Pianist Marina Lomazov Named SC Arts Commission Fellow
July 13, 2015
COLUMBIA, SC – The South Carolina Arts Commission has named Columbia resident Marina Lomazov an Individual Artist Fellow in the category of music performance. Fellowships recognize and reward the artistic achievements of South Carolina’s exceptional individual artists. Fellowship awards are made through a highly competitive, anonymous process and are based on artistic excellence only. Each artist receives $5,000.
Lomazov is Ira McKissick Professor of Piano at the University of South Carolina School of Music where she is founder and artistic director of the Southeastern Piano Festival. Praised by critics as “a diva of the piano” (The Salt Lake City Tribune), Lomazov has received numerous prizes during competitions. She has given major debuts in New York (Weill-Carnegie Hall), Boston (Symphony Hall), Chicago (Dame Myra Hess Concert Series), Los Angeles (LACMA Sunday Live series), Shanghai (City Theater), and Kiev (Kiev International Music Festival). She has performed as soloist with the Boston Pops, Rochester Philharmonic, Eastman Philharmonia, Chernigov Philharmonic (Ukraine), KUG Orchester Graz (Austria), Bollington Festival Orchestra (England), Piccolo Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Brevard Festival Orchestra, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. Lomazov performs widely as a member of the Lomazov/Rackers Piano Duo. She and her husband and duo partner, Joseph Rackers, formed the duo in 2005 after gathering significant attention as Second Prize winners at the Sixth Biennial Ellis Competition for Duo Pianists, the only national duo piano competition in the United States at that time. Lomazov is also a Steinway artist.
Three other artists were also named fellows:
- Visual Arts: Jarod Charzewski, Charleston County
- Craft: Alice Ross Ballard, Greenville County
- Music Composition: Jon Jeffrey Grier, Greenville County
The S.C. Arts Commission board approves fellowships based on recommendations made by out-of-state review panelists, who select fellows based solely on a review of anonymous work samples. This year’s visual arts and craft judges were Alida Fish, photographer and professor emerita at the College of Art and Design, University of the Arts in Philadelphia; Christopher Schmidt, artist and director of the Schmidt-Dean Gallery in Philadelphia.; and Mi-Kyoung Lee, artist and associate professor of Crafts and head of Fibers at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. The music composition and performance judges were Robert Tanner, composer and faculty member of the music department at Morehouse College in Atlanta; and Helen Kim, violinist, assistant concertmaster of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra and faculty member at Kennesaw State University.
Individual artists working in poetry, prose, dance choreography or dance performance may apply for the FY2017 fellowship awards. Applications open Aug. 3, 2015, and the deadline to apply is Nov. 1, 2015.
For more information about S.C. Arts Commission programs and services, visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com or call (803) 734-8696.
About the S.C. Arts Commission
The South Carolina Arts Commission is the state agency charged with creating a thriving arts environment that benefits all South Carolinians, regardless of their location or circumstances. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission works to increase public participation in the arts by providing services, grants and leadership initiatives in three areas: arts education, community arts development and artist development. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources.
