Alabama native Dina Kasman returns to perform with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra following her 2022 appearance with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 under the baton of Kevin Fitzgerald. Now based in Baltimore, the 25-year-old pianist is quickly earning recognition nationwide for her artistry and passion as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and arts leader.

A prizewinner of numerous competitions, Dina was the 2023 winner of the Indiana MTNA Young Artist Competition and a national finalist in the MTNA Chamber Music Competition with the Apassionato Quintet. She has been recognized in the concerto competitions of Lima, Alabama, LaGrange, Southern Adventist University, and Indiana University. Since her soloist debut as a young teenager, Dina added fifteen piano concertos to her repertoire and has performed Beethoven, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff with ensembles including the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music Symphony Orchestra.

Dina is a natural collaborator and an advocate for new music, frequently featuring contemporary composers in her programming. She has premiered works by Erin Blame, Yoonjae Choi, Jacob Cuffman, and Woodrow Murray, and recorded a film score by Alabama composer Eli Denson. Her diverse range as a performer has brought her to stages across the country, including guest

appearances at the Colorado State University Piano Series and the Mississippi Music Teachers Association State Conference.

The youngest in a family of pianists, Dina grew up studying with her father Dr. Yakov Kasman, UAB Distinguished Professor and Artist-in-Residence. She first appeared with the ASO as a winner of the UAB/Alabama Symphony Concerto Competition in her senior year at UAB, and graduated summa cum laude as a University Honors Program Scholar with a degree in music and minors in French and Business Administration. She went on to earn a Master of Music in Piano Performance from Indiana University, studying with Norman Krieger, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts under the guidance of Boris Slutsky at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

A committed educator, Dina began teaching while still in high school, and her students have since earned top honors at local, state, and regional competitions. She previously served as an Associate Instructor at Indiana University and now holds a graduate teaching assistantship at Peabody and an adjunct faculty position at the Gilman School in Baltimore, where she maintains a studio of fourteen students.

Beyond the stage and studio, Dina is actively involved in arts administration, returning this summer for her third season with the Vivace International Summer Music Festival and serving as faculty at the Utah State University Summer Piano Festival. She has previously worked with the Southeastern Piano Festival in Columbia, South Carolina and served on the Young Jury of the 2022 Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition. Dina has a background in theater and visual art; when not at the piano she enjoys attending orchestra and opera performances, museum-going, and writing poetry.