Jurors
Year
- 2016
Acclaimed for his “elegant poetry and virtuosic fire,” Alan Chow has won First Prize in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the UCLA International Piano Competition, and the Palm Beach Invitational International Piano Competition. Winner of the Silver Medal and Audience Favorite Prize at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, he was also a prizewinner in the William Kapell International Piano Competition.
A Steinway artist, Professor Chow has performed in recital and in concert with orchestras from coast to coast in 45 states. His recitals have brought him to the major music centers including New York (Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall), Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago (Symphony Center and Ravinia), Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Seattle, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Miami. Concerto performances include appearances with the National Symphony, Utah Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, and Omaha Symphony. Professor Chow regularly tours Asia with performances in China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, including performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Pan-Asia Symphony. An avid chamber musician, he has collaborated with the American, Pacifica and Miami String Quartets and has been guest artist at the Grand Canyon Chamber Music Festival, Juneau Jazz and Classics, San Juan Islands Chamber Music Festival, Kent Blossom Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, Music Festival of Arkansas and Music Mountain. In addition, he appears in joint recital engagements in the Cheng-Chow Trio with pianists Angela Cheng and Alvin Chow.
Also in demand for his teaching, Professor Chow has given master classes throughout North America and Asia at conservatories, universities and summer festivals including the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, New Orleans International Piano Festival, Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival, Las Vegas Piano Festival, Tunghai International Piano Festival (Taiwan), and in Singapore. Appointed guest professor at the Central Conservatory in Beijing and honored visiting professor at the Shenyang Conservatory, he has also presented recitals, master classes, and lectures in China at the conservatories in Shanghai, Chengdu, Xian and Wuhan.
Professor Chow studied with Nelita True at the University of Maryland where he graduated Co-Valedictorian with his twin brother Alvin, and received the Charles Manning Prize in the Creative and Performing Arts given to the outstanding graduate; with Sascha Gorodnitzki at The Juilliard School where he was awarded the Victor Herbert Prize in Piano; and with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University where he was the recipient of the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship. He also studied at the Mozarteum Sommerakademie with Carlo Zecchi.
Year
- 2024
Andrew Brownell won 2nd Prize at the 2006 Leeds Competition, 2nd Prize ex aequo at the 2002 International J. S. Bach Competition (Leipzig), and 1st Prize at the 2005 J. N. Hummel Competition (Bratislava), since which he has achieved widespread recognition as “one of the foremost Hummel interpreters of our time” (Hudobný Život). Musical Opinion has described him as “potentially one of the most significant pianists of his generation”, and his recent solo album Shades of Night has received critical praise in Fanfare and American Record Guide.
Highlights for the current season include solo and chamber music appearances across Europe and North America, including performances at Wigmore Hall in London and the Philharmonia in Vilnius. Brownell’s performances have aired on NPR, CBC, BBC radio and television, Classic FM (UK), ORF (Austria), and RBB KulturRadio. He has been soloist with orchestras such as the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Slovak Philharmonic, Hermitage State Orchestra (Russia), Oregon Symphony, and Calgary Philharmonic.
A native of Portland, Oregon, Brownell began studying the piano at the age of four. His teachers have included Nancy Weems, John Perry, and Joan Havill. An enthusiastic collaborative artist, Andrew Brownell was a member of a prize-winning trio at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and has appeared in concert with principals of orchestras such as the Philharmonia, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and Vienna Philharmonic. An experienced organist and church musician, he was assistant organist at St. James’ Episcopal Church, Los Angeles from 2001-06 and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists in 2010. Since 2017, he has been teaching at The University of Texas at Austin.
Year
- 2013
Andrey Ponochevny, Bronze Medal Winner of the 2002 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow, was honored as the featured pianist at the General Assembly of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC) in Washington,D.C.
In addition to his success in Moscow, Mr. Ponochevny has won many top prizes, including First Prize at the “Tomassoni International Piano Competition in Cologne”, Germany (1996) and the First Prize at the “William Kapell International Piano Competition in Maryland”, USA (1998). His other competition accolades include top prizes in Prague, Warsaw (Chopin), Dublin (AXA), Moscow, Hong Kong, Riga (Latvia), Alexandria and New Orleans (Louisiana).
