Sally Pinkas

Sally Pinkas, Pianist-in-residence of the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, pursues an active performing career as both a soloist and a chamber musician. Among her credits are solo recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, Villa Serbelloni (Bellagio) and Villa Aurelia (Rome) in Italy, Israel Radio ‘Etnachta’ Series in Jerusalem, The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, and Jordan Hall in Boston. Ms Pinkas has participated in summer festivals at Marlboro, Tanglewood, Aspen, Kfar Blum (Israel), Lucerne (Switzerland), Rocca di Mezzo (Italy) and Pontlevoy (France). She has appeared as concerto soloist with the Boston Pops, Aspen Philharmonia, Jupiter Symphony, and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, among others.

An avid chamber musician, Pinkas has collaborated with Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Ciompi, Leontovych and Lydian String Quartets, the Adaskin Trio, and flutist Fenwick Smith. Since 1992 she has also been active as part of the Hirsch-Pinkas Piano Duo, with her husband Evan Hirsch. The two have performed throughout the USA as well as in Nigeria, Israel, Italy, and Russia. In 2003-2004 they made their first appearances in Bulgaria and France, and most recently they performed and taught in Beijing and Xian, China. The Duo has commissioned, premiered and recorded major works by George Rochberg, Daniel Pinkham, Thomas Oboe Lee and Peter Child for the Gasparo and Arsis labels.

Pinkas' extensive repertoire ranges from the traditional to the contemporary, and includes many works written for her. In 1996 she was awarded a Howard Fellowship by Brown University for a 2-CD recording of George Rochberg’s solo piano works, which was later released by Gasparo. Other solo discography includes Debussy’s Twelve Etudes and Estampes (Centaur), Bread and Roses: Piano works by Christian Wolff (Mode), and Fauré’s Thirteen Nocturnes (Musica Omnia), which was named one of 2002's best CD’s by Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe. Her 3-CD recording of Philippe Gaubert’s Complete Chamber Works for Flute and Piano (with Fenwick Smith and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) was recently released by Naxos.

Born and raised in Israel and educated in the USA, Pinkas holds performance degrees from Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Ph.D. in Composition and Theory from Brandeis University. Her major teachers were Russell Sherman, George Sebok and Genia Bar-Niv (Piano), Sergiu Natra (composition), and Robert Koff (Chamber music). A dedicated teacher, she serves as Professor of Piano at Dartmouth's Music Department, and an Artist-teacher at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts.