as a fourteen-concert tour of England and Germany. Her debut CD for the British Acis label was praised as a “superbly produced” and “clear, tightly focused recording” (Fanfare Magazine), and received the highest recommendation for its “profound and searching performances” (Church Music Quarterly).

Isabelle Demers

First Congregational Church of Fresno

Yefim Bronfman is firmly established as one of the leading pianists of our time. This Russian-Israeli-American artist “stands out from the crowd” (The Boston Globe) and is a “virtuoso whose musicality surpasses mere brilliance” (The New York Times), regularly performing under the world’s foremost conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Christoph Eschenbach, Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and David Zinman.

Yefim Bronfman

Fresno City College

Barry Douglas has established a major international career since winning the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. As Artistic Director of Camerata Ireland and the Clandeboye Festival he continues to celebrate his Irish heritage whilst also maintaining a busy international touring schedule that has led to collaborations with world-renowned conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, André Previn, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Barry Douglas

The Alexander String Quartet has performed in the major music capitals of five continents, securing its standing among the world's premier ensembles over three decades. Widely admired for its interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, and Shostakovich, the Quartet has also established itself as an important advocate of new music through more than 25 commissions and numerous premiere performances. The Alexander String Quartet has been a major artistic presence in its home base of San Francisco, serving there as directors of the Morrison Chamber Music Center at the School of Music and Dance in the College of Creative Arts at San Francisco State University and Ensemble-in-Residence of San Francisco Performances.

Alexander String Quartet

An artist of “exceptional musicality” (La Sicilia, Italy), he has over thirty compact discs spanning repertoire from the Baroque to the 21st century to his credit and performed to critical acclaim in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East. His efforts in promoting Mexican Music have resulted in appearances at major venues in Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York, Beijing, Oslo, Paris, Lisbon, Río de Janeiro, and Guayaquil, among others.

Mauricio Náder

Master Class with Mauricio Náder

Celebrated for his “tasteful virtuosity, elegant sense of proportion, and the balance between intimacy and declamation” (The New York Times), Garrick Ohlsson attained legendary status in 1970 when he became the first and only American to earn the Gold Medal in the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. A musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess, he commands an enormously wide and eclectic repertoire that spans from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century and includes over 80 concerti for piano and orchestra.

Garrick Ohlsson

Jack Mitchener has established himself as one of America’s leading concert organists bringing “music to life with supple rhythmic control, clear phrasing, energy, and sensitivity” (The American Organist). He enjoys a thriving international performance career that includes appearances in such notable venues as St. Thomas Church in New York City, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, the Church of St. Augustine in Vienna, Jacobikirche in Lübeck, Germany, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Jack Mitchener (organ)

First Congregational Church

Since winning all prizes at the 2005 Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, pianist Rafał Blechacz has established himself firmly on the international concert scene and is celebrated by both the audience and the press worldwide for his profound and virtuosic interpretations. Described by the great Martha Argerich as an “honest, extraordinary, and sensitive artist,” he is only the second Polish pianist, after Krystian Zimerman, to have enlisted under the Deutsche Grammophon label. Most recently, he was awarded a prestigious Gilmore Artist Award in recognition of his brilliant achievements and passionate commitment to his art.

Rafał Blechacz

This concert marks the debut performance of the newly established Komitas Trio comprised of leading Southern California-based musicians of Armenian heritage and formed with the mission of championing the music of Armenian composers alongside that of other great masters. Its members include violinist Aroussiak Baltaian, cellist Garik Terzian, and pianist Michael Krikorian, a Fresno native who gave his acclaimed solo debut on the series during the 2019-2020 season. Educated at prestigious institutions including California State University, Fresno, the Manhattan School of Music, University of Southern California, the Komitas Conservatory in Armenia, and the Guildhall School for Music and Drama in London, these three colleagues have been active with great success as performers, pedagogues, competition adjudicators, and recording artists in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Komitas Trio

Known for the freshness and originality of his musical interpretations, American pianist Jeremy Denk has steadily built a reputation as one of today’s most compelling and persuasive artists with an unusually broad repertoire. Winner of a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, the Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America's Instrumentalist of the Year award, he was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “Jeremy Denk, clearly, is a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs, in whatever combination – both for his penetrating intellectual engagement with the music and for the generosity of his playing.” (The New York Times).

Philip Lorenz International Keyboard Concerts

Apr 27, 2025

Drew Petersen

Mar 28, 2025

Zlata Chochieva

Philip Lorenz International Keyboard Concerts