Since then, he has toured extensively in the United States (in 24 states). He has performed solo recitals at major venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City; Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection in Washington, DC; Preston Bradley Hall in Chicago and Cleveland Institute of Music.
Mr. Ponochevny has appeared with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, Rogue Valley Symphony and the Illinois Symphony, Nashua Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Irving Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Plano Symphony, Tianjin Symphony, Xinjiang Philharmonic, Orchester der Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele and Belarusian State Symphony among others.
His concerts have been broadcast on WGBH Boston, WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago, WDR Cologne and SWR Stuttgart (Germany), Kultura Minsk (Belarus), SIRTVS Ljubljana (Slovenia), ROROR Bucharest (Romania), AUABC Adelaide (Australia), DKDR Copenhagen (Denmark).
In recent seasons, Mr. Ponochevny has been featured in Europe at major venues including the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Philharmonie in Cologne, Germany, Salle Alfred Cortot in Paris and the Forum and Ordensaal in Ludwigsburg, at the Palacio de Festivales in Santander, Spain, City Hal in Hong Kong, National Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw and Stadtkasino, Basel.
Andrey Ponochevny performed at several prestigious festivals such as Ruhr Klavier Festival and the Bonner Herbst, International Keyboard Institute and Festival (IKIF) in New York city, International Ludwigsburg Festival and the Chopin Festival, Hannover; Serie de los Nuevos Virtuosos in Puerto Rico, Bravissimo Festival in Guatemala city and Changchun International Festival, China.
He also holds several prestigious awards from China such as Outstanding Artist in China 2009 and 2011, Honorable Professor of Jilin College of Arts and visiting Professor at the Beihua University.
In his hometown Minsk (Belarus) he was awarded the title “Minskovite of the year 2002”.
Mr.Ponochevny graduated from Belarussian Academy of Music where he received his Bachelor and Master degrees. He also holds his Artist Diploma from TCU, Fort Worth, where he studied with Dr. Tamas Ungar. He continued to refine his skills in the Artist Certificate Program at SMU in Dallas with renowned pianist Joaquin Achucarro.
In addition to his concert schedule, he also teaches piano at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas.
Year
- 2017
Consistently praised for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty, and superb musicianship, Canadian pianist Angela Cheng is one of her country’s national treasures. In addition to regular guest appearances with virtually every orchestra in Canada, she has performed with the Alabama Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Flint Symphony, Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Orchestra London, Philharmonic Orchestra of Minas Gerais/Brazil, Saint Louis Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Utah Symphony, and the Israel Philharmonic. In the spring of 2012, Ms. Cheng made her highly acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut with the Edmonton Symphony. She also appeared at the prestigious Salzburg Festival in a recital with Pinchas Zukerman during the summer of 2012. Highlights of the 2015/2016 season include return performances with the symphonies of Vancouver, Edmonton, Wheeling, and Philharmonic Orchestra of Minas Gerais/Brazil. In March 2016, Ms. Cheng will perform the complete Beethoven Concerti cycle with the Victoria Symphony.
In 2009, at the invitation of Pinchas Zukerman, Ms. Cheng toured both Europe and China as a member of the Zukerman Chamber Players, and as Mr. Zukerman’s collaborative pianist. She joined them again in the spring of 2010 for a U.S. tour, which included concerts at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the 92nd Street Y in New York. Subsequent seasons have seen multiple tours of Europe and South America, including performances at the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and at the Schleswig-Holstein and Ravinia festivals.
With Mr. Zukerman and cellist Amanda Forsyth, Ms. Cheng, as a member of the Zukerman Trio, made her debuts in 2013 at the Verbier, Edinburgh, Miyazaki, St. Petersburg/Stars of the White Nights and Enescu/Romania Festivals. The Zukerman Trio will continue touring in the 2015/2016 season with performances in Australia, Asia, South America, Europe, and the U.S., including a performance at the 92nd Street Y in New York. In March 2016, Ms. Cheng will return to Wigmore Hall in London for a collaborative recital with Mr. Zukerman.
