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{{short description|American classical musician, pianist, educator, author}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Inna Faliks
| image           =
| image_size      = 270px
| caption         =
| birth_name      = Inna Faliks
| birth_date      = {{birth-date and age|September 19, 1978}}
| birth_place     = [[Odessa]], Ukraine
| years_active    = 1989–present
| alias           =
| genre           = {{hlist|classical music|contemporary}}
| label           = {{hlist|MSR Classics|[[Delos Records]]|Navona Records|[[Sono Luminis]]}}
| website         = {{URL| https://www.innafaliks.com/}}
}}
'''Inna Faliks''' is a Ukrainian-American classical pianist, educator, and author.
A touring concert pianist and a Yamaha artist, she holds the posts of Professor of Piano and Head of Piano<ref name="fox">{{citation |url=https://www.foxnews.com/media/ucla-professor-schools-gutless-response-antisemitism-campus-complicit-hamas | title= UCLA professor rips school's 'gutless' response to antisemitism on campus: 'Complicit with Hamas' | author= Nikolas Lanum |publisher= Fox News |date=22 November 2023 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref> at the [[UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music]]. She has made many concert tours performing both classical and contemporary works around the world, as a soloist and with orchestras.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-future-of-classical-music-is-chinese/2019/03/22/2649e9dc-4cb5-11e9-93d0-64dbcf38ba41_story.html | title= The future of classical music is Chinese | author= Inna Faliks |publisher= The Washington Post |date=22 March 2019 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref>
<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.verdenews.com/news/2020/nov/10/red-rocks-music-festival-presents-world-acclaimed-/ | title= Red Rocks Music Festival Presents World-Acclaimed Pianist Inna Faliks In ‘Dialogues’ |publisher= The Verde Independent |date=10 November 2020 | access-date=6 April 2024}}</ref>
Composers who have written music specifically for her include [[Clarice Assad]], [[Lev Zhurbin]],<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.bnaibrith.org/jewish-musicians/ | title= Inna Faliks and Bar Avni: Top Jewish Musicians in the Spotlight | author= Cheryl Kempler |publisher= B'nai Brith International |date=26 March 2024 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref> [[Timo Andres]], [[Billy Childs]], [[Richard Danielpour]], [[Paola Prestini]], and Peter Golub. In 2019 she performed the world premiere of Danielpour's ''Eleven Bagatelles for Piano''.<ref name="broadway">{{citation |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Inna-Faliks-Performs-World-Premiere-By-Richard-Danielpour-At-The-Wallis-20190402 | title= Inna Faliks Performs World Premiere By Richard Danielpour At The Wallis | author= A. A. Cristi |publisher= Broadway World |date=2 April 2019 | access-date=7 April 2024}}</ref>
==Early life==
Faliks was born in 1978 in [[Odesa|Odessa]], in today's [[Ukraine]]<ref>{{citation |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-journey-of-a-musical-emigre-on-inna-falikss-weight-in-the-fingertips/ | title= The Journey of a Musical Émigré: On Inna Faliks’s "Weight in the Fingertips" | author= Herb Randall |publisher= Los Angeles Review of Books |date=18 March 2024 | access-date=6 April 2024}}</ref> but then part of the [[Soviet Union]]. She started piano lessons at the age of five with her piano-teacher mother, Irene Faliks.<ref name="juf">{{citation |url=https://www.juf.org/news/arts.aspx?id=446915 | title= Arts & Minds: A piano prodigy, 'North by Northwest' and the American slave trade | author= Hedy Weiss |publisher= Jewish Chicago |date=29 January 2019 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref> To escape [[antisemitism]],<ref name="fox" /> Faliks (age 10) and her family emigrated as refugees<ref name="wapo">{{citation |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/12/assisted-suicide-dignitas-inna-faliks-mother/ | title= My mother came to America for freedom. She left for the freedom to die with dignity. | author= Inna Faliks |publisher= The Washington Post |date=12 November 2021 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref> from Odessa to Chicago, with a two-month interim stay in [[Rome]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Inna Faliks|title=Weight in the Fingertips|publisher=Backbeat Books|pages=42–51|url=https://www.amazon.com/Weight-Fingertips-Inna-Faliks/dp/1493071742|isbn=1493071742|access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
In 1994 at age 15 she debuted with the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]], performing music by Tchaikovsky.<ref name="juf" /><ref name="cc">{{citation |url=https://www.classicalconnect.com/Inna_Faliks/54 | title= Inna Faliks, Piano |publisher= Classical Connect | access-date=6 April 2024}}</ref>
