Biography
Oana Rusu Tomai moved to Seattle in the fall of 2004 after she received her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature from
Eastman School of Music where she served as a graduate assistant. A native of
Romania she performed in a ten-concert tour with theater actress
Leopoldina Balanuta in recitals of Romantic poetry and music and was broadcast live. She moved to the U.S. in 1996 and became an American citizen in 2005.
She is a recipient of various scholarships and grants, participated in music festivals such as
Aspen Festival and School of Music,
Chautauqua Institute,
Brevard Music Center and
Pécs Summer School of Music, Hungary and as an accompanist in the International Percussion Competition of Debrecen, Hungary. She played in masterclasses for
Vladimir Feltsman,
Tzimon Barto,
Nemethy Attila,
Arkady Sevidov,
Gabriel Chodos and
Edward Auer and was a student performer at Tulsa Performing Arts Center. As an opera accompanist and chamber musician she has been coached by the
Transylvanian Quartet, Fiora Contino and
Malcolm Bilson. Her principal teachers were esteemed artists professors
Rebecca Penneys and
Andrew Cooperstock.
Among her most recent activities are guest artist appearances for the George Crumb Festival University of Northern Colorado, By Crumb! at the
Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle Symphony
- Made in America Festival at Nordstrom Recital Hall and participation in the U. W. World Series Masterclasses. Upcoming concerts include chamber music recitals at Seattle Art Museum and with
Tadeu Coelho, Brazilian flutist, at Poncho Hall at the
Cornish College of the Arts.
From January 2008, Oana, former faculty member at the
Seattle Conservatory where she taught theory and composition, will teach history of music and music education topics at
Edmonds Community College.