Schubert Club Courtroom Concert: Ora Itkin, piano and Friends

Russia-born pianist Ora Itkin began her piano studies at age four under the guidance of her father, Igor Itkin, who became known as one of the pioneers of subversive Russian jazz. She is a graduate of the Russian Academy of Music, Moscow, Russia; Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; and Rubin Academy of Music at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. In her musicianship she follows the legacy of her teachers who belong to the lineage of the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus school of piano playing.

An active concert pianist and chamber musician, she performs in some of the major venues across the Twin Cities as well as internationally in Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean. Ms. Itkin is a faculty member at both the Music Department of University of St. Thomas and MacPhail Center for Music. She also a founder of Reprise School of Piano and Musicianship in Saint Paul, Minnesota and an artistic director of a multi-disciplinary music series entitled Muse Salon, with successful programs since 2009 at The Schubert Club, the Weisman Art Museum, the University of Minnesota and the Alliance Française. For years Ms. Itkin was serving as the curator of a multilingual festival entitled Worlds between Words at the University of Minnesota.

As an educator and a life-long advocate of a holistic approach to learning, Ms. Itkin seeks to promote an interconnectedness of music with the arts, humanities, and sciences in everything she does, especially in her original multimedia productions ArtAffects, cultural ambassadorship initiatives, interdisciplinary seminars and presentations, and individual work with students of all ages.