Obituaries

Frina Arschanska Boldt, associate professor emeritus of music, died Jan. 31. She was 89.

A UB faculty member for almost 40 years, Boldt organized and directed piano marathon concerts, Parade of American Music events and piano festivals that attracted students and teachers from throughout the country.

Her students won important awards and many have faculty positions at colleges and music schools. Her career as a performer and teacher made her a much sought after adjudicator, and she served as chair of the jury for the Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition.

She frequently performed with her late husband, Kenwyn Boldt, also a pianist and faculty member at SUNY Buffalo State.

She retired in 2002.

Boldt began playing the piano at age 3, and at 6 was offered scholarships at the conservatories in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kharkov. She studied with Regina Horowitz, sister of famed pianist Vladimir Horowitz, at Kharkov. Boldt was admitted to the Julliard School of Music college division on a full scholarship at age 17, and earned a master’s degree in music and a performer’s certificate from Indiana University.

She was a prize winner in the Naumburg Award and the WQXR Radio auditions.

In addition to UB, she was a member of the faculty at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, and at the Music Center of Lake County —the Jack Benny Center for the Arts — in Waukegan, Illinois.