Sarkis Baltaian and Derek Polischuk release album of Latin American music for piano

USC Thornton Keyboard Studies alumni Sarkis Baltaian (BM ’99, MM ’01, DMA ’07) and Derek Kealii Polischuk (BM ’01, MM ’04, DMA ’06) have released a new album titled Latin American Music for 2 Pianos. The album features Baltaian and Polischuk’s recordings of music by Carlos Guastavino, Manuel Ponce, Octávio Pinto, Astor Piazzolla, Aaron Copland, and William Bolcom.

Polischuk is currently Associate Professor of Piano and Director of Piano Pedagogy at the Michigan State University College of Music, and Baltaian has established a career as an acclaimed concert pianist, and is the winner of several national and international prizes. The two met while studying at Thornton, and have dedicated their new album to the memory of pianist and fellow Thornton alum Sin-Hsing Tsai (DMA ’01), who often performed the album’s music alongside Polischuk in concert.