Sophia Agranovich is a Ukrainian-born American classical concert pianist, recording artist, music educator, producer and artistic director. She holds Bachelor and Master degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied on full scholarship with Sascha Gorodnitzki and Nadia Reisenberg, and taught piano as a teaching fellow. She continued her doctoral studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her live performances and discography have won top international awards and critical acclaim. Her albums are charting in top 10 across all musical genres on One World Music Radio and on World Top Radio Airplay Charts. A Steinway Artist, she is concertizing at major venues worldwide, and has been described by Fanfare Magazine as "a bold, daring pianist in the tradition of the Golden Age Romantics" and praised by the American Record Guide for her "magnificent shading and superior musicianship."
Biography
Early life and music education
Sophia Agranovich was born in Chernivtsi, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (modern-day Ukraine). Her father was a dentist and her mother was an instructor of the English language and her first piano teacher. Agranovich began formal piano lessons at age five. At six she was accepted to Chernivtsi School of Music and gave her first public concert. Her teachers were Anna Stolyarevich and Alexander Edelmann (both peers of Vladimir Horowitz and disciples of Felix Blumenfeld and Heinrich Neuhaus). At age 10 Agranovich won the Ukrainian Young Artists Competition (now known as the Mykola Lysenko International Music Competition), as that year's youngest participant. Her concerts were broadcast on national TV and radio stations.
Agranovich graduated from Chernivtsi School of Music in 1971. After immigrating with her family to the United States at age 15, Agranovich entered The Juilliard School Pre-College in New York City on a full scholarship in the class of Professor Sascha Gorodnitzki. Agranovich also studied with Nadia Reisenberg. She graduated from Juilliard with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1977 and a Master of Music degree in 1978. Agranovich won the Bergen Philharmonic Competition in 1979. She was awarded a fellowship and taught piano minor at Juilliard. Agranovich continued her academic pursuits at Teachers College, Columbia University, taking Doctor of Philosophy coursework in Music Education, Music Theory and Music History from 1980 to 1981.
Hiatus from music Agranovich paused her musical career in the 1980s to raise a family and to pursue an additional career in Information Technology. Having earned a certification in Computer Science from the Empire Technical School in New York City in 1981, her career in technology developed with her employment as a systems analyst for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in 1985 (where she received the Presidential Quality Award for Computer Systems Design and Support), and later a senior programmer/analyst at Merrill in 1987. She was ultimately promoted to project manager/assistant vice president in 1995 and vice president in 2001.
In 2008, Agranovich retired from her IT career and studied naturopathy, traditional Indian medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. In 2008 she received certifications from National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association/Spencer Institute and American Association of Drugless Practitioners in Yoga, Pilates, and other holistic disciplines. From 2009 to 2012 she taught Yoga and Pilates.The Juilliard School – Alumni Today 2010. Harris Connect, LLC. 2010. p. 138.
Music career In 2008, Agranovich restarted her professional musical career as a concert pianist, recording artist, music educator and program director. She regularly performs in numerous concerts both in the United States and internationally. In 2017 she gave 2-hour solo recitals at the Pennautier Festival and Juan-les-Pins in France where she premiered Quatre préludes en hommage a Chopin, Op. 162 dedicated to her by the French composer Françoise Choveaux. Other premieres included Roger Stubblefield's Sonata for clarinet and piano and Nocturne for viola and piano. Other major festivals she had participated at is Les Arts George V in Paris, Festival Musicale delle Nazioni in Rome, and Aspen in USA. Some of the venues she performed at are David Geffen (former Avery Fisher) Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium and Paul Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Roerich and Metropolitan museums, Bargemusic, Tenri Cultural Institute, Polish Cultural Foundation, Lambert Castle, Watchung Arts Center, Sieminski Theater, Hunter Hall, Madison Arts Center, Salle Cortot, American Cathedral in Paris, 1901 Arts Club, Regent Hall, Biblioteca Musical Víctor Espinós, Teatro di Marcello, Sala Baldini, Mozarthaus, Ehrbarsaal, Théâtre Na Loba, Gesellschaft für Musiktheater at Palais Khevenhüller, and Kaiser Hall.
Other performance venues include numerous colleges and universities, such as the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Drew University, Princeton Univercity, Rubin Academy of Music, Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music and Lviv State Conservatory. She has collaborated with Mark Peskanov, Shlomo Mintz, Christopher Collins Lee, Andrew Litton, Alexander Mishnaevski, Gregory Singer, Brett Deubner, Andrew Lamy, Andatole Wieck, Rupam Sarmah, Lili Haydn, Hamid Saeidi, Kathleen Supové, award-winning Emmy, Grammy, and Billboard top ten musical artists, and members of the major orchestras.
Agranovich co-produced and released twelve albums from 2010, including eight on Centaur Records, consisting primarily of virtuoso piano repertoire of the Romantic era. She is an author of her albums' critically acclaimed liner notes, referred to as "detailed and well-written" and "enlightening and insightful". She has also performed in and co-produced several multi-instrumental singles that blend elements of classical, folk, Middle Eastern, Indian, New Age, and global fusion music, crossing traditional genre boundaries.
