Lydia Artymiw

Lydia Artymiw is native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and an American concert pianist and professor in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota.

Formative years

Artymiw was born in Philadelphia to Ukrainian parents and began piano studies at age four with George Oransky at the Ukrainian Music Institute. Her principal teachers were Freda Pastor Berkowitz, who also taught for over fifty years at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, from 1962–1967 and Gary Graffman, her primary mentor, with whom she studied from 1967 to 1979. Artymiw graduated summa cum laude from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 1973, which honored her with a "Distinguished Alumna" award in 1991.

Career

Artymiw has appeared as soloist with nearly all the major American orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. She toured with the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra in Seoul, South Korea in 1994. The same year she became an appointed member of the University of the Arts National Advisory Council in Philadelphia, PA.

Artymiw has been successful on the international competition circuit. She won third prize in the 1978 Leeds competition (UK) and was a finalist in the 1976 Leventritt competition (USA), a year in which no first prize was given.

Lydia Artymiw is Distinguished McKnight Professor of Piano at the University of Minnesota. In 2000, she received the Dean's Medal at the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. In 2015, Artymiw was recognized with an award for Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education by the Board of Regents.

She has recorded for Chandos, Centaur, Pantheon, Artegra, and Bridge. Her performances have received awards from Gramophone and Ovation.