Anna Polonsky to Present Piano Extravaganza at Chamber Music’s “Leaves of Gold” Concert

Anna Polonsky, one of four accomplished concert pianists playing at the "Leaves of Gold" concert Oct. 25

To look at her, one might guess Anna Polonsky’s musical instrument is a piping piccolo, or a silvery flute.

But from earlier childhood, she has employed her “muscle mass” on the largest of all symphonic instruments, the piano. Orcas Islanders will welcome Polonsky’s return at the Oct. 25 “Leaves of Gold,” fundraising concert for the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival.

This event, which Polonsky describes as “a piano extravaganza,” will bring two grand pianos and four pianists (Polonsky, Jon Kimura Parker, Adam Stern and Orion Weiss) to play an ambitious concert. “All of us are employed in every possible arrangement of two pianos, eight hands,” Anna says.

“It is a concert for real piano lovers .”

Born in Moscow, Anna came from a family where “music was the family trade,” she says. Her father played violin, her mother piano. Anna and her sister were started on the two instruments, with Anna taking up the piano because, as she says, “Back in the day, she was the scrawny one… I had more muscle mass.”

“Back in the day,” Anna thought it was “pre-ordained” that everyone played an instrument, because her world was filled with parents, grandparents, family friends and business associates who were all musicians. “What do your parents play?” was always the first question of her schoolmates.

She never wavered from her dedication to the piano, saying, “I’ve known the piano longer than I’ve done anything else, except maybe walk. It’s part of my anatomy.”

She made her solo piano debut at the age of seven at the Special Central Music School in Moscow, Russia. She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.

When Polonsky’s family moved to the United States,  she says, “I won’t hide that it was difficult to adjust to Junior High School at that age. It was definitely a culture shock.”

She received her Bachelor of Music diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with the renowned pianist Peter Serkin, and continued her studies with Jerome Lowenthal, earning her Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School.

Polonsky appreciates that the piano is “like an orchestra itself,” where the musician can bring out melodies, harmonies and complex structure on the single instrument. “The piano doesn’t need accompaniment – you’re on your own for better or worse.

“It’s a whole organism of itself… a hybrid of percussion, strings, keyboard. It has everything in one, giving a wealth of articulation. It can sing on its own as well as any other instrument.

“And as musicians, we spend our life laboring to best approximate the human voice. My metaphysical conclusion is that people play as their own voice sounds.”

So while the four pianists at “Leaves of Gold” will be playing together in different combinations, Polonsky says it will  be “clear who is playing after a given time because of how we each approach the music.”

Joining Polonsky in the concert will be her new husband, Orion Weiss, who was born in Iowa. The couple attended Juilliard together, and have known each other “for quite some time” in the classical music world. “And so one thing led to another” Anna says, and they were married this summer in Cleveland, Ohio. They now share an apartment in Manhattan, New York with three grand pianos and an electric keyboard for late-at-night practice sessions.

Polonsky is a member of the newly formed Schumann Trio with the violist Michael Tree and clarinetist Anthony McGill.  Instead of the usual violin, cello and piano trio arrangement, the Schumann Trio performs on viola, clarinet and piano.

In addition to performing, she serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College.

Polonsky performed at the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival 2008 season and is delighted to be part of the “Leaves of Gold” benefit for the festival. “ I’m so grateful Aloysia [Friedmann, Founder and Artistic Director of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival] and Jackie are trusting Orion and me to be spokespeople for their wonderful festival.  I took part in the festival two summers ago and in whole honesty, it was one of the most wonderful experiences – musically and personally. The warmth of the people of Orcas was wonderful, and it will be wonderful to introduce Orion to Orcas.”

The “Leaves of Gold” concert on Monday, October 25 will begin at 7 p.m. in the theater at Orcas Center, and will be followed by the “Music Adventure Trips” Auction and Reception. Tickets are still available by calling the Festival Office at 376-6636 or 866-492-0003, or by going to the website at www.oicmf.org.