Lydia Artymiw is native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and an American concert pianist and Emerita Distinguished McKnight Professor of Piano in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. Formative years Artymiw was born in Philadelphia to Ukrainian parents and began piano studies at age four with George Oransky at the Ukrainian Music Institute. Her principal teachers were Freda Pastor Berkowitz, who also taught for over fifty years at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, from 1962–1967 and Gary Graffman, her primary mentor, with whom she studied from 1967 to 1979. Artymiw graduated summa cum laude from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 1973, which honored her with a "Distinguished Alumna" award in 1991. Career Artymiw has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras world-wide, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, and the American, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Francisco, Kansas City, National, Seattle, and Florida Symphonies, the St. Paul and St. Luke's Chamber Orchestras. She has performed at over 50 festivals including Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Caramoor, South Mountain, Chautauqua, Hollywood Bowl, Newport, Maverick, Music Mountain, Seattle, Bellingham, Bay Chamber, Chamber Music Northwest, Eastern Shore Maryland, Grand Canyon, Bravo!Vail, Ouray, Tucson, Bantry, Round Top, Meadowmount, Montréal, Virginia Waterfront, Hampden-Sydney, and St. Barts. She has appeared in chamber performances with the Alexander, American, Borromeo, Concord, Daedalus, Guarneri, Miami, Orion, and Tokyo Quartets as well as in duo recitals with Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, Kim Kashkashian, Marcy Rosen, Pina Carmirelli, Benita Valente, John Aler, and Yo-Yo Ma. She was a member of the Steinhardt-Artymiw-Eskin Trio with Arnold Steinhardt and Jules Eskin for ten years. She has also performed solo recitals in most major American cities including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland (OR), Miami, Houston, Austin, Minneapolis, Detroit, and Pittsburgh, as well as in Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Estonia, Ukraine, China, Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, and New Zealand. Artymiw has been successful on the international competition circuit. She won third prize in the 1978 Leeds competition (UK) and was a finalist in the 1976 Leventritt competition (USA), a year in which no first prize was given. She was also a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1987 and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award in 1989.