what we do
PUBLISh ARTICLes
What started in 2008 as a personal blog of music critic Ilona Oltuski has grown into a well-respected publication with hundreds of interviews, editorials, and reviews.
PRODUCe events
The GetClassical Presents concert series aims to expand the framework of a traditional salon-style recital in order to promote the intimate dialogue between the artists and their following.
eDUCATe generations
As Classical Music advocates, we take the responsibility to educate and inspire future generations of concert-goers with our GetClassical In School initiative. This program brings artists of the highest caliber to schools around the United States for interactive performance workshops.
Ilona Oltuski
founder, director
German-born American music journalist, pianist, and entrepreneur, Ilona Oltuski, has been the founder and artistic director of GetClassical since 2008. A member of the Music Critics Association of North America, Mrs. Oltuski has written articles for Classical Post, Naxos Deutschland, Sequenza21, Listen Magazine, Chamber Music Today, Moment Magazine, and PianoNews Magazine, among others.
Before becoming a passionate advocate for classical music in the United States, Mrs. Oltuski studied Piano Performance at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Frankfurt. She earned a Ph.D. in Art History from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt. Her dissertation on the Bezalel School of Jerusalem has received international acclaim and served as a springboard for pursuing an independent music journalism career. In 2022, she received a Master of Arts Administration degree from Baruch College.
Her personal online publication, GetClassical, has been named “The Blog of the Month” by the premier British publication Gramophone Magazine. Along with numerous international achievements, her articles have been featured in Staccato Verlag’s “Gespräche mit Pianisten,” and Harper’s Bazaar has recommended events she produced. Throughout years of spotlighting the most cutting-edge developments within the classical music sphere of New York City, Ilona has been invited to cover the programs of numerous international festivals, including the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and the Progetto Martha Argerich Festival in Switzerland.
As a concert producer, Mrs. Oltuski has presented artists like Mischa Maisky, Michael Brown, Roman Rabinovitch, Paul Huang, Ching-Yun Hu, and Daumants Liepins on the stages of some of the most iconic alternative concert venues of Manhattan: Le Poisson Rouge, St.John’s in the Village, Zinc Bar, India House, and Gramercy Park Hotel’s Rose Bar among others.