Salmon Arm’s rising star pianist Izik-Dzurko talks Juilliard education, world travel, increasing acclaim, career aspirations

“I would say that insofar as I’m able to perform regularly and to continue to improve as a pianist, it’s precisely the lifestyle that I aspired to,” said Izik-Dzurko, a Salmon Arm Secondary graduate. “I’m rather introverted and a slightly cautious person by nature, so I’m not the kind who would be going out and exploring the world for its own sake. That is something that I’ve had to adjust to a little bit. And, still, I find myself often lacking the energy to really explore the places I visit in very much depth.

“It can be a real challenge to travel so constantly, but the enormous pro that completely outweighs that is just having the opportunity to share my music with so many audiences all around the world.”

Both of Izik-Dzurko’s parents studied music and his father teaches piano.

“I heard the instrument at home, but I wouldn’t say that I had life ambitions to pursue the piano very early,” he said. “Unlike a lot of the colleagues I had when I was studying at music conservatory, I wasn’t especially a prodigy at a very young age. I’m grateful to my parents for introducing me to a number of hobbies and pursuits and extracurricular activities… but very gradually, I would say, the piano eventually took over my interest and my ambition.”

Izik-Dzurko — who was turning heads provincially and nationally by age 17 – considered himself a longshot applicant to The Juilliard School in New York City, widely considered one of the world’s most prestigious conservatories.

He was accepted and completed his Bachelor of Music degree under Yoheved Kaplinsky, a prizewinner at the J.S. Bach International Competition in Washington, D.C.

“It was an enormous change from the environment that I had experienced up until that point, being from a small town in the Interior to suddenly be living in New York City,” Izik-Dzurko said. “But aside from the lovely colleagues and the inspiring classmates and schoolmates that I was lucky enough to meet during my time there, I think one of the best parts of studying at Juilliard was the really exciting concert atmosphere that is always going on in New York City.”

Student pricing was an added bonus.

“I took full advantage of that while I was there,” he said. “I attended many concerts and operas… so I was able to really broaden my horizons and to witness some of the artists that up until that point I had only admired through their recordings and through my exploration of their work online. It was certainly a very formative part of my music education.”

Izik-Dzurko broke through internationally in 2022, snaring first prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the Maria Canals International Music Competition and the 20th Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition, at which he earned the Canon Audience Prize and the Chamber Music Award.

“I think maybe musicians or pianists have a slightly different perspective toward competitions than do athletes because there is something a little bit incongruous about ranking musicians,” when asked if the prizes came with a sense of validation. “I think I always try to resist putting too much stock and validation in a competition result. But it certainly did give me important performance experience. Having to perform under the pressure of a competition final is definitely very unique. And even though I tried to not make my primary focus the competitions, I would be lying if I said it didn’t boost my confidence a little bit and sort of affirm my efforts.”

The series of prize victories also raised his profile and led to more performance opportunities.

In 2024, Izik-Dzurko won the Leeds International Piano Competition and became the first Canadian Grand Prize Laureate at an instrumental edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal.

He considers his 50-minute rendition of Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in Leeds among his most memorable moments.

“It’s very technically challenging and full of very precarious passages, too, in which you have to leap large distances across the piano and land on the right note,” Izik-Dzurko said. “And that was the biggest piano competition I had done to date. I knew that my parents were watching and there was a rather big audience in the hall, as well. You also have the months and months of preparation that preceded that very moment during which it’s do or die you perform.”

Izik-Dzurko said he struggles to take pride in his accomplishments.

“I think that’s probably an area in which I can improve myself. I probably am a bit of a perfectionist,” he said. “I think you would probably find a disproportionate number of classical musicians to be quite perfectionist in their personality type. I invariably — against my own best efforts — end up thinking of things that happened during the performance that I wish had been different or mistakes that I made that I would love to correct.”

The introverted soloist – who expects to perform at a recital in Salmon Arm around Christmastime — was asked for thoughts on showmanship.

“Were I forced to give a speech in front of an audience or an extended lecture or, heaven forbid, dance or something like that, I would be hopelessly embarrassed and I would stiffen up and be very self-conscious,” he said. “But I don’t at all have that feeling when I’m expressing what I wish to through the medium of the piano as an instrument. You are, after all, performing the work of someone else. You’re doing so to the best of your own abilities and, hopefully, with a kind of individual voice and character, so I’ve always been a little bit reluctant to showboat or to make too much of my own personality on stage. Watching a great pianist perform is thrilling regardless of whether or not they’re consciously trying to make it so.”

Over the next five years or so, Izik-Dzurko does not expect to have much of a personal life.

“The long periods of absence that my travel schedule enforces on my lifestyle, those make developing friendships, close friendships, a little bit more challenging,” he said. “I think I am sort of fortunate in that I am rather introverted and don’t mind spending time alone and time in isolation as I have to when I’m practising for long periods of time.”

His primary ambition is to strengthen his relationship with his instrument.

“The pianists who I’ve looked up to throughout my whole life, I think I admire them most especially for their mastery of the instrument and for their incredible artistic voices, and perhaps only secondarily for their incredible career exploits and their fame, their renown,” Izik-Dzurko said. “And those I don’t think I’ve ever really sought, except perhaps as a byproduct of being the great pianist, which is really my primary ambition.

“As far as my goals for the next years, I think I would probably simply say to continue improving as an artist and to be a better performer, a better communicator through the instrument, a more confident performer on stage and to be able to more faithfully and convincingly execute the music that I love and that I look forward to working on every day.”

by Marty Hastings

Salmon Arm’s rising star pianist Izik-Dzurko talks Juilliard education, world travel, increasing acclaim, career aspirations

Our Community