Noted equally for her brilliant performances of contemporary music and her deep understanding of the classics, Maya Hartman has been described as an Elegant and poetic" pianist with "an extraordinary capacity for producing a beautiful sound" (New York Concert Review). In October 2008 she won the prestigious Pro Musicis International Award, and subsequently played solo recitals in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and in Boston's Pickman Hall. This season she makes her Paris debut at Salle de Cortot through Pro Musicis France.
Ms. Hartman has performed as soloist with orchestra and in solo and chamber music recitals at venues such as Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, Merkin Hall, and the Bruno Walter Auditorium in New York City, and three times on the Dame Myra Hess live television (TV 25) and radio (WFMT) broadcast series in Chicago. Conductors she has collaborated with include Pierre Boulez, David Stern, Alan Dennis, and David Stock, among others. She has appeared at the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove (England), Music@Menlo (California), Yellow Barn Festival (Vermont) and Scotia Festival of Music (Halifax), and has been broadcast on National Public Radio and on WQXR.
A passionate advocate of the music of our time, Ms. Hartman has performed works by many composers of the 20th and 21st centuries including Elliott Carter, Oliver Knussen, Luciano Berio, Gy̦rgy Ligeti, Arthur Berger, Pierre Boulez, Jonathan Harvey, David Cutler, David Fromm, and Noam Sivan, and has premiered many new works. On her performance of Milton Babbitt's Three Compositions for Piano one reviewer noted: "Hartman's performance "_ was a revelation. Generally speaking, Babbitt's scores are dense masses of extremely difficult writing. Polyphonic, polyrhythmic as well as non-tonal, in lesser hands they often deteriorate into panicky incoherence. In Ms. Hartman's confident embrace, however, they bloomed beautifully. I have rarely heard this kind of piano music played as well, with such attention to its detail, such clarity of the twisting strands, and such beauty of sound. This is exactly the kind of music that sends audiences fleeing on many occasions, but I defy anyone who was there to hear this performance not to have been entranced by it."(Timothy Gilligan)
Ms. Hartman has also been praised for her innovative programming that combines the well-known with rarely performed gems. Her recent solo recitals have included, side by side, works by Scarlatti and Luciano Berio, Mozart and Charles Griffes, Chopin and Szymanowski, Brahms and Oliver Knussen, Rachmaninoff and Gy̦rgy Ligeti, Beethoven and Janek, and many other special pairings. Themed programs such as "Character Pieces", "Czech Music", and a special program coordinated with manuscripts on display at the New York Public Library are her trademark, leading to a unique concert experience.
Maya Hartman began her studies at age four with her mother and now holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from SUNY-Stony Brook as well as bachelor's and master's degrees, with high distinction, from Indiana University. She is a recipient of the Theresa Sterne Grant, and also won Second Prize at the 2007 National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artists Competition. Her principal teachers were Gilbert Kalish, Menahem Pressler, Leonard Hokanson, and Edward Auer. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children, and is currently on faculty at the City College of New York.