Her musical education after emigrating to the United States in the late 1980s included studying with [[Boris Petrushansky]]<ref name="broadway" /> and with Emilio del Rosario at the [[Music Institute of Chicago]]; receiving a Graduate Performance Diploma and master's degree at the [[Peabody Conservatory]] studying with [[Leon Fleisher]]<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-08-10/leon-fleisher-piano-lessons-pandemic| title= Op-Ed: How isolation is a golden opportunity for musicians | author= Inna Faliks |publisher= Los Angeles Times |date=10 August 2020 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref> and [[Ann Schein Carlyss|Ann Schein]];<ref name="miss">{{citation |url=https://news.olemiss.edu/piano061009/ | title= Award-winning Pianist Inna Faliks to Perform Piano Camp Fundraiser June 16 |publisher= University of Mississippi News |date=10 June 2009 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref> receiving an Artist Diploma from the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale in [[Imola]], Italy; and earning a Doctorate with [[Gilbert Kalish]] at [[Stony Brook University]].<ref name="cc" /><ref name="wetaconv">{{citation |url=https://weta.org/fm/classical-score/conversation-pianist-inna-faliks | title= A Conversation with Pianist Inna Faliks | author= John Banther |publisher= WETA |date=6 March 2024 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref>
In 2008 she founded a poetry-music series in New York City for the Manhattan Arts Council called Music/Words, which she also curated.<ref name="bruin">{{citation |url=https://dailybruin.com/2013/03/10/concert-pianist-joins-faculty | title= Concert pianist joins faculty | author= Garrett Anglin |publisher= Daily Bruin |date=10 March 2013 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref> It featured classical music performances and live poetry readings.<ref name="miss" />
In the late 2000s and early 2010s she commuted between New York and Chicago as a member of the [[Northeastern Illinois University]] piano faculty in Chicago.<ref name="miss" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Inna Faliks|title=Weight in the Fingertips|publisher=Backbeat Books|page=207|url=https://www.amazon.com/Weight-Fingertips-Inna-Faliks/dp/1493071742|isbn=1493071742|access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
In 2013 she joined the [[UCLA]] faculty,<ref name="bruin" /> where she is Professor of Piano and Head of Piano.<ref name="fox" /> That year she co-starred with [[Lesley Nicol (actress)|Lesley Nicol]] in two performances of "Admission – One Shilling," a play for pianist and actor based on the life of British pianist [[Dame Myra Hess]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://news.wttw.com/2022/03/08/downton-abbey-actor-hits-chicago-stage-new-show | title= ‘Downton Abbey’ Actor Hits the Chicago Stage With New Show | author= Marc Vitali |publisher= WTTW |date=8 March 2022 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref>
Faliks has toured with an autobiographical monologue-recital, "Polonaise-Fantasie: The Story of a Pianist."<ref name="juf" /><ref>{{citation |url=https://clevelandclassical.com/the-story-of-a-pianist-ukrainian-born-inna-faliks-on-her-monologue-recital-her-home-country/ | title= "The Story of a Pianist" — Ukrainian-born Inna Faliks on her monologue-recital & her home country | author= Jarrett Hoffman |publisher= Cleveland Classical |date=23 March 2022 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref> Delos Records issued a recording of the show in 2017.
In 2018 she formed the Hollywood Piano Trio with violinist [[Roberto Cani]] and cellist [[Robert deMaine]].<ref name="broadway" />
[[Backbeat Books]] published her memoir ''Weight in the Fingertips'' in October 2023.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/2024/02/faliks.htm | title= Weight in the Fingertips | author= Keith Bramich |publisher= Classical Music Daily |date=23 February 2024 | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref>
==Personal life==
Faliks lives in California with her husband and two children.
In 2021 she wrote of her mother's decision to choose legal suicide in Switzerland after a struggle with cancer.<ref name="wapo" />
==Discography==
* ''Manuscripts Don't Burn'' (Sono Luminis, 2024)<ref name="wetaconv" />
* ''Reimagine: Beethoven & Ravel'' (Navona Records, 2021)
* ''The Schumann Project, Volume 1'' (MSR Classics, 2021)
* ''Polonaise-fantasie: The Story of a Pianist'' (Delos Records, 2017)
* ''Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in c minor Op. 111'' (MSR Classics, 2013)
* ''Sound of Verse'' (MSR Classics, 2009)
==Awards==
* Pro Musicis International Award (2005)<ref name="cc" />
* Grand Prize winner, St. Charles International Piano Competition (2005)<ref name="cc" />
* 40 Under Forty (Stony Brook University, 2016)<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.stonybrook.edu/40underforty/2016/ | title= The 2016 Honorees |publisher= Stony Brook University | access-date=5 April 2024}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1978 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Ukrainian classical pianists]]
[[Category:American women classical pianists]]