Her performances are broadcast in Brazil on Universidade FM 106.9, "Company of the Music", in Canada on CKWR "Women in Music," Berlin, Munich, Rome, New Zealand, London, Tokyo, Osaka, Southampton, Luxembourg, Portugal, Paris, Tel-Aviv, Switzerland, Taiwan, Canary Islands, and in New York area on WWFM "Between the Keys" with Jed Distler and "Piano Matters" with David Dubal, WMNR "Friday Evenings with Will Duchon", NPR WLPR-FM "Art on the Air", WQXR "Reflections from the Keyboard" with David Dubal, and live at WQXR Greene Space.
Sophia Agranovich is on the Steinway Artists roster, and is listed annually in Marquis Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World. She has been featured in American Record Guide, Fanfare Magazine, New York Times, The Whole Note, Textura, AllMusic, Broadway World, World Culture Times, Musical America, FOX News, News ABC and other major media outlets. She is a voting member of NARAS, GrammyU mentor, and an active member of numerous professional music organizations, including American Liszt Society, College Music Society, and Leschetizky Association. Additionally she served on the board of NJMTA affiliated with Music Teachers National Association, and is an Artistic Director of "Classicals at the Circle" music series at the Watchung Arts Center. and a program chair and board member of Music Educators Association of New Jersey.
Pedagogy Sophia Agranovich is a music educator and has received numerous pedagogy awards. She conducts master classes and lectures, adjudicates competitions, prepares students for exams and auditions, coaches professional musicians, and maintains a private teaching studio.
Agranovich's students have won various awards and had been accepted to notable music schools, including the Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Brown University, Northwestern University and New York University, among others. Her students have performed at the Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, Kimmel Center, Tenri Cultural Institute, Steinway Hall, Watchung Arts Center, Polish Cultural Foundation, and Polish Embassy in New York. They also played in England, Italy, France, Austria, Poland, China and at various colleges, universities and libraries. Their performances were broadcast on radio and TV, including WWFM "Kids on Keys" with Jed Distler and WQXR "Young Artists Showcase" with Robert Sherman.
Awards and honors 2026: European Classical Music Awards – Platinum Prize in Piano, Artist of the Month, and Highest Score 2026: UK International Music Competition – Grand Prize 2026: European International Music Awards – 2 Gold medals in Best Classical Instrumental Solo and Best Classical Instrumentalist category 2026: Global Music Awards – Silver medal for Outstanding Achievement, Piano Album 2026: The Radio Music Awards – Best Classical Recording, Best Instrumental Recording 2025: World Entertainment Awards – Best Classical Solo 2025: World Classical Music Awards – Diamond Prize, Romantic Category; Platinum Prize, Etude Category; Artist Award 2025: Beethoven International Competition – Master Prize and Best Beethoven Performance Award 2025: The Radio Music Awards – Best Classical Artist, Best Classical Recording 2025: Claude Debussy International Music Competition – Diamond Prize and the Best Debussy Performance Special Award 2025: Global Music Awards – Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement 2025: Schubert International Music Competition – Diamond Prize and Best Schubert Performance 2024: InterContinental Music Awards – Best Instrumentalist 2024: One Earth Awards – Gold Winner: Best Classical Music Recording, Best World Music 2024: World Entertainment Awards – Best Classical Artist 2024: Clouzine International Music Awards – Best Classical Piano Performance, Spring 2024 2024: Clouzine International Music Awards – Best Classical Piano Album, Spring 2024 2024: Global Music Awards – 3 Silver Medals for Outstanding Achievement 2024: LIT International Music Awards – Platinum Winner in 5 categories and overall Instrumental Category winner 2024: The Radio Music Awards – Best Classical Artist, Best Classical Recording 2023: The American Prize – 1st Place Winner of the Piano Performance Solo 2023: Steinway & Sons – Steinway Top Teacher Award 2023: InterContinental Music Awards – Best Instrumentalist 2023: Indie Music Channel – Best Classical Recording; Induction to The Indie Music Hall of Fame 2023 2023: The Radio Music Awards – Best Classical Artist, Best Classical Recording 2023: One Earth Awards – Gold Winner: Best Classical Music Recording, Best Contemporary Instrumental Single 2023: Clouzine International Music Awards – Best Instrumental Song, Fall 2023 2023: Global Music Awards – 2 Silver Medals for Outstanding Achievement, "Peace and Joy" 2023: Global Music Awards – 2 Silver Medals for Outstanding Achievement, "Love Serenade" 2023: LIT International Music Awards, Fall 2023 – Platinum: Best Classical Pianist, Best Classical Music, Best Instrumental Music 2023: Intercontinental Music Awards – 3-time Finalist 2023: One World Music Radio – Nominated for the Best Classical Album 2022 and Best Neo Classical Single 2022: Indie Music Channel – Winner, Best Classical Recording 2022: Fanfare Magazine – The 2022 Want List (Best Recordings) 2022: The Radio Music Awards – Best Classical Artist, Best Classical Recording, Best Instrumental Recording 2022: Clouzine International Music Awards – Best Classical Album, Fall 2022 2022: Global Music Awards – 2 Silver Medals for Outstanding Achievement 2022: LIT International Music Awards, Fall 2022 – Platinum: Best Female Artist and Best Classical Music; Gold: Best Instrumental Music and Best Performance; overall Instrumental Category winner