(NEW LEBANON, N.Y.) – Pianists Vassily Primakov and Natalia Lavrova will perform works by Chopin and Rachmaninov in the Tannery on the grounds of the Darrow School as part of the Tannery Pond Concerts chamber music series on Saturday, August 17, 2013, at 8pm.

The program features Primakov playing a selection of Chopin, followed by the duo playing Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 Suite No. 2, Op. 17.

Vassily Primakov was born in Moscow in 1979. His first piano studies were with his mother, Marina Primakova. He entered Moscow’s Central Special Music School at the age of eleven as a pupil of Vera Gornostaeva, and at 17 came to New York to study at The Juilliard School with noted pianist Jerome Lowenthal. He credits his mother with his love of the piano. “The idea of playing the piano came, basically, because my mom was a pianist and a teacher so I was surrounded by classical music. It was kind of a very natural transition.”

In 1999, as a teen-aged prizewinner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Primakov was praised in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: ”How many pianists can make a line sing as the 19-year-old Moscow native did on this occasion? Every poignant phrase took ethereal wing. Elsewhere the music soared with all the turbulence and poetic vibrancy it possesses. We will be hearing much from this remarkable musician.”

Three years later, he won both the Silver Medal and the Audience Prize in the 2002 Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition. A distinguished career of solo recitals and appearances with symphony orchestras throughout the world followed as well as other awards. Primakov’s affinity for the music of Chopin was acknowledged in 2009 when National Public Radio named his recording of the Mazurkas “Best of the Year.”

In 2011, Primakov and his duo partner and friend for more than a decade, Natalia Lavrova, launched LP Classics, a new record label dedicated to unearthing rare, never-before released recordings and live performances of celebrated artists and emerging stars.

Natalia Lavrova is a highly regarded performer of multi-faceted artistry, whose sincerity of interpretation and beguiling charm upon the stage has won the hearts of audiences across the United States and Europe. Born in Moscow, she entered the Moscow Conservatory at the age of five, and was subsequently accepted to The Juilliard School Pre-College Division, as a pupil in the studio of Herbert Stessin.

Lavrova went on to earn her Bachelor of Music and Masters of Music degrees at Juilliard, under the tutelage of Jerome Lowenthal. Solo and orchestral performances have taken Lavrova throughout her native Russia, around the world, and in the United States, including performances at Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall and Steinway Hall.

Lavrova has captured top prizes in a number of international competitions. At the 1996 Leeds International Piano Competition she was the youngest artist admitted to the quarterfinal round. Lavrova is the founder and president of the popular Music School of New York City, and a Yamaha Artist in Education.