An avid recitalist, Angela Cheng appears regularly on recital series throughout the United States and Canada and has collaborated with numerous chamber ensembles including the Takács, Colorado, and Vogler quartets. Solo recitals during the 2015/2016 season include Melbourne, Australia; the Chamber Music Society of Detroit; the Vetta Chamber Music Series in Vancouver; the Cecilian Concert Series (Regina, Saskatchewan); and return appearances at Virtuosi Concerts in Winnipeg and the Art Spring Concert Series in Salt Spring Island.
Ms. Cheng has made festival appearances at Banff, Bravo! Vail, Chautauqua, Colorado, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Ravinia, Vancouver, the Festival International de Lanaudière in Quebec, Masterworks Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, and the Cartegena International Music Festival in Colombia.
Year
- 2018
Boaz Sharon is Professor of Piano at Boston University and Director of the Young Artists Piano Program at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Boaz Sharon studied from the age of 13 with Stefan Askenase – famed interpreter of Chopin and Mozart – in Brussels, Belgium. He later pursued his piano studies in the US with Leonard Shure.
Sharon, who is first prize winner and gold medalist of the Jaen International Piano Competition, is an international recording artist for Nonesuch, Hyperion, Arcobaleno and Unicorn-Kanchana Records. His recording release on Nonesuch/Asylum/Warner Bros. was cited as among the best recordings of the year by Newsweek Magazine and was cited by the New York Times as “beautifully recorded and played”.
Among concerts given have been performances in the Taipei National Performing Arts Center, Taiwan; Steinway Celebrity Series, London; Phillips Collection and National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Liszt International Piano Festival, Rio de Janeiro; the Chapelle Historique Piano Series, Montreal; and the Gasteig Hall, Munich.
Boaz Sharon was formerly Pianist-in-Residence at Duke University and Professor of Piano at the University of Florida. He is a frequent judge at competitions including the Rudolf Firkusny International Piano Competition, Prague; the Liszt International Piano Competition, Moscow; the Jaen International Piano Competition, Spain; and the “Composers of Spain” International Competition, Madrid.
Having founded and then directed the Prague International Piano Masterclasses for 13 years, he is also on the artist faculty of the Ruza International Piano Festival in Russia, and was co-founder and on the faculty of the International Certificate for Piano Artists (sponsored by the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot, Paris).
Sharon is Honorary Fellow at Charles University, Prague. In 2009 he was appointed Visiting Professor at the China Conservatory in Beijing.
In recent years Sharon has given a recital and orchestral tour of 13 concerts in Russia from the Far East to Moscow, which included several performances with the Ural State Philharmonic. He was on the artist faculty of the International Piano Academy at Seoul National University, appeared on MBC-TV in South Korea, and presented recitals at the Beijing Concert Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, Ruza International Piano Festival in Russia, the Nordic Piano Festival in Sweden, Yamaha Hall in New York City, Yamaha Hall in Seoul, and at the Bergamo International Festival in Italy.
In the 2012-13 year Sharon gave concerts in Tel Aviv, Israel; London, England; and at the Sichuan International Piano Festival, China for which he is Artistic Director. Sharon also gave a masterclass at the Royal College of Music in London and was in residency at the Middle School attached to the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing.
In the 2014-15 year Sharon gave concerts in Seoul (Mozart Hall), New York City (Harvard Club), Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rio de Janeiro, and San Paulo. He served on the jury of the Jaen International Competition in Spain and at the Second International Youth Competition, Kaufman Center, New York City.
Year
- 2015
David Korevaar’s mastery of the piano is joined with a large and varied repertoire, and enhanced by his work with living composers and his own experience writing music. He successfully balances an active performance career as a soloist and chamber musician with teaching at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he is the Peter and Helen Weil Professor of Piano.
David Korevaar presented his London debut at Wigmore Hall in 2007, as well as his German recital debut at the Heidelberg Spring Festival. He has been heard at major venues in New York including Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Town Hall, and Merkin Concert Hall. He has performed across the United States from Boston, New York, and Washington, DC, to Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Dallas, and San Diego, and he plays frequently in his home state of Colorado with orchestras, in chamber ensembles, and in solo recitals. International performances have included appearances in Australia, Japan, Korea, Abu Dhabi, and Europe. He has performed and taught in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan as a cultural envoy under the sponsorship of the U.S. State Department.
