Assistant Professor of Piano
Coordinator of Keyboard Studies
Music Department
California State University, Chico
400 West First Street
Chico, CA 95929-0805
Phone: (530) 898-4043
Email: NShkoda@CSUChico.edu
A native of Kharkiv, Ukraine, NATALYA SHKODA is considered to be one of today's most dynamic and exciting young artists, teachers, and competition adjudicators. Dr. Shkoda holds degrees and diplomas from Arizona State University (2006 - Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance; 2001 - Master of Music in Piano Performance), the Kharkiv State University of the Arts (1999 - Diplomas with Distinction in Piano and Musicology and Concert Performer's Qualification) and the Kharkiv Special Music School for Gifted Children in Ukraine (1994 - Diploma with the Gold Medal in Piano and Composition). Her major piano teachers include Ms. Bella Yukht, Dr. Sergei Polusmiak, the Honored Artist of Ukraine, and Professor Walter Cosand.
Since presenting her first solo recital and winning her first National Composer's Competition in Kiev, Ukraine, at the age 13, Natalya Shkoda performed numerous solo, accompanying and chamber music recitals in Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, France, and throughout the U.S. She has appeared as a soloist with the MasterWorks Symphony Orchestra in New York, the Southwest Symphony Orchestra in Arizona, and most recently with the Paradise Symphony and the North State Symphony in California.
Natalya Shkoda has won numerous awards in the areas of performance, composition and musical criticism. As an outstanding young composer, Natalya was a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship in Ukraine in 1993. Natalya is a Laureate of the National Competitions for the Young Composers in Kiev, Ukraine (1990 & 1993) and Odessa, Ukraine (1996); Winner of the Young Journalists' Contests in Kharkiv, Ukraine (1998 & 1999); Winner of the Joseph and Ida Klatzkin Competition for the Contemporary American Keyboard Music in both Harpsichord (2000) and Piano (2005) in Tempe, Arizona; and Winner of the MasterWorks Festival Concerto Competition in Houghton, New York (1997 & 2000).
Dr. Shkoda's performances and compositions were widely broadcast by the Kharkiv State Radio and Television Company, the Feodosiya State Radio Company and the Uzhgorod State Radio Company in her native Ukraine, as well as the KBAQ Production Studio in Phoenix, AZ; the KOHM South Plains Classical Radio Station in Lubbock, TX; the El Paso NRP-KTEP: National Public Radio for Southwest; the Ukrainian TV Company "Uzir" in Chicago, IL; the BBC Radio 3 "In-Tune" in London, U.K.; the Radio Sweden "Kaleidoscope" in Stockholm; the ABC Classic FM in Sydney, Australia; the Klara Radio in Brussels, Belgium; and the Radio New Zealand "Classical Morning" and "Cadenza" in Wellington.
Being in a high demand as an artist and clinician, Dr. Shkoda is regularly invited to present guest artist recitals and master classes throughout the U.S. and to adjudicate various piano competitions and study programs including the Arizona State Honors Recital, the North State Symphony Young Artists' Auditions, the East Valley Music Teachers' Association Piano Competition, the Arizona Study Program, the Celebration of Music Recital and the Prize Performer. Natalya Shkoda was invited to participate in the International Symposium "Arnold Schoenberg Reconsidered" (2005), the International Conference "Schumann's Perspectives: A View across the Disciplines" (2006) and the Loeffler New Music Symposium "Music and the Cutting Edge" (2008), in addition to her participation in the MTNA and the CMS National Conferences as well as the numerous festivals and conferences Ukraine. Dr. Shkoda's recent and upcoming performances include recitals at the prestigious Ukrainian Institute of America in New York City, the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago and the Washington Group Cultural Fund Recital Series in Alexandria, VA, as well as concerts and master classes at the Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, the University of Texas at El Paso, SUNY-New Paltz, the Northern Arizona University, Texas Tech University, the University of San Diego, Arizona State University, the Crocker Art Museum Classical Series in Sacramento, Lubbock Christian University and the Abiquiu Chamber Music Festival (http://www.abiquiumusic.com). Most recently, Natalya Shkoda was the invited Concert Artist and Clinician at the 2009 Arizona State Music Teachers' Association Conference in Phoenix.
