Renowned Pianist to Perform for 10th Annual Winter Nocturne

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AIKEN, SC (01/09/2019) Tickets are still on sale for the University of South Carolina Aiken's 10th Annual Winter Nocturne, featuring Dr. Edvinas Minkstimas, one of Europe's top emerging young pianists, on Jan. 31 at 7 p.m., in the Etherredge Center.

Tickets are $25. All students are admitted free. Tickets are available at the Etherredge Center box office, by calling 803-641-3305 or online at https://etherredge.usca.edu/performances/tickets.dot .

"His extensive repertory, solid technique and musical expression have led him to perform throughout Europe and North America," said one music enthusiast.

During Winter Nocturne, Minkstimas will play USC Aiken's new Steinway 9' concert grand piano. The university is working toward becoming an All-Steinway School. Once achieved, it will be the only public institution in the state with this distinction and one of four in South Carolina. The first step toward the All-Steinway recognition was bringing the new concert grand to the Etherredge Center Main Stage.

Minkstimas, who first performed for Winter Nocturne in 2014, helped the university choose this particular piano from the Steinway studio in New York. Minkstimas spent hours playing five Steinways before recommending this one to the USC Aiken selection committee. He will be reunited with this chosen piano when he performs during Winter Nocturne.

Minkstimas became a Steinway Artist in August 2013. He conducts master classes at the Steinway showroom and concert hall in North Bethesda for the Washington musical community. His visit to Aiken, will include master classes with USC Aiken students and community members. His return to the main stage will feature classical works from Robert Schuman, George Gershwin, and Franz Liszt.

At 14, Minkstimas debuted professionally with The Lithuanian National Philharmonic Orchestra (Vilnius), playing the Grieg Piano Concerto in A-minor. He has released two recordings, featuring solo and orchestral performances of works by Brahms, Beethoven and Liszt. Minkstimas has earned numerous grants and scholarships, including those from the Meyer Foundation (France), Music Academy of the West (California), and the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.

A native of Kaunas, Lithuania, Minkstimas claims his early artistic influences from Nordic poetry, Baltic mythology and other romantic images.

"He conveys the lyricism and poetry within a musical work through his displays of virtuoso technique," said one audience member.

He is strongly influenced by such great pianists as Richter and Michelangeli, and composers Brahms, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Ligeti and Penderecki. Of his contemporary colleagues, Minkstimas is inspired by Evgeny Kissin, Spencer Myer, Sofya Gulyak, Jeffrey Swann and Martha Argerich.

In May 2011, Minkstimas received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School, New York, where he received the C.V. Starr Foundation Doctoral Fellowship and studied with Jerome Lowenthal. He previously received the Artist Diploma from the Paris Conservatory under the tutelage of Michel Beroff. Minkstimas studied in Lithuania with Veronika Vitaite at the Lithuanian Academy of Music. He has taken master classes with pianists Nikolay Petroff, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Idil Beret, Eugene Indjic, Jeffrey Swann, Joseph Kalichstein, Marie Francoise-Bucquet and other prominent performers, including Itzhak Perlman. He also studied composition with Guy Reibel (Paris Conservatory) and Vytautas Barkauskas at the Lithuanian Academy of Music.

Since July 2010, Minkstimas has served on the boards of directors for several international non-profit organizations. In this capacity, he has helped organize fundraisers for social and international causes, including three fundraisers in the United States and one in Lithuania during which more than $100,000 was raised for autism-related research. One of the fundraisers in New York raised money to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. He is also a co-founder of the Global Lithuanian Leaders organization and a board member of National Jewish Health.

USC Aiken's annual Winter Nocturne concert is made possible thanks to the generosity of Ben Cox, a longtime supporter of the university, Etherredge Center and cultural arts programming throughout the community. He also served as the co-chair of the All Steinway Campaign.

University of South Carolina Aiken's Winter Nocturne, featuring Minkstimas takes place on Jan. 31 at 7 p.m., in the Etherredge Center.

Tickets are $25. All students are admitted free. Tickets are available at the Etherredge Center box office, by calling 803-641-3305 or online at https://etherredge.usca.edu/performances/tickets.dot .