Liane Alitowski ventured to the area for a pet-sitting gig and one thing led to another; now she plays piano for the RV Symphony

By Jim Flint

Had it not been for a Maltipoo named Ollie — and a conductor named Martin — Liane Alitowski may never have decided to make Ashland her new home.

The longtime performer, educator and writer became captivated by Ashland’s charms during a visit last year. Now she is a pianist for the Rogue Valley Symphony.

“In February of 2023, I came across an ad for a dog sit in Ashland on trustedhousesitters.com,” she said. “I had heard great things about Ashland and I love dogs, so I thought I’d come and check it out.”

Ollie is a cross between a Maltese and toy poodle.

Alitowski says that had it not been for that cute dog “and his beautiful human family” and all the connections that occurred naturally during the visit, she may not have had the “good fortune” of resettling in Ashland.

Well, that and an encounter with conductor Martin Majkut. She had exchanged emails with the RVS music director prior to her moving to Ashland, setting up an opportunity to see him conduct the Queens Symphony Orchestra in New York, where he also is music director.

“I saw him conduct a performance at Queens College, where I once taught,” she said. “His easygoing, intuitive and expressive conducting was evident from the outset. I thought, what lucky musicians, to work with such a brilliant conductor.”

Luck and timing

As it turned out, she soon learned that RVS was looking for a pianist. “Luck and timing, indeed!” she said.

She’s very happy to be a part of the music scene in Ashland.

“There is something very special about the Rogue Valley Symphony,” she said. “Martin Majkut, in his kind and folksy way, brings efficiency and joy to every rehearsal. He naturally acknowledges and communicates with all the players. As a result, the effects of such a positive rapport can be heard in the orchestra’s spectacular performances.”

She says her experience with RVS contributes to her continued growth as a pianist.

Now that she has relocated to Ashland, she is looking forward to building a teaching studio. Her background includes stints as an educator as well as a performer.

She studied under internationally famous pianist Menahem Pressler at Indiana University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance. She worked with American pianist and professor Gilbert Kalish at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York, where she earned her doctorate.

Her first paying gig was with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach.

“What a golden opportunity it was to work with Michael Tilson Thomas as a member of his new Academic Training Orchestra,” she said. “I was hired as the first resident orchestral pianist and chamber musician.”

Her four years with the ensemble allowed her to collaborate with a wide range of musicians and to tour the United Kingdom, France, Uruguay, Argentina and Japan. “It was an extraordinary experience,” she said.

Cruise ship connection

Besides performing internationally, she also worked as a cruise ship musician.

“Performing in that milieu was my ticket to see the world,” she said.

She later wrote two children’s books based on her cruise adventures, creating a character based on her cat, Visby.

“He was our beloved pet while my husband and I lived in Zichron Yaakov, Israel,” she said. In the stories, Visby is a gifted, piano-playing cat, cruising the world, and having unexpected adventures in every port.

At the time, Alitowski was a new arrival to Israel. That first year there, she devoted herself to learning Hebrew and writing “Visby, the Virtuoso: The Classical Cruising Cat.” “Visby the Virtuoso: Voyages on the Mediterranean” soon followed.

The real Visby would often sleep with his head on Alitowski’s arm while she was at the computer. He became her muse as she recounted her musical and travel adventures aboard various cruise ships in the late 1990s.

She was on the faculty of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, from 2009 to 2019. Drawn to the field of ethnomusicology, she developed and taught a series of courses investigating Jewish music at Paideia, the European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden; the University of Tel Aviv, Israel; and McGill.

Alitowski, 62, grew up in a family of music lovers in the suburbs just outside New York City. She and her siblings were exposed to classical music from a young age.

A house filled with music

“The house was always filled with music — if not coming from the stereo, then from our piano, violin, viola, cello, trumpet or clarinet,” she said.

Besides lessons and recitals, there were frequent concerts and shows at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and on Broadway, the family attended.

Her grandfather liked to sit and listen to young Alitowski play the piano.

“I can still picture him quietly smoking his cigar, proudly listening to his grandchildren on the ivories, playing stringed instruments, or blowing air through wood or metal,” she said. “It was my mother, Sarita, who inherited his love for classical music and instilled it in all of us.”

Alitowski started playing the piano at age 7. She remembers hearing her mother practicing a Schubert impromptu on the piano at the time.

“Her fingernails were long, so tapping sounds accompanied her piano playing,” she said. “I recall thinking at the time that I should grow my nails so that I could sound like my mother.”

When she was 12, she played the violin in a youth orchestra.

“We were doing our best to follow the guest conductor, who happened to be Aaron Copland.”

“We were rehearsing Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro and the music brought tears to my eyes. I think it was the first time that a piece of music touched me so deeply.”

By the age of 13 she was a budding pianist, and began getting requests to accompany instrumentalists for music competitions.

“From the moment I began to play with others, I was hooked,” she said.

Teaching has become a way for her to instill that passion for music in others.

“My purpose in teaching is to enrich, challenge and to ignite a spark of wonder,” she said. “A passing of a torch, if you will.”

In addition to performing and teaching, she plans to spend time in nature and traveling.

“There’s so much beauty in the world to experience.”

To learn more about Alitowski and her books, and to listen to audio tracks of her performing, go to visbythevirtuoso.com.

Reach writer Jim Flint at [email protected].