Lydia Artymiw[a] 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.
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.
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,RPPF, 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 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.