Currently a member of the Boulder Piano Quartet (Boulder Public Library’s ensemble-in-residence), and University of Texas at Dallas’s resident Clavier Trio, Korevaar has performed as guest artist with the Takács, Manhattan, and Colorado Quartets. He was a founding member of the Young Concert Artists award-winning piano and wind ensemble Hexagon, with which he toured for many years.
In addition to his position at the University of Colorado Boulder, Korevaar teaches and performs at the Music in the Mountains summer festival in Durango, CO, and the Music Center Japan.
David Korevaar’s most recent CD is a complete recording of Bach’s Partitas (MSR Classics) released in 2013. Recordings of the Beethoven Violin Sonatas with Edward Dusinberre (Decca) and chamber music by American composer David Carlson (MSR Classics) were both released in 2010. Other releases include Lowell Liebermann Quintets and Six Songs (Koch), released in 2008, and Bach Goldberg Variations (Ivory) and Ricardo Viñes Collection (Koch), both released in 2007. He has also recorded Beethoven Sonatas No. 28, 16 and 32 (Ivory Classics), Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin, Gaspard de la nuit, and Miroirs (MSR Classics) and Brahms Variations for Piano (Ivory Classics). His broad musical interests and extensive repertoire are reflected in CDs ranging from the two books of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (Musicians Showcase) to the piano music of Lowell Liebermann, Volume 1 and Volume 2 (Koch Classics). He has recorded the romantic virtuoso compositions of Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnányi (Ivory Classics), and transcriptions (his own and Liszt’s) of orchestral music by Franz Liszt, including the rarely heard 2nd Mephisto Waltz (Helicon).
Other releases include a CD by the Prometheus Quartet featuring music by 19th-Century Frenchmen Saint-Saëns and d’Indy (Centaur), an album of Lowell Liebermann’s chamber music with flutist Alexa Still (Koch Classics), the complete sonatas for brass instruments by Paul Hindemith (Kleos), and the Brahms Violin Sonatas with violinist Anastasia Khitruk (Titanic).
David Korevaar’s interest in new music is reflected in his programming. In addition to his continuing association with the music of Lowell Liebermann, Korevaar has performed and recorded music by composers including David Carlson, Robert Xavier Rodriguez, Paul Schoenfield, Mike Barnett, Aaron Jay Kernis, George Rochberg, Aaron Copland, Ned Rorem, Stephen Jaffe, Scott Eyerly and Libby Larson. He gave the New York premiere of three of Harrison Birtwistle’s Harrison’s Clocks as part of the Juilliard School’s Piano Century series in 2000. The Clavier Trio gave the world premiere of Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s Sor(tri)lege in February 2008 in Dallas, followed by its New York premiere at Weill Hall.
Korevaar is a frequent participant in the University of Colorado’s Pendulum new music series. For an idea of what he looks for in new music, read Korevaar’s essay in the October 2003 New Music Box.
Korevaar was honored along with co-author and webmaster Tim Smith of Northern Arizona University for a web-based exploration of the Fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier, featuring analytical essays and animations by Professor Smith, performance-related essays by Korevaar, and Korevaar’s performances of the music. The site received top honors both in music and overall, including the Editors’ Choice Award from MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). He also collaborated with Smith on an exploration of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
In May 2000 he received the Richard French award from the Juilliard School, honoring his doctoral document on Ravel’s Miroirs. Other honors include top prizes from the University of Maryland William Kapell International Piano Competition (1988) and the Peabody-Mason Music Foundation (1985), as well as a special prize for his performance of French music from the Robert Casadesus Competition (1989).
David Korevaar began his piano studies at age six in San Diego with Sherman Storr, and at age 13 he became a student of the great American virtuoso Earl Wild. By age 20 he had earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, where he continued his studies with Earl Wild and studied composition with David Diamond. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts from the Juilliard School with Abbey Simon. Another important mentor and teacher was the French pianist Paul Doguereau, who had been a student of Egon Petri, and who had studied the music of Fauré and Debussy with Roger-Ducasse (a pupil of Fauré’s), and the music of Ravel with the composer.
Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Colorado in 2000, Korevaar taught for many years at the Westport School of Music in Connecticut, where he was Artist-Teacher. He currently lives in Boulder, Colorado, and Dallas, Texas, with his family. He is a Kawai artist.
Year
- 2014
Deniz Arman Gelenbe has been acclaimed as one the best chamber musicians of our time. Critics have been unanimous in hailing her prodigious technique, compelling artistic personality and poetic interpretation. As a versatile artist, she combines an international performing career as a soloist and chamber musician, and teaching piano and chamber music at the highest level.
As an accomplished soloist, she pursues an international performing career. She has performed with the Japan Philharmonic, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Slovak Chamber Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, the Presidential Orchestra of Ankara, and with several other orchestras in Turkey, the Philippines, Spain and USA. She has played many solo recitals at Salle Gaveau in Paris, Tonhalle in Zurich, Wigmore Hall and St John’s Smith Square in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and in major cities in France, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Israel, Turkey and the Netherlands.
Deniz Gelenbe founded and directed the summer academies and chamber music festivals Semaines Musicales de Rouen and Semaines Musicales d’Orsay in France for eleven years. She has performed in Europe and USA with the Haydn, Enesco, Alexander, Borromeo, Talich and Ciompi Quartets and performed in piano duo concerts with Charles Webb.
She has adjudicated the International Chamber Music Competition in Paris, several UFAM competitions in France, Epta Competitions in UK. She was also an adjudicator in 2013, in Chopin Competition in Marianbad in the Chech Republic, in International Piano Competition at Gnessin Academy in Moscow, in Unisson Piano Competitions in Tunis.
Deniz has been invited to give masterclasses in several cities in Malaysia, in Kunitachi Academy in Japan, Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow, Conservatoires in Trieste and Bologna, in Prince Klaus Conservatory in Groningen, Dartington International Summer School and in Moulin d’Ande in France.
In 1994, she founded the Arman Ensemble and the Arman Trio which performs regularly in Europe and the United States in chamber music series, festivals and prestigious venues including Carnegie Weill Hall and Wigmore Hall. The Arman Trio has given the first performances of works by American composer Benjamin Lees and Turkish composer Ilhan Baran in New York, Paris, and London. They have premiered ‘’Dialogues’’ for piano trio and orchestra by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Robert Ward in Durham, North Carolina.
She founded the Chamber Arts Series in 1998 and the Schubertiad Series in 2001 in Orlando, USA.
The Arman Ensemble premiered the recordings of chamber music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco for the Albany label. Works by Turkish composers Erkin and Kodalli were released on the Hungaroton label. CD’s with the Haydn Quartet were released by Arcobaleno, and with the Arman Trio by Musician’s Showcase label and Akmuzik/EMI.
A native of Turkey, Deniz Arman Gelenbe holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Science degrees from the Juilliard School. Her teachers included Rudolf Ganz, Cecile Genhart, Adele Marcus and Gyorgy Sandor.
Formerly Artist-in-Residence and Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Deniz Gelenbe joined Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in October 2003. She has been named Head of Piano and Organ Department in June 2007.
Year
- 2017
Born and raised in Bologna, Enrico Elisi has established himself as one of the most passionate Italian pianists on the concert scene today and has been hailed for his mastery of elegance, refinement, and fantasy (La Nueva España). He regularly performs to acclaim throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia and his interpretations reveal “remarkable sensitivity, imagination and polish,” (Baltimore Sun).
Dr. Elisi recently joined the distinguished Faculty of Music of the University of Toronto as an associate professor, having previously served on the faculties of the Eastman School, the Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Nevada since 2004. Elisi’s former students include prizewinner in competitions; hold teaching posts; performed with orchestras (including the Rochester Philharmonic and Dallas Chamber Symphony); gave debut recitals from New York to Caracas, Paris and Seoul; garnered fellowships and scholarships at summer programs and have been accepted in artist diploma, master, and doctoral programs in prestigious institutions in the US and abroad.
