Naomi Niskala, D.M.A.

About Naomi

Pianist Naomi Niskala has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in Europe, North America, Russia, Israel, Thailand, and Japan, and her performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio, Deutschlandradio, RTV Germany, and NPR’s Performance Today. Her competition awards include first prize at the Kingsville International Isabel Scionti Solo Piano Competition and a top prize at the International Stravinsky Awards Competition in Illinois. Attending two summers each at Tanglewood’s Music Center and Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute, Niskala also toured on the first “Musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Institute” tour with violinist Miriam Fried. Upon invitation from Zarin Mehta and the Ravinia Festival, she performed as chamber musician in Israel, Turkey, and Greece. Niskala performed regularly with Spectrum Concerts Berlin from 2008-2017, one of Germany’s leading chamber organizations, and is a founding member of the piano trio Trio Kisosen. She has established herself as one of the prominent scholars of the solo piano works of American composer Robert Helps (1928-2001), and her release of the first complete recordings of Helps’ solo piano works on two discs with Albany Records in 2007 was met with high acclaim, the first volume was declared one of the “2007 Best of the Year” discs by Classics Today. Niskala has also recorded two discs of chamber works by Robert Helps and Ursula Mamlok with Spectrum Concerts Berlin for Naxos, and also for Bridge Records. Born to Japanese/Finnish-American parents, Niskala began studying piano at the age of three, and was raised in Rochester, New York and later Tokyo, Japan. She holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, Stony Brook University, and the New England Conservatory of Music, and her primary teachers were Claude Frank, Gilbert Kalish, and Patricia Zander. She is currently Associate Professor of Music at Susquehanna University, where she teaches piano and theory and leads a summer chamber music program to Japan.

My biggest goal in teaching is to make sure the students understand the processes of problem solving in the pieces we work on—whether the problems are technical, musical, stylistic, physical, or mental. If my students understand the how and why, they are better equipped to learn independently and curiously, while respecting the music they are re-creating.