Kotlyar-Shifrin Piano Duo, Piano

Biography

Together, Irina Kotlyar and Gregory
Shifrin as the Kotlyar-Shifrin Piano Duo
have won several international prizes and awards, including the Dranoff
International Two Piano Competition (1999, Miami, USA) and the First International
Duo Piano Competition in Byalistok, Poland (1999). The Duo was among three
finalists of the ARD International Competition (2000, Munich, Germany).

The Kotlyar-Shifrin Duo has
performed with many orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, New
World Orchestra of Miami, Byalistok Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony
Orchestra and the Israeli Chamber Orchestra.

The Duo performed on the "Impromptu"
and "Live from the Morse" series broadcast live on WFMT radio station. Most
recently Kotlyar-Shifrin Piano Duo received an invitation from Evanston
Symphony Orchestra to perform a Poulenc Two Piano Concerto.

The Duo performs widely in Israel,
Europe and America and has been invited to participate in the Israel Festival
in Jerusalem each year since 1998.  They
also performed at the First International Piano Duo Festival in Israel
(Tel-Aviv, 2003).

Before immigrating to the US, the
Kotlyar-Shifrin Piano Duo played an active role on the Israeli chamber music
scene, performing frequently in the Targ Music Center and in the Jerusalem
Music Center. The Duo's studio recordings and live performances have been
broadcast on "The Voice of Music", for the Israeli classical music
radio station. By special invitation of the Israeli Government, the Duo
performed in the Israeli Knesset.  A CD
of their performances was released on the "Music from Ein-Kerem" series.

Irina
Kotlyar and Gregory Shifrin immigrated to Israel in the early 90's from the
former Soviet Union, and studied at the Jerusalem Music Academy - Irina with
Vadim Monastyrski and Gregory with Irina Berkovitch. It was there that they met
in 1994, and began to play together as a duo under the guidance of Professors
Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir. After six months, the duo was awarded the
first prize at the Academy's Concerto Competition and performed with the
Academy's Symphony Orchestra. Since then, the duo has continued its successful
path, while preserving the performance tradition they received from their
mentors, Eden and Tamir. Their training has been enhanced by participation in Master
Classes with Samuel Sanders, Valter Hauzig, Claude Frank, Jeremy Menuhin,
Dmitry Bashkirov and Alexander Korsantia.