Nora Novik was a Latvian pianist and music teacher. She was born in Moscow on July 29, 1941, and died in Riga on July 15, 2009. She was a member of the piano duo Riga Piano Duo and was named Honored Artist of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1982.
After spending the war years in evacuation in Moscow, she returned to Riga with her family and studied at the Emils Darzins Music School, where she trained in the class of Valerijs Zosts. She then entered the Latvian State Conservatory named after Jazeps Vitols, studying first with Zosts and later with Nikolai Fedorovsky. From 1964 to 1967 she continued her advanced training at the Rimsky-Korsakov Leningrad State Conservatory under Professor Pavel Serebryakov.
From 1958, while still young, Novik appeared as a solo pianist in Latvia and also performed in Moscow, Leningrad, Germany, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Armenia. Her repertoire was described as enormous, and she also performed with orchestras in works including Grieg's concerto, Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto, and Weber's Konzertstuck.
Novik was known as a virtuoso pianist and an enthusiastic advocate of new music. She gave first performances of a number of works by Latvian composers, among them the suite In a Fishing Village for piano and orchestra by Janis Kepitis, Sonata No. 3 by Pauls Dambis, and Moods by Adolfs Skulte. Many composers wrote specifically for Novik and her duo partner Raffi Haradzhanyan, including Peteris Vasks, Peteris Plakidis, Imants Zemzaris, Pauls Dambis, Romualds Kalsons, and numerous composers from other countries as well.
From 1968 she performed with Haradzhanyan in the piano duo Riga Piano Duo, an ensemble that brought them international recognition. The duo toured throughout the former Soviet republics, the United States, many European countries, Israel, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. They presented several concert cycles and thematic programs, including Fantasies, Europe Dances, Dedication to Riga, and From One to Sixteen Hands, and collaborated with many conductors and guest performers.
Alongside her performing career, Novik taught at the Leningrad Conservatory in 1967-1968 and then at the Latvian State Conservatory from 1968 to 1994, serving as an associate professor in the piano department. She trained a group of gifted young pianists, later worked independently while continuing an active concert life and giving master classes in various countries, and served on juries in competitions in St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Tokyo, and Marupe.
Novik also wrote memoir articles about her teachers Valerijs Zosts, Janis Kepitis, and Pavel Serebryakov. As an editor, she participated in the publication of many collections of Baltic piano-duet music. Her artistic standing was recognized by prizes at piano competitions in Latvia and Minsk, the Grand Prix at the First International Sverdlovsk Festival of Piano Duos with Haradzhanyan in 1989, special prizes from composers' unions, and an honorary certificate from the Latvian Ministry of Culture in 2008 for her outstanding contribution to the development of Latvia's musical culture.
After her death, memorial concerts in her honor were held in Riga, Jelgava, Marupe, Valka, Siauliai, St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, and San Francisco. Composers dedicated works to her memory, including Nora's Waltz by Sondra Clark in 2009. Since 2010, a competition for small chamber ensembles in Marupe has borne her name.