Our Experienced Pianists
Having experience as collaborative pianists with renowned solo artists or as an accompaniment for famous symphonies, the collaborative pianists at the Stulberg International String Competition will help each competitor perform to the best of their abilities. Always focused on delivering the best collaborative performance possible for the young artists competing, our pianists provide the best support to every young artist in our competition. To learn more about our collaborative pianists, see a short bio of each below.
Alicja Basinska
Is a Polish-born collaborative pianist, chamber musician and orchestral keyboardist. Ms. Basinska is a Collaborative Piano Coordinator and staff pianist at the Cleveland Institute of Music as well as a Lecturer at Case Western Reserve University. As an orchestral player, she has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Basinska is also an Assistant Director and a score reader for the Cleveland Orchestra video production team at Severance Hall and Blossom Music Center. Every year, the team produces numerous concerts, streamed live on multiple platforms including Adella and European-based Medicitv.
Ms. Basinska earned her bachelor’s degree from McGill University in Montreal and her master’s and doctoral degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Andrea Swan
Is a Chicago-area chamber musician, collaborative pianist, orchestral player, soloist and teacher. She is the principal keyboard player with the Grant Park Music Festival and plays regularly in the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra. She also accompanies instrumentalists in their final auditions for positions in the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera Orchestras and has served as the official accompanist for numerous music festivals and competitions around the United States, including the Stulberg International String Competition. Ms. Swan performs regularly with two piano trios, the Evanston Chamber Ensemble and the Pressenda Trio. She appears frequently on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s chamber music series and performs annually at Northwestern University’s Winter Chamber Music Festival. As a collaborative pianist, she has performed with many artists locally, throughout the United States and on tours to the Far East. In addition, she premiered many new solo and chamber music compositions while she was the pianist for the University of Chicago’s Contemporary Chamber Players and the Fulcrum Point New Music Project. She maintains a large private class of adult piano students.
Ms. Swan holds degrees from Oberlin College and Indiana University. Her mentors include Jack Radunsky, Gyorgy Sebok, Menahem Pressler, Josef Gingold and Janos Starker.
