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The beautiful
Ludmilla Astanova... known professionally as Lola Astanova... is a classical pianist... known for
her interpretations of Chopin and Liszt... Lola began her piano studies at
age 6 and later gained international recognition for her performances...
Lola's mother was a piano teacher and her father was
a mechanical engineer... at age six... Lola entered a
Specialized School of Music for Gifted Children... studying under Professor
Tamara Popovich... she later studied under Lev Naumov...
Lola began
touring at the age of 8 and at 10 became a laureate of the Second Moscow
International F. Chopin Competition for young pianists... at 12... Lola was
featured in the UNESCO documentary Prodigies of the 20th Century...
When she was
17... Lola moved to Houston, Texas... where her brother lived, and
studied for her master's degree at Shepherd School of Music at Rice
University... Lola was featured in the 2007 Classical Superstars Fantasy
Concert hosted by ABC's television host Regis Philbin...
The concert was
featured in the 100th anniversary issue of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book
and offered for $1.6 million... in August 2008... the National September 11
Memorial & Museum announced Lola's performance on the famed Steinway
concert piano of Vladimir Horowitz at the "Notes of Hope" benefit hosted by
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Hillary Clinton... the performance
raised funds for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York
City...
On 19 January
2012... Lola made her Carnegie Hall debut... with the New York Times
noting that "Her taste for drama and her extreme physical abandon end up
emphasizing that there isn't a great deal of emotion in her playing"...
Horowitz's student, American pianist Byron Janis... was among the concert's
attendees... all proceeds from the performance were donated to the American
Cancer Society...
In March
2012... Lola appeared on the cover of Palm Beach Society magazine ahead of her
performance with Jahja Ling at the Kravis Center...
On 30 May
2012... Lola performed a duet with Byron Janis during his Lifetime Achievement Award
ceremony at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts...
Lola's
performance of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with Gerard Schwarz and the
All-Star Orchestra... was featured in the "Visions of New York" television
special on PBS and received the 2016 Emmy Award for Special Event
Coverage...
In 2018... Lola appeared in The Journey to the Theater of Silence... a
documentary about her collaboration with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli...
during the same year... Lola's collaboration with Stjepan Hauser... of the
band 2-Cellos... came out under the name "Lola and Hauser"... |