Description
Event Details:
Date: Saturday, April 11th, 2026
Time: 7PM • Doors at 6PM
Venue: MUSE Sturgeon Bay
Directions: 330 Jefferson Street, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin 54235. On the corner of Third Avenue and Jefferson Street in downtown Sturgeon Bay.
Phone: 920-333-2859
Email: tickets@musesturgeonbay.com
About the Program:
Rodion Shchedrin: Basso Ostinato
J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp Minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book
Jan Freidlin: Ballade in Black and White
W.A. Mozart: Fantasia in D Minor, K 397
Chopin-Liszt: The Maiden’s Wish
Paganini-Liszt: La Campanella
Frédéric Chopin: Polonaise-fantaisie, Op. 61
Ludwig van Beethoven: Six Bagatelles, Op. 126
Polonaise-fantaisie: The Story of a Pianist is the hybrid of a piano recital and an autobiographical monologue, and Inna considers it the most personal project she has ever done. She says: “It is my hope that, in sharing this story, I offer audiences a glimpse into a life of a performing musician, as well as into my very personal story – the story that makes me the artist I am today.”
When Faliks was pregnant with her son Nathaniel, she started writing down vivid memories of her childhood in Odessa, the former Soviet Union, and of immigration to the US. Gradually, these started to take the shape of a book about a life in music. At that time, she was living in New York City, performing, and curating her series, Music/Words, where poets read between musical performances. “Poetry inspired me for as long as I can remember, and influenced my first CD (Sound of Verse, MSR Classics.) I hadn’t written in years. It was profoundly satisfying to be writing once again.”
A few years later, after Faliks had moved to Los Angeles to head the piano department at UCLA, the chapters of the book found their way into the hands of Cynthia Comsky, an incredible producer and magnificent lady. She insisted that Faliks use them to create a recital-monologue. Many memories described in the book had musical pieces inexorably connected to them. Inna chose pieces that had been with her since childhood, as well as those that found their way into her repertoire, along her path, to connect and illuminate the narrative. The format, play-read-play-read, echoes the format of her Music/Words programs, where the poems and the music create an arc that is, hopefully, emotionally resonant. Cameron Watson, a brilliant director, directed Faliks and wonderful actress Rebecca Mozo, in a performance of the work at the Ebell of Los Angeles, in 2015, just a few months after Inna’s daughter Frida was born.
Faliks says “I know that I am the artist that I am partially thanks to growing up in the Odessa of the past – seven people in a three-room apartment, surrounded by books, music, ideas and friends (one of whom is Misha. You will meet him in the story. He is my husband and the father of my two children).”
She continues: “I dedicate the recording to my family: my parents, Irene and Simon Faliks, who were brave enough to leave when they did. My husband and best friend, then and now, Misha Shpigelmacher. My two children, Nathaniel and Frida Shpigelmacher, as well as to anyone who has ever left a place in search of a better life.”
About the Artist:
Described by The New Yorker as “adventurous and passionate,” Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks is recognized as one of the most poetic and versatile artists of her generation. Known for commanding performances of the standard repertoire, as well as innovative interdisciplinary projects, she has built a music life defined by passion, sincerity, intellectual depth and creative curiosity.
Faliks has performed thousands of recitals throughout the United States, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. She has appeared at many of the world’s leading venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, National Gallery of Art, Salle Cortot in Paris, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall, Beijing Center for the Performing Arts and other major halls across China, Oji Hall in Japan and major festivals such as Ravinia, Verbier, Gilmore, Newport Classical.
Since her acclaimed debut with the Chicago Symphony, Faliks has remained a sought-after concerto soloist with leading orchestras in the US and abroad in a variety of of works spanning from Beethoven’s complete piano concerti to Clara Schumann, Florence Price, Paul Schoenfield, and Rachmaninoff.
Her interdisciplinary performances include her one-woman show, the monologue-recital “Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist” and her long-running poetry and music project, Music/Words, which features living poets. She is a committed chamber musician, collaborating with major artists such as Rachel Barton Pine, Gilles Apap, Wendy Warner, Hila Plitmann and many others.
A defining element in her artistry is her commitment to contemporary music. Numerous composers have written works specifically for her, and she has given many world premieres. In 2024, she premiered Clarice Assad’s “Lilith” Concerto, which Assad wrote for her. In the 2025-26 season, she gave the world premiere of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Minimoog Synthesizer and Orchestra with Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto Casa da Musica – the first and only concert pianist in the world to appear on stage as a virtuoso of the Minimoog Synthesizer in a concerto format.
She is a prolific recording artist, with albums ranging from Schumann, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff to innovative projects such as Reimagine Beethoven and Ravel, 9 premieres and the most recent Manuscripts Don’t Burn, featured on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Faliks is an acclaimed author, with a recently published memoir “Weight in the Fingertips: A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage” (Bloomsbury, 2023) and articles in The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times.
She serves as Professor of Piano and Head of Piano at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, mentoring the next generation of artists. A Yamaha Artist and internationally respected performer, Inna Faliks continues to shape today’s piano landscape with vision, depth and expressive power.
