Upon her receiving the Brahms Prize at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 1993, music critics wrote: "Lisa Smirnova probably surprised all who heard her fantastic performance. She succeeds in integrating an entire palette of positive attributes within herself. Perhaps for the first time since the departure of such greats as Horowitz and Richter, the piano world has finally once again found itself a mega star!" Her achievement is especially remarkable in light of the fact that Lisa Smirnova is the very first pianist ever to be honored with this award. Unique interpretive Style: an Integration of Superlatives This Austrian pianist of Russian extraction is enjoying an exceptional career which might best be attributed to her success in integrating the sounds and philosophies of the Russian and Central European schools - two very distinct musical cultures. No wonder, then, that her interpretive style is quite unique. And it is extraordinary that Lisa Smirnova, in contrast to the traditional practice of great Russian pianists, has made a name for herself, not with works of the Romantic period, but with those of the Western European repertoire - ranging from Handel, to the Viennese classics, to Brahms. Stations in the Life of a highly gifted Pianist Perhaps surprisingly, a career as a pianist was not always in her plans. Initially, this Moscow native actually wanted to become a vulcanologist. But it was thanks to her grandmother that she began taking piano lessons at age four, laying the foundation for her exceptional career. Along with Yevgeny Kissin, this highly talented piano student of Anna Kantor was accepted to the renowned Gnessin School. She subsequently attended the Moscow Tschaikovsky Conservatory, studying piano under Heinrich Neuhaus' assistant and successor, Lev Naumov. After meeting Professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, she moved to Austria in 1991, where she continued her studies at the Salzburg Mozarteum, graduating from there with honors. Her studies included a brief "intermezzo" in London, in order to add greater depth to her training under Maria Curcio; she also attended master classes with Robert Levin. Intensive Concert Life Her concert life was intensive from the very outset. Lisa Smirnova is in demand worldwide, both as a soloist and as a partner in chamber music. At the early age of 20, she made her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York and embarked on her first tour of Japan, during which she celebrated her debut at Santory Hall in Tokyo. In 1993, appearances followed at London's Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and at the Vienna Konzerthaus. The summer of 1996 saw her debut with Benjamin Schmid at the Salzburg Festival. Since then, her concert activities have extended to international concert podia in Europe, Asia and the USA, along with regular guest performances at the prominent music festivals, including the Salzburg Festival, Salzburg Mozart Week, the Schleswig Holstein Festival and the Lucerne Festival. Lisa Smirnova is a much sought-after soloist with such internationally renowned orchestras as the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Lower Austrian Tonkünstler Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, the Antwerp Beethoven Academy, the German Chamber Academy, the Wurttemberg Philharmonic, the Halle State Philharmonic, the Rhein Philharmonic Koblenz, the Sinfonietta Helsinki, the Tallinn Philharmonic, the St.Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, the Lutoslawski Philharmonic Orchestra Breslau, Hungary's Budapest Philharmonic, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Sinfonia Varsovia and the Cairo Chamber Orchestra. She has had the privilege of working with such conductors as Andrey Boreyko, Ivor Bolton, Lev Markiz, Manfred Honeck and Carlos Kalmar. Furthermore, no other pianist of Lisa Smirnova's generation has managed to attain such stature in the field of chamber music. Her intensive, broad-scale involvement is second to none in recent years. She counted amongst her regular partners such music greats as Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Antje Weithaas, Clemens Hagen, Benjamin Schmid, Thomas Zehetmair, the Leipzig String Quartet, the Belcanto Strings, Sergei Nakariakov, the Berlin Philharmonic Brass Soloists, and members of the Astor Piazzolla New Tango Quintet. Top Awards for CD Recordings In collaboration with acclaimed violinist, Benjamin Schmid, Lisa Smirnova brought out a first: Bach's Sonatas and Partitas, Paganini's Caprices for Violin, with piano accompaniment composed by R. Schumann. These recordings were received enthusiastically ba the international music press and won the highes awards in France and Australia. Her partnership with BMG/Arte Nova Classics from 1995-2002 was crowned by her recording with Daniel Raiskin of Ernst Bloch's complete works for viola and piano, appearing in February of 2003 and rapidly conquering the Dutch classics charts. Her performances of Beethoven's Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 are especially noteworthy, as the young pianist has garnered herself an excellent reputation as an interpreter of classical Viennese music and the works of Schubert. Since 2003, the artist has been under contract with the new-artist label, Oehms Classics. Their first production – a solo CD entitled "Man lebt nur einmal" featuring an unusual and highly captivating compilation of waltzes for piano, appeared in the autumn of the same year and was officially introduced to the public at Steinway Vienna. Numerous broadcast awards from the likes of ORF, WDR, SDR, NDR, the BBC, Radio France and Bavarian Broadcasting, further attest to her extraordinary career.