Lola Astanova

Lola Astanova
Lola Astanova at the 78th Venice International Film Festival in 2021.
Background information
Born	Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, USSR
Genres	Instrumental
Occupations	Pianist
Years active	1994–present
Website	lolaastanova.com

Lola Astanova (Лола Астанова) is an Uzbekistan-born American pianist noted for her visual performance and piano transcriptions.

Early life, education and early career

Astanova was born in 1987 in Tashkent, USSR. Her mother taught piano and her father was a mechanical engineer. At age six, Astanova entered the V. Uspensky Specialized School of Music for Gifted Children, studying under professor Tamara Popovich.

Astanova began touring at the age of 8. At 12, she was featured in the UNESCO documentary Prodigies of the 20th Century.

Career

Astanova was featured in the 2007 Classical Superstars Fantasy Concert hosted by ABC's television host Regis Philbin. The concert was featured in the 100th anniversary issue of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book and offered for $1.6 million. In August 2008, The National September 11 Memorial & Museum announced Astanova's performance on the Steinway concert piano of Vladimir Horowitz at the "Notes of Hope" benefit hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Hillary Clinton. The performance raised funds for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City.

On 19 January 2012 Astanova made her Carnegie Hall debut, Horowitz's student, American pianist Byron Janis, was among the concert's attendees. All proceeds from the performance were donated to the American Cancer Society. In May of 2012 she performed a duet with Byron Janis during his Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Astanova's performance of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with Gerard Schwarz and the All-Star Orchestra, was featured in the "Visions of New York" television special on PBS and received the 2016 Emmy Award for Special Event Coverage

On July 4, 2018 Astanova performed the US National Anthem at the White House Independence Day concert. She was accompanied by “The President's Own” United States Marine Band. The concert was broadcast on the Hallmark Channel. In 2018, Astanova also appeared in The Journey to the Theater of Silence, a documentary about her collaboration with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. The film also featured interviews with producer and composer David Foster. During the same year, Astanova's collaboration with Stjepan Hauser of the band 2Cellos came out under the name "Lola and Hauser". The duo released 7 tracks together including the Moonlight Sonata, "Love Story" and QUEEN's We Are the Champions.

Astanova played piano and keyboards on the track El Trato from the El Disco album by Alejandro Sanz. El Disco won the 2020 Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album. In 2021 Astanova received the Kineo Award at the 78th Venice Film Festival, alongside actors Gary Oldman and Olivia Williams.

Fashion

Astanova has received attention for her performance style and appearance, often wearing extremely high-heels and tiny mini skirts. She has expressed her love for fashion stating that "some extraordinary artists" work in this field. In June 2012, she was named among Top 10 Style Icons in Classical Music by Limelight magazine.

In 2014 Astanova performed at the New York Ball honoring editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia Franca Sozzani, with Donald Trump, Valentino Garavani, Baz Luhrmann, Steven Klein, Zac Posen, Coco Rocha, and Peter Dundas attending the event and Kris Jenner introducing Astanova on stage.