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Miami – Oct. 17, 2024 – Lovers of piano and classical music will be enchanted by married couple and piano duo Olha Chipak and Oleksiy Kushnir when they fill the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center concert hall with their virtuoso “Back to Beethoven” program presented by Dranoff 2 Piano Fusion on Sunday, Nov. 24 at 4 p.m. “Chipak and Kushnir haven’t performed in America since we last showcased them in Miami in 2018, so we’re thrilled to bring them back here from Germany for what we know will be a magnificent performance,” said Dranoff 2 Piano Fusion Executive Director Emily Cardenas. For Dranoff’s annual Classical Classics concert, the program will open with La Valse – Poème chorégraphique by composer Maurice Ravel, followed by Reminiscences du Don Juan de Mozart by Franz Liszt and end with the drama of Night by Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say. The second half of the program will feature Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in a two-piano arrangement by Liszt with percussion. Chipak and Kushnir have performed the Liszt Beethoven transcription with percussion in Europe for the past two years to rave reviews. Here in Miami, the duo will be joined by Dr. Colin R. Williams on timpani, as composed by Beethoven in his original orchestration. Williams is a professor of percussion at the Florida International University Wertheim School of Music. He has performed with groups such as the Florida Grand Opera, Palm Beach Symphony, New World Symphony, Symphony of the Americas, and Eastern Wind Symphony, among other professional orchestras. He holds his doctorate of the musical arts from the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Olha Chipak and Oleksiy Kushnir first met in 1998 while studying at the Lviv Music Academy in Ukraine. They could not have imagined then where their musical partnership would take them, but they resolved to pursue careers as solo artists while devoting themselves to performing chamber music. She is from the legendary music metropolis of Odessa on the Black Sea, while he is from the cultural melting pot of Lviv, where the first music conservatory in the Ukraine was founded as early as 1786. Together, they won their first international competition (“Roma 98”), but the piano duo sought more than recognition by juries, completing their degrees in piano ensemble performance in 2006 at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre in Mecklenburg, Germany. Since then, they have traveled the world winning top prizes in piano duo competitions, including the Dranoff International Two Piano Competition in 2003. Their success led to concert performances at festivals and venues throughout Europe, the U.S. and China. They have played multiple concerts in Europe as fundraisers for their homeland since the Russian invasion but are thrilled to return to Miami after such a long absence. “Miami has always been a great joy for us -- such an enthusiastic audience,” said Oleksiy Kushnir. “It’s a misconception that you only need to play Spanish or Cuban rhythms in Miami. Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms are always welcomed in Miami.” Tickets range from $45-$65 and are available for purchase at dranoff2pianofusion.org and AventuraCenter.org. Aventura Arts & Cultural Center is located at 3385 NE 188th Street in Aventura. Images of the performers are available upon request. Dranoff 2 Piano Fusion is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating community by fusing 2 piano repertoire with music of many genres and cultures through concerts, collaborations and education.