Audrey Vardanega

Piano
Collaborative Piano
Current Position

Biography

(She/Her) Praised as a “[musically] eloquent” (San Francisco Classical Voice) player “with the kind of freedom, authority, and strength…that one expects from the world’s finest pianists” and a “bewitching musical presence” (The Piedmont Post), American pianist Audrey Vardanega (b.1995) has performed as a solo and collaborative pianist across Europe, China, and the United States.
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Experience

Musaics of the Bay

Present - Present
Berkeley, CA

Artistic Director

Present - Present
Audrey is the Founder and Artistic Director of Musaics of the Bay, a nonprofit chamber music series dedicated to inspiring collaborations among visual artists, composers, and performers in the Bay Area and beyond.

Arium

Present - Present
New York, NY

Chief Operating Officer

Present - Present
Launching platform integration with blockchain technologies and the opening of the Arium Marketplace. Enabling musicians, curators and organizations to ethically incentivize and monetize their data and content via initial Concert Offerings, NFTs, and other innovative forms of digital ownership and incentivization. Building a global values network where artists can take control of their own data, virtual presence through redirecting existing patrons and attracting new audiences, redefining the landscape and career trajectory for the Web3.0 informed musician of today.

The Autumn Salon

2021 - Present

Director of Operations

2021 - Present
Programming and Presenting events in partnership with Autumn Salon Founder Christos Vayenas in private residences in NYC
New York, NY

Teaching Intern

2014

Schedule

Recent Highlights

Biography

Audrey Vardanega

In response to her passion for bringing artists together for opportunities for performance, the creation of new work, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Audrey founded Musaics of the Bay in 2019. Musaics is a nonprofit chamber music series dedicated to connecting musicians, composers, and visual artists for collaborations, residency programs, mentorship, and the creation of new work in the Bay Area and beyond. From March 2020 to April 2021, Musaics of the Bay presented "The Stay-at-Home Symposium," commissioning over 75 new works of music inspired by community-submitted artwork. The Symposium involved over 100 artists from around the world, including performers, composers, poets, filmmakers, painters, photographers, and more, for virtual collaboration.

Currently, Musaics holds biannual residency programs in the Bay Area, bringing together artists of all types for conversation, community, and the creation of new work. Additionally, they organize regular artist networking events, entrepreneurship forums with industry leaders, and other initiatives to support and connect artists.

Audrey, along with pianist/composer Christos Vayenas, is the co-founder and COO of Arium TV. She also serves as the Director of Operations for The Autumn Salon, an invite-only Salon series based in NYC and Boston. The Autumn Salon is devoted to bringing together world-class musicians with audiences in intimate settings. Audrey is passionate about providing emerging artists with opportunities to shape their own artistic careers by creating new communities and reimagining patronage.

Audrey made her debut as a soloist with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra at the age of 11 and her debut with the Midsummer Mozart Festival under the baton of the late Maestro George Cleve in 2010, 2012, and 2013, becoming the youngest soloist in the history of the festival. She made her solo recital debut at the age of 12 on the Bouchaine Young Artists Series with Festival Napa Valley in California. Audrey has also been interviewed and featured on various media outlets including KQED San Francisco, Berkeley's "Piano" segment on KPFA 94.1, KALW San Francisco Local Public Radio, San Francisco's Classical KDFC,  the Hangzhou China Central TV Station, the San Francisco Classical Voice, and New York's WWFM, among others. She has performed at the Hangzhou Grand Theater, The Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, MN, Princeton University Concerts, The Tippet Rise Arts Center, Festival Napa Valley, the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, the Teatro del Libertador San Martín in Córdoba, Argentina, The Ravinia Festival, Gordon Music Series in Tampa, FL, Matinee Musicale in Duluth, MN, The Santa Cruz Symphony, San Francisco’s Old First Concerts Series, San Francisco’s Herbst Theater, Musaics of the Bay, Festival del Sole Napa Valley, Rockefeller University’s Tri-Institutional Noon Concerts Series, the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, Santa Cruz’s “Distinguished Artists Concert and Lecture Series,” and more. Audrey won a Bay Area Audience Choice Award in August 2021 for her performance of Beethoven’s A Major Cello Sonata with cellist Tanya Tomkins and the Valley of the Moon Music Festival.

Audrey was born and raised in Oakland, California and began her piano studies at the age of six with Araks Aghazarian. She began formal piano training with Robert Schwartz at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 2002 to 2013 as well as formal composition training with Arkadi Serper at the Berkeley Crowden School from 2004 to 2013. Her past instructors include Seymour Lipkin, Jeremy Siepmann, Christopher Elton and Victor Rosenbaum. Audrey earned her B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University in May 2017 and received her Masters in Music in May 2019 from Mannes The New School under the tutelage of Richard Goode. When Audrey’s not playing piano or organizing concerts, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her shih-tzu and morkie, Romeo and Bear.