Artist Spotlight: Rinat Tsodyks

Rinat Tsodyks was born in Jerusalem, Israel in 1991. She began studying piano at the age of 10. After completing her military service with the status of “outstanding musician,” she enrolled in the Buchmann-Mehta school of Music in Tel-Aviv, where she completed her bachelor and master degrees under the guidance of Prof. Emanuel Krasovsky. Rinat has performed with an orchestra at the national festival of Israeli Music, Sounds in the desert, at the Felicia Blumenthal music center in Tel-Aviv, in concerts broadcasted live on the Israeli classical music radio station, Sound of Music, and in NYC’s (le) Poisson Rouge and DiMenna center. In 2017, Rinat graduated with an advanced certificate in piano at NYU, studying with Prof. Jeffrey Swann.

What or who inspired you to want to be an artist?
I come from a musical family. My parents are immigrants from the Soviet Union, where classical music was widely appreciated, and my mother is a musician. Music was always present in our house, and I took piano lessons from a young age. However, it wasn’t until I visited a beautiful concert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 14, that I realized my passion towards music. I still remember the program of the concert: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 4, and Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto, with the amazing Yefim Bronfman as a soloist.

What was your creative journey that has brought you to where you are in your career today?
My creative journey is full of inspirations: from concerts I attended, teachers I had, and people I studied with. It started with my piano studies as a child, continued through my academy years, in which I became interested in new music, and culminated when I moved to NYC, with its rich artistic and cultural world.

What do you need as an artist today?
As an artist today, I feel that it is important to be persistent, as well as open minded. Many things about music and art are constantly changing around us, and there are many opportunities to learn from that. But art is also personal, and this is why it is important to follow our gut about how we want it to be.

What creative project are you working on now?
My main project is my piano duo with Oren Lok. We perform our own original music, which is a fusion between classical and modern acoustic music.

What does it mean to you to have an organization like the AICF supporting artists and culture?

One of the hardest things about moving to a new place, especially a big and crowded city like New York, is the feeling of foreignness and lack of support. Having an organization like AICF that Israeli artists can approach with all matters that concern them is great and very helpful.

* photos credit: Maria Rosenblatt