Nina Scolnik

Nina Scolnik, pianist, has concertized in the United States and abroad as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, chamber musician and collaborative pianist.

She has been a guest artist with the American, Angeles, Lydian and Blaeu string quartets and has collaborated with principals of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Boston Symphony and with cellists Nathaniel Rosen, Stephen Erdody and the late Gerhard Mantel. She has performed at major European venues including the Rudolfinum in Prague and the Palais Auersperg in Vienna, where she was a soloist with the Wiener Residenzorchester. Her festival appearances include Vipiteno and Völs am Schlern, Italy; Festival Amaryllis in Mosnes, France; and the Ameropa International Chamber Music Festival in Prague, Czech Republic. In the United States, she has appeared at the Williams International Piano Festival, Tulane University Keyboard Festival, Great Pianists at Stetson Series, and the Amherst, New World and Aspen music festivals. Scolnik recorded Stravinsky’s four-hand piano transcription of The Rite of Spring on two pianos with Lorna Griffitt for the Sacre Project, part of the Pacific Symphony’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the work’s premiere.

Scolnik has distinguished herself internationally through her master classes, lectures, research and clinical success in the rehabilitation of injured musicians. She has presented at music conferences, universities, conservatories and festivals in the United States, Canada, France, Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic, and is one of only a few specialists in the field who work with pianists afflicted with focal dystonia.

A professor of teaching in the Department of Music at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine, Scolnik teaches piano performance, art song, chamber music and pedagogy. For more than three decades she has trained pianists for careers as performers, scholars and teachers. She received the 2019 Excellence in Pedagogical Development Award from UCI’s Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation and the 2019-20 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentorship from the Division of Undergraduate Education. A DECADE mentor for the Department of Music, she also serves on the Claire Trevor School of the Arts Climate Council.

Born in Lewiston, Maine, Scolnik is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and the Juilliard School. Her principal teachers have included Edna Golandsky, Dorothy Taubman, Martin Canin, Joseph Schwartz, Artur Balsam, Lenore Engdahl and Natasha Chances.