Alumna Returns To Perform, Lead Master Class
- by R. Ankrom
We are proud to welcome back Chatham Hall alumna and concert pianist Genie Russo (Class of 1973). In addition to performing a concert in St. Mary’s Chapel, Ms. Russo also led a Master Class with music students.
Ms. Russo, a former State of Virginia Artist in Residence, has toured internationally on behalf of the US State Department and Austria and given solo performances throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. She has performed on the Austrian State Radio, Saarland Radio in Germany, Czech State Radio, Leningrad Television, NTV in Turkey, and National Public Radio in the United States. She has also performed at many international festivals and has been a soloist at Capella Hall in St. Petersburg, Grosser Musikvereinsaal in Vienna, Carnegie Hall in New York, and Leighton Hall in London.
Ms. Russo’s solo recordings include works by Edward MacDowell, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland , Johann Strauss, Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, and Egon Wellesz. In addition, Ms. Russo has made a number of chamber music recordings including the Brahms Hungarian Dances arranged for violin and piano by Josef Joachim with violinist Yuval Waldman.
Ms. Russo has been head of the Piano Dept. at the Josef Matthias Hauer Conservatory in Wiener Neustadt, Austria since 1991 and a professor at the annual "Vienna International Pianists" Summer Academy since 1997. She is also a jurist for the International Rosario Marciano Piano Competition.
Ms. Russo currently lives in Vienna, Austria with her husband Helmut Weihsmann.
