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Biography

Misha Galant began piano lessons at the age of six with his mother, Olya Katsman, and continues to study with her to this day. Throughout high school, he also received guidance and coaching from Sharon Mann and Yoshikazu Nagai of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is a graduate of Columbia University, where he studied piano with Joseph Kalichstein through the Columbia-Juilliard Exchange while also pursuing degrees in Data Science and Russian Literature. He currently studies with Dr. Viktor Valkov at the University of Utah and with Professor Tatiana Zelikman of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow. Dr. Yu-Jane Yang of Weber State University in Ogden, UT has also been instrumental in Misha's musical growth throughout high school and college.

Misha gave his first full solo recital at age 12 and made his orchestral debut at age 13, performing Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. He has since performed with such orchestras as the Fort Worth Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Utah Symphony, and the California Youth Symphony, joining the latter on tour in Austria and Italy for performances of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. He has also won numerous awards at piano competitions, including multiple prizes in 2015 at the first Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and at the Eastman Young Artists International Competition, the latter resulting in a four-year, full-tuition scholarship offer to attend the Eastman School of Music. He was inducted into the MTAC's selective Young Artist Guild, through which he performed frequently as a recitalist around California from 2015-2020, and, most recently, was chosen as one of two Gilmore Young Artists in the United States for 2020.

Additionally, Misha is an avid chamber musician and enjoys performing benefit concerts for retirement communities and charities. In the summer of 2021, he raised over $1000 through various performances for Haiti earthquake relief, and in March of 2022, he raised over $8000 for Ukraine relief. Beyond his musical and academic endeavors, Misha enjoys hiking and mountain running and swam for the Columbia University swim team, a D1 team that trains twenty hours per week.

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