NEWS
Summer, 2026 will feature a return visit to Derry, Northern Ireland for the Walled City Music Academy. This festival will be held held from July 10-17. https://walledcitymusic.com/visiting-derry/
Dr. Nosikova is honored and excited to be invited as guest artist faculty at the inaugural Mahidol University International Piano Festival Jul 24 to Aug 2, 2026. It will be held at the beautiful Mahidol University campus in Bangkok, Thailand.
June will find the Duo as featured guest artists at the Flatiron Festival Series in New York . The recital will take place on June 12 at 121 West 20th Street, NY and will include rarely heard compositions by Ernő Dohnányi, Adele aus der Ohe, and Lily Boulanger.
The Duo has professional recording sessions at famed Skillman Music in New York City, June 14-16.
April 15 - 26 will find Katya as Guest Artist in Residence with the Southeast Iowa Symphony. This will culminate with 3 performances of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto on April 25 and 26th. As a part of the residency, Avita Duo will present several outreach events in Ottumwa, Burlington, and Mt. Pleasant, IA.
Additional events on the horizon include a performance at Bargemusic, and a return visit to Music on Madison, all in New York City.
The Duo will be together as a part of Katya’s Senior Recital at the Juilliard School on April 9th.
(More information about these events is available on the My Calendar page)
The Summer 2025 began in Uozu, Japan at the International Junior Piano Institute held July 5 - 11th.
https://www.manabinomoriongakusai.com/international-junior-piano-institute-2025/
Then onto Derry, Northern Ireland for the Walled City Music Academy. This festival was held held from July 11-18.
Henrique Rabelo and Eric Newton receiving special performance honors.
August was highlighted by the return to the bi-annual Piano Connections Festival held at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) in Natal, Brazil. More photos can be found on the Photo Gallery page.
A Special Congratulations to Canlin Qiu for earning her DMA degree in December. And also, for winning the Follet Outstanding Student Schloarship Award at the College Music Society (CMS) Northeast Conference, held at Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY) in March.
Ana Yam has earned 2nd prize in the Iowa Center for the Arts (ICA) Competition!
Yaqi Huang, a 2024 DMA grad, is excited to be joining the School of Music at Chengdu Normal University (China) as a tenure-track faculty member.
Ksenia was honored to be invited as a visiting guest professor at the Eastman School in Rochester, NY, this past April and May.
Congratulations to Schubert Club Competition Winners:
Studio members Henrique Rabelo in Piano IV and Timothy Berry in Piano III.
And, to Ksenia’s private student Gaia Daniel, 2nd Place in Piano II and also 2nd Prize at the Chicago International Music Competition Young Artist I.
Attending the American Liszt Society Festival in Atlanta was a special event in October. It was highlighted by performances by Katya Moeller and Ksenia performing as Avita Duo.
In June of 2024 , Ksenia was honored to be a member of the faculty of the presigious PianoTexas International Academy & Festival. The festival is held annually at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, Texas.
Ksenia was very proud to have four newly minted DMA graduates at the Fall 2024 Graduation. She was honored to be able to “Hood” Ming Hu. Yaqi Huang, Feiyang Li, and Yifan Zhang also received their DMA degrees but were unfortunately unable to attend the ceremony
Studio member Eric Newton was a winner of the U Iowa Concerto and Aria Competition. He will be performing Manuel Ponce”s Concierto Romantico with the University Symphony spring semester.
The first Piano Connections Festival, a collaborative event between the University of Iowa SOM and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Brazil, was held in Natal from September 11-15th, 2023. Dr. William Menefield, Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at UIowa, joined Ksenia, and UI students Neil Krzeski, Peter Bowen Liu, Craig Jordan, and Ana Yam to travel to Brazil to participate in this week long event of performances, concerts, masterclasses, and community outreach programs. A highlight of the week was the attendance of May Baptista, the Consul General at the United States Consulate in Recife, Brazil.
The closing night event was a performance of People United Should Never be Defeated (1979) by Frederic Rzewski (1938-2021). This multimedia presentation was a concert presented by 12 pianists performing this monumental work. The performance can be viewed in its entirety here.
The Director of the UFRN Piano Department is Joana Holonda, a Masters Graduate of UIowa and a former Nosikova Studio member.
In February, 2024, Ksenia traveled for a performaing and teaching tour in Southeast Asia. The first stop was at Mahidol University in Bangkok, where she was hosted by her former student Korak Lertpibulchai. Ms. Lertpibulchai is presently Chair of the piano department at Mahidol. Then on to Manila for a recital and masterclass at Manila Pianos in cooperation with the University of the Phillipines’ College of Music. After Manila she traveled to Singapore’s Steinway Gallery for more masterclasses. Finally, the tour concluded at UCSI University’s Institute of Music in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Studio member, Peter Liu, DMA candidate recently was a Prize Winner at Music International Grand Prix, held at Merkin Hall in New York.
This season's edition of the continuing series, Key Change, will have Piano Revolutionaries, French Impressions as its theme. The Key Change series features UI distinguished piano faculty and their students, as well as guest artists from across Iowa. Each concert will be played twice: Once in the Concert Hall of the UI School of Music's Voxman Building in Iowa City, and once at the Opus Cafe in Cedar Rapids. The series is presented in partnership with Orchestra Iowa. The schedule can be found here.
Huge Congratulations to Ann DuHamel, a former studio member, who was recently selected to receive a prestigious McKnight Fellowship for Musicians. Founded on the belief that Minnesota thrives when its artists thrive, the McKnight Foundation’s arts and culture program is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country. Support for individual working Minnesota artists has been a cornerstone of the program since it began in 1982. The McKnight Artist Fellowships Program provides annual, unrestricted cash awards to outstanding mid-career Minnesota artists in 15 different creative disciplines. Program partner organizations administer the fellowships and structure them to respond to the unique challenges of different disciplines. Currently, the foundation contributes about $2.8 million annually to its statewide fellowships.