Ukrainian-American Pianist Inna Faliks to Perform at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts will present an evening with acclaimed Ukrainian-American pianist Inna Faliks, who breaks new ground with a breathtakingly innovative homage to Beethoven and Ravel that includes the live premieres of imaginative and rich new works for the piano by nine contemporary composers, including Paola Prestini, Billy Childs, Timo Andres, Richard Danielpour, Peter Golub, Ian Krouse, David Lefkowitz, Mark Carlson, and Tamir Hendelman, on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, 7:30 pm, in The Wallis' Bram Goldsmith Theater. On the program are Beethoven's Bagatelles, op. 126, and Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit alongside the new works by the nine composers, the latter six all UCLA faculty composers, who were commissioned to craft responses to these masterpieces. Some of these works are being played live in performance for the first time. A pre-concert Prelude with Inna Faliks and Classical California KUSC's Brian Lauritzen takes place on stage at 6:30 pm.

The performance also celebrates Faliks' CD release of the program on Navona Records, which was recorded/produced during the global pandemic with the help of Yamaha's Disklavier technology. According to critics, the results are exhilarating, not least owing to Faliks's stunningly precise and sensitive pianistic interpretation. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist. Commissions supported by Davise Fund, UCLA, and Yamaha Artist Services.

Ticket prices are $29-$79 per person. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills. To purchase tickets and for more information, please call 310-746-4000 (Monday - Friday, 10 am to 6 pm) or visit TheWallis.org/faliks.

The Wallis is closely monitoring the ever-changing local health and safety environment carefully and addressing known health factors at the moment. Should plans change and any performance be required to be postponed or cancelled or if venue capacity limitations are instituted, ticket holders will be notified immediately with options for their purchased tickets per The Wallis' ticketing policies.

The health and safety of patrons, their staff, and artists inside and outside their venue are a top priority for The Wallis, which is requiring all patrons to provide, upon entry, proof of full vaccination or a negative PCR test result within 48 hours or a verifiable Antigen test within 24 hours from your performance date, along with a government issued photo ID. Facial masks, covering both the mouth and nose, are still required at all times while within the venue. The Wallis' health and safety protocols are also subject to change at the venue's sole discretion or in accordance with LA County and City of Beverly Hills regulations. Their current Health & Safety Protocols and updates may also be accessed at TheWallis.org/Safety.

About Inna Faliks

Ukrainian-born American pianist INNA FALIKS has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has appeared on many of the world's great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others. Her recent seasons include performances at Ravinia Festival in Chicago, National Gallery in Washington DC, Chigiana Academy in Italy, as soloist with US orchestras nation-wide, and repeated tours of all the major venues in China. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today's most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She founded the award-winning poetry-music series Music/Words in 2008, with dozens of performances in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, both on stage and on WFMT radio. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa with music by Bach, Chopin, Gershwin and Carter (recorded on Delos). Inna Faliks' discography includes Reimagine: Beethoven & Ravel (Navona, 2021), for which she commissioned nine composers to respond to Beethoven's Bagatelles op 126 and Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. Also released in 2021 (MSR Classics) is The Schumann Project, Volume 1, which includes Clara Schumann's G minor sonata and Robert Schumann's Symphonic Etudes opus 13. Other releases include all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs for MSR Classics, and The Master and Margarita project, featuring three world premieres on Sono Luminus (2022). Faliks is professor and head of Piano Studies at UCLA, and in demand world-wide as a masterclass artist and adjudicator. She is also a published writer, with articles and essays appearing in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, among other media outlets. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.

About the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts:

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is a dynamic cultural hub and community resource where local, national and International Artists share their artistry with ever-expanding audiences. The campus, located in the heart of Beverly Hills, CA, is committed to robust and distinctive presentations and education programs curated with both creativity and social impact in mind. Distinguished by its eclectic programming that mirrors the diverse landscape of Los Angeles and its location in the entertainment capital of the world, The Wallis has produced and presented more than 300 dance, theater, opera, classical music, cinema and family programs since its doors opened in October 2013. Its programming has been nominated for 79 Ovation Awards and nine L.A. Drama Critic's Circle Awards. The campus itself, a breathtaking 70,000-square-foot facility, celebrating the classic and the modern, has garnered six architectural awards. Designed by acclaimed architect Zoltan E. Pali (SPF:architects), the restored building features the original 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office (on the National Register of Historic Places), which serves as the theater's dramatic yet welcoming lobby, and includes the contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the-art Bram Goldsmith Theater; the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater; an inviting open-air plaza for family, community and other performances; and GRoW @ The Wallis: A Space for Arts Education, where learning opportunities for all ages and backgrounds abound. Together, these elements embrace the city's history and its future, creating a performing arts destination for L.A.-area visitors and residents alike. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is led by Chairman of the Board Michael Nemeroff and Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer Rachel Fine.

For more information about The Wallis, please visit: TheWallis.org.

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