Pianist Naomi Niskala has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Japan, and her performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio and NPR’s Performance Today. Her competition awards have included first prize at the 1996 Kingsville International Isabel Scionti Solo Piano Competition, and a top prize at the International Stravinsky Awards Competition in Illinois. A fellow for two summers each at Tanglewood’s Music Center and Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute, Niskala toured on the first “Musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Institute” tour with violinist Miriam Fried. She was later invited by Zarin Mehta to Israel, Turkey, and Greece to perform chamber music for a Ravinia Festival benefit. Niskala is a founding member of the Kuamni Trio for flute, cello, and piano, and is a member of the America’s Dream Chamber Artists (ADCA) based in New York City. Niskala is known for her research and performance of the solo piano works of American composer Robert Helps (1928-2001), and has been invited to perform and lecture on these works at universities and halls in the United States, Canada, Japan and Germany. Her release of the first complete recordings of Helps’ solo piano works on two discs with Albany Records in 2007 was met with high acclaim. Upcoming performances for the 2007-2008 year include a return to the Icicle Creek Music Center in Washington, the San Francisco Symphony Chamber Series, and Spectrum Concerts Berlin.
Born to Japanese/Finnish-American parents, Niskala began studying piano at the age of three. She grew up in Rochester, New York and later in Tokyo, Japan. Niskala holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the New England Conservatory of Music, and also attended Tufts University. She received her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Piano Performance with Gilbert Kalish at Stony Brook, and an Artist Diploma with Claude Frank at Yale. Other teachers include Patricia Zander and Maria Luisa Faini. Niskala also studied chamber music with pianists Leon Fleisher and Peter Serkin, violinists Louis Krasner and Eugene Lehner, and bassist Julius Levine. Niskala taught on the faculties at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, Connecticut and Wesleyan University (Connecticut), and was Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of South Florida’s School of Music. During the summer Niskala teaches at the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, and she is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of North Dakota.
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