The path to a career in classical music often passes through Carnegie Hall. The stop is usually an appearance with a major orchestra or a debut recital, often financed by patrons, institutions or the artist. Sometimes Carnegie itself presents the performer.
Lola Astanova, 26, will play Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin at her Carnegie debut. She also sees fashion as “a way to express yourself artistically.”
On Thursday evening the Uzbekistan-born pianist Lola Astanova will make her Carnegie debut in a benefit for the American Cancer Society. But Ms. Astanova — 26, little known in the classical world, and given to provocative poses and scanty outfits — will do it her own way, with an eye-popping brew of publicity, image making and celebrity stroking.

A benefit performance is not a rarity of course. But Ms. Astanova, her publicists say, will be borrowing $850,000 in jewelry for the event from Tiffany & Company, a concert sponsor. And she will be playing one of Vladimir Horowitz’s Steinway pianos.