irtuoso pianist Oxana Yablonskaya's rise to stardom reveals her tenacious spirit. Born in Moscow, she began piano studies at age five. Tutoring by Russia's foremost teachers led to top prizes in international competitions in Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Vienna, and offers to tour beyond the Eastern Bloc. Forced to decline, Yablonskaya instead began working with the record label Melodiya and garnered the esteemed title of "Soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic," an honor previously bestowed upon Richter, Gilels, and Rostropovich, among others. Frustrated by artistic constraints, she applied for a visa only to discover it eliminated her teaching position at Moscow Conservatory, deprived her of concert engagements, and even forced her to sell her beloved piano, just to survive.

Finally, her application to emigrate (with petitions signed by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, among others) was approved in 1977. Yablonskaya had not played piano for more than two years when she arrived in New York City with her father and son, Dmitry Yablonsky (now a noted cellist/conductor). Four months later, her recitals at Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall received critical acclaim.

"One of the best kept secrets of the Soviet Union" is now among the world's leading pianists. In 1990, Yablonskaya made the first of many returns to her homeland, performing a sold out concert at St. Petersburg's Great Hall.

"In recent years, there have been many occasions where I have played fine Yamaha concert grand pianos, at the Newport Music Festival in Rhode Island and Hamamatsu City, the home of Yamaha," she says. There she toured the Grand Piano Factory and taught master classes at the 2nd Annual Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. Her acclaimed CD, "Yablonskaya Plays Rachmaninoff" (Connoisseur Society, 1994), was performed on a Yamaha CFIII, "a wonderful instrument with a beautiful tone," she states enthusiastically.

Notable '97-'98 performances included Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam; Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra, Suntory Hall; and Lincoln Center.

This season, she'll perform extensively in the U.S.; with the Taiwan National Orchestra; and, with her son, Dmitry, at the Alys Stephens Center, Birmingham, AL, on Mother's Day 1999.

Yablonskaya has been a professor of piano at The Juilliard School of Music since 1983, is a juror for international competitions, and conducts master classes worldwide. Last year, she chose a Yamaha MP100 upright piano for her private students. "I needed a quality instrument that also had the MIDIPiano™ digital technology," she explains. "This piano was a perfect choice for my home, and I am very pleased with it."