The LITWIN-MARKIW Duo

Rare is the perfect virtuosic blend of talent and temperament, but such is The Litwin-Markiw Duo, comprised of the effervescent coloratura soprano, Jennifer Litwin, and the powerfully exciting pianist, Victor Markiw.

Ms. Litwin is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and received her Master’s Degree from the Yale University School of Music. She made her professional debut with the Sarasota Opera in the role of Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann under the baton of Emmanuel Villaume and has garnered much recognition as a concert soloist at venues ranging from the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival to the Westchester Philharmonic. She has been widely lauded for her bright and agile “lemon tang soprano” [Dennis Cashman, The New Haven Register] In addition to a full schedule of performances as the singing half of the Litwin-Markiw Duo, Ms. Litwin is deeply committed to teaching her private studio of voice and piano students and maintains a successful career on Wall Street.

Dr. Markiw earned his Bachelor’s, Master of Fine Arts, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Hartt School of Music, SUNY Purchase, and the University of Connecticut, respectively. He has studied with internationally renowned pianists Vladimir Feltsman, Paul Ostrovsky, Volodymyr Vynnytsky, and Neal Larrabee. His dissertation Myroslav Skoryk: Life and Solo Piano Works, which will be published by the The Edwin Mellen Press in 2010, has received numerous accolades and has positioned Dr. Markiw as a significant Skoryk scholar. He has performed extensively throughout the United States and abroad and is a sought-after recitalist and chamber musician. In addition to his present faculty position at the University of New Haven where he teaches piano, music theory and music history, Dr. Markiw has taught at the University of Connecticut and continues an active schedule as a private piano instructor.

The Litwin-Markiw Duo, formed in 1997 in Milford, Connecticut, has a reputation for ambitious and brilliant concert programming. The Duo masterfully integrates their finely polished technical skills with their boundlessly creative musicality. Delighting audiences with their passionate yet intimate interpretations, the Duo effortlessly commands a wide variety of styles. Their concert repertoire is a mélange of mouth-watering ingredients; programs are created much as a master chef would design a five-course meal. They are constructed with tastes and flavors of intensifying complexity, with each subsequent set a treat serving to whet the appetite for the highlight of many of their concerts, the late-Romanticism masterpieces of Sergei Rachmaninoff. The Duo has also been seen in more relaxed and informal settings, performing works by Cole Porter and George Gershwin as well as other jazz standards from the classic American Songbook.