A vivid chamber musician, Natalya Shkoda is a founding member of the Trio Arriba with the violinist David Felberg and the cellist Sally Guenther and the Duo "Prolisok" with the pianist Tatiana Mann.
Dr. Natalya Shkoda joined the Music Department at California State University, Chico, as an Assistant Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies in the fall 2008. Prior to her appointment at Chico State, Dr. Shkoda was on a faculty at the Kharkiv State University of the Arts in Ukraine, Arizona State University, Scottsdale Community College and Mesa Community College in Arizona. Many of her private students became the winners of various local and state piano competitions and were accepted into the music performance programs at the universities nationwide. At CSU, Chico, Dr. Shkoda teaches private and group piano, harpsichord, accompanying and pedagogy and oversees the keyboard performance and pedagogy options. She is also Artistic Director of the annual Earl R. and Marilyn Ann Kruschke Prize in Piano Performance, a competition for talented high-school seniors and college-level students in the state of California (http://www.csuchico.edu/mus/kruschke.shtml).
Natalya Shkoda's debut commercial CD featuring the first Western recording of "Eleven Etudes in the Form of Old Dances," Opus 19, by Ukrainian composer Viktor Kosenko was released on the "Toccata Classics" label in London, U.K., in 2006 and received excellent international reviews. (http://www.toccatapress.com).
PRESS REVIEWS
"It has been a long time since I've heard a pianist from Russia/Ukraine that displayed such command of the piano. Natalya Shkoda is polished and involved emotionally in every respect and possesses a full command of her keyboard... Don't be afraid at all to go after this recorded-in-America performance by the Ukrainian pianist, with music composed by the Ukrainian composer on a disc with outstanding documentation manufactured in England! Five stars and totally recommended."
(Lance G. Hill, Editor-in-Chief, "Classical Music Guide")
"Ms. Shkoda exhibited brilliant piano technique and great depth of artistic interpretation."
(Thaya Salamacha, "Ukrainian Weekly," New York)
"This is immensely attractive music that has been rescued from obscurity by "Toccata Classics" and Natalya Shkoda. Eleven Etudes in the Form of Old Dances is a real discovery, and is played with the utmost sympathy and technical elan by Natalya Shkoda. These works are technically challenging - although Natalya Shkoda makes light work of such challenges. One wants to hear more of Kosenko's music - piano or otherwise. That this release is inscribed "Piano Music, Volume 1" seems wholly reasonable; Kosenko is a composer well overdue international consideration."
(Colin Anderson, "Classical Source")
"Kosenko's Etudes, Opus 19, demonstrate Natalya Shkoda's impressive pianistic range. Her tone is bright and she navigates the many exposed runs with clarity and precision."
(Maggie Williams, "International Piano," London)
"Natalya Shkoda's the CD of Kosenko is an attractive testament to her current level of skill. She displays a solid technique and a convincing ability to modulate between the intimacy of such works as the Gavotte in B Minor (a lovely little thing, Brahms in an autumnal mood) and the ambitious, flashy Passacaglia. Her rhythmic sense is elastic, and her affection and knowledge of this music is obvious at every turn."
(Barry Brenesal, "Fanfare")
"Occasionally one hears unfamiliar music and immediately falls in love with it. That has been my experience with these eleven piano pieces by a Ukrainian composer I'd never even heard of before, Viktor Stepanovych Kosenko. Natalya Shkoda, the marvelous pianist on this disc, is herself a Ukrainian. She makes a convincing advocate for this wonderful music. We are told this is 'Volume 1' of Kosenko's piano music and I for one am eager to hear more."
(Scott Morrison, Amazon)
"It is so great to hear Natalya's wonderful playing of the Viktor Kosenko Etudes."
(George Winston, pianist)
"She's fantastic and the Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto is just a spectacular piece," said symphony conductor Kyle Wiley Pickett by phone Thursday as he prepared for the concert. "It's like when you watch the Olympics and see some snowboarder do something and you say, 'That's not humanly possible.' Watching her play you say, 'That's not humanly possible to do that.' She's got the whole package. She's an exciting and passionate player. People are going to have fun seeing her play."
(Jim Dyar, "ANewsCafe," Northern California's Premier Online News Magazine)
"A phenomenal performance of the Kosenko's Opus 19 places Natalya Shkoda among the top Ukrainian virtuoso pianists of today."
(Bohdan Markiw, "Svoboda," Chicago)