BGSU piano student to compete at Kennedy Center

A BGSU graduate student from Russia will compete for the $10,000 grand prize in a piano competition this week in Washington, D.C.

Svetlana Smolina is a semifinalist in the 52nd annual Washington International Competition for
Piano, which will be held Saturday and Sunday (March 12 and 13) at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The competition seeks to promote outstanding young artists who are engaged in new performance opportunities to increase audiences, interest, participation and support.

A graduate of the Balakirev Music College in Russia and the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, Smolina currently studies with Distinguished Teaching Professor Virginia Marks in the College of Musical Arts.
In addition to being a soloist with Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Symphony, she has participated in the Sakharov International Music Festival in her native land, and recently presented recitals in Italy, Greece and Japan.

A winner in the music college’s annual Competitions in Music Performance last year, the pianist has also won several national and international piano competitions. She has been recognized as part of the Mogilevsky/Smolina Duo with her husband, Maxim Mogilevsky, music performance studies. The duo won the grand prize, audience prize and Casadsus Award at the 2001 Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition in Miami, Fla.

In February, Smolina traveled to New York City to compete in the live preliminary auditions for the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Her future engagements include six recitals in Italy, a performance in the Ruhr Festival in Germany, recitals and master classes in Corfu, Greece, and a performance in the Friends of the Salzburg Festival series in Austria.