A solo piano recital Sunday by Natalia Kartashova, a Russian master concert pianist who now lives in Santa Maria, will feature works by Bach, Chopin, Beethoven and Liszt as a benefit for the United Methodist Church and the Cross of Peace organization.

“Her music sends chills up my back just thinking about it,” said Pat Clever, office administrator for the church. “She's just wonderful.”

The concert will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at the church, 311 S. Broadway.

Kartashova has recorded three CDs, the most recent one this year, featuring works by Bach, Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninoff.

Kartashova will add to her impressive list of credentials when she begins her master's studies at UCLA this month with the intention of earning a Ph.D. in piano performance. One of only two students accepted to the program this year out of 500 candidates, she will be studying with world-renowned Russian-trained Professor Vitaly Margulis.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1978, Kartashova began her musical studies at 6 years old under her mother, who had a degree in music theory. Because of her exceptional talent, she was able to study with the best piano professors in St. Petersburg, both privately and as a student at the School of Music for Gifted Children.

At the age of 12, she gave her first concerts in St. Petersburg and in Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia as well as going on her first concert tour in Italy. By the age of 13, she had won several first prizes and two Grand Prix in piano competitions for young composers and young pianists in the USSR.

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In 2000, she graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music in St. Petersburg with a degree in music. She then studied with renowned piano professors at the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts. She also participated in several international piano competitions in France and Andorra, winning the Grand Prix for Franz Liszt interpretation in Marseille in 2003.

In Moscow, Kartashova received private piano lessons with the renowned Professor Emmanuil Monaszon, a teacher of more than 100 world-renowned pianists. His own teacher was Nikolai Igumnov, a famous luminary of the Russian piano school, who had been taught by Liszt himself.

Kartashova earned her bachelor's degree in music from the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts in 2004.

While pursuing her doctoral studies at the university, she met a young American, Luis Flores-Gallardo, and they were married in Santa Barbara in 2006. In December of that year, the couple relocated to Santa Maria, where he works at Hancock College as an information technology specialist.

Tickets for Sunday's concert can be purchased for $15 at the door or in advance at Owens Music (922-4551) and at the Santa Maria Inn gift shop (928-0200).

September 15, 2007