A Life in Music and Service

During Spring Break, Chatham Hall faculty traveled to Vienna, Austria, to reconnect with Chatham Hall alumna Genie Russo ’73.

This March, we are celebrating Chatham Hall alumnae through our (Chatham Hall) Women’s History Month series. Eugenie (Genie) Russo ’73 was born in New York City. She studied piano at Oberlin Conservatory, in Vienna with Carmen Graf-Adnet, and in Salzburg with Elizabeth Leonskaja before obtaining her diploma in piano performance with Prof. Hans Graf at the Hochschule für Musik, now the University of Music, in Vienna. Ms. Russo has performed as a soloist throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. In 1986, she made a successful debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. She has served as Artist in Residence at various American colleges and arts programs and has appeared on radio and television in many countries, including Austrian State Radio, Saarland Radio in Germany, Czech State Radio, Leningrad Television, NTV in Turkey, and National Public Radio in the United States.

Ms. Russo chaired the Piano Department at the Josef Matthias Hauer Conservatory in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, from 1991 to 2010 and has been a professor at the annual Vienna International Pianists Summer Academy since 1997. She is also a juror for piano competitions, including the International Rosario Marciano Piano Competition and the Austrian State Youth Competition Prima la Musica.

She has performed as a soloist in venues such as Capella Hall in St. Petersburg, the Großer Musikvereinssaal in Vienna, Carnegie Hall in New York, and Leighton House in London, as well as at international festivals including the Wiener Festwochen, Wiener Klangbogen, Bologna Sogno, the Bartók Festival in Hungary, and the Bled Classic Music Festival in Slovenia.

Recent engagements include a U.S. State Department tour of Kazakhstan with solo recitals and master classes, as well as tours of the United States, Croatia, Romania, and Turkey through the Austrian Cultural Forums. She was also featured as a soloist at the International Music Festival in Harbin, China.

Her latest solo recordings for Paladino Music include a disc of piano music by Clara Schumann, recorded at the Musical Instrument Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna on a historic 1868 concert grand piano by Johann Baptist Streicher, a recording of piano music by Aaron Copland, and Crossing Borders, featuring works by Johannes Brahms, Aaron Copland, and Austrian composer Egon Wellesz.

She remembers her days at Chatham Hall fondly, sharing that some of her best memories were practicing piano in the Chapel practice rooms and serving as an editor for The Iris.