In Italy Elisi has appeared in historical settings such as La Fenice Theatre, Venice; Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Bibiena Theatre, Mantua; Pavarotti Opera House, Modena; Teatro Comunale and Sala Bossi, Bologna; Sant’Anna dei Lombardi Church, Naples, as well as the Cathedral and Museo diocesiano in Amalfi. He has also given recitals in various European countries including France, Germany, Slovak Republic, Portugal and Spain. In Asia he performed in South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Recent engagements include recitals at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the New York Public Library, New York’s Morgan Library, Washington’s National Gallery of Art and the Italian Embassy, and the Centro Cultural de España in Lima, Peru.
Elisi has appeared with the Florence Symphony, Italy; Orchestra Classica de Porto, Portugal; Bay Atlantic Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Williamsport Symphony, Pennsylvania Centre, Penn State Philharmonic, Penn’s Woods, UNLV Chamber and Johns Hopkins Symphony orchestras, USA. He also debuted as soloist/conductor with the Green Valley Festival Chamber Orchestra.
Among Elisi’s awards are top prizes in the Premio Venezia (Italy) and the Oporto International Competition (Portugal). After winning nine first prizes in competitions in Italy and the US, and having garnered a dozen of other top prizes and awards, Elisi performed in Toulouse, France, and New York’s Weill Recital Hall as a La Gesse Fellow.
Via Classica, a German radio station, offered a two-hour broadcast of Elisi’s live recital in Hamburg followed by an interview (2008). Additional radio broadcasts include Montebeni Classica FM (Italy), WCLV Cleveland, UNC, KCNV Nevada Public Radio, and KGCS (USA). He also appeared in a TV broadcast for WPSU and Portuguese national TV.
An avid chamber musician, Elisi has performed at the Taos and Ravinia Festivals, and collaborated with principal players from the Baltimore, Chicago, and American Symphony Orchestras, as well as other well-known soloists. As a champion of new music, Elisi has commissioned works from composers of many nationalities and premiered Paul Chihara’s Two Images, at Weill Hall—a composition he subsequently recorded (Albany Records).
A frequent guest at music festivals, Elisi appears and performs regularly in such settings as Cincinnati Art of the Piano, Montecito, Lee University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Texas State University, and Chautauqua Institution (USA); Associazione Umbria classica and Amalfi Coast Festival (Italy); Ameri-China Foundation and Sichuan International Piano Festival (China).
Elisi also enjoys an international reputation as a teacher, having presented hundreds of master classes, both in conjunction with his performing engagements, at Northwestern University, Boston University, Cincinnati College-Conservatory, Temple University, the University of Michigan, USA; University of British Columbia, Canada; National Conservatory of Lima, Peru; Accademia delle Marche, Italy; Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan; China Conservatory, Shanghai Conservatory, China; Academy of Performing Arts, Hong Kong; Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, Singapore; Jakarta Conservatory, Indonesia; Seoul National, Yonsei, Hanyang, Ewha Woman’s, as well as most other major universities in Korea. Elisi also held a two-year guest professorship at the China Zhejiang Art School in Hangzhou, China and has been teaching an annual workshop in Seoul.
As an adjudicator, he has taken part in the Tremplin International and the Concours de Musique du Canada, the Nuova coppa pianisti (Osimo, Italy), the Iowa Competition, the Peabody Yale Gordon, the Julia Crane International, the Fite Young Artist competitions, several State Music Teachers Associations’ competitions (USA), as well as the Ameri-China Foundation Competition (Chengdu, China).
After studying at the Conservatory of Bologna and Florence and the world-renowned Incontri col Maestro International Piano Academy of Imola, Dr. Elisi worked extensively (MM and DMA) with Schnabel’s disciple Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. A year after graduating, at Fleisher’s invitation, he performed at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in a joint recital with his mentor. Among his teachers were pianist Lazar Berman and Boris Petrushansky, respectively pupils of Goldenweiser and Neuhaus, as well as Alexander Lonquich, Franco Scala and Giuseppe Fricelli.
Year
- 2022
Polish-born pianist Igor Lipinski made his orchestra debut with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra on NPR’s Performance Today and performed with Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, Butler County Symphony Orchestra, Woodstock Mozart Festival Orchestra, Lakes Area Music Festival Orchestra, and Paderewski Symphony Orchestra at Chicago’s Symphony Center.
He maintains an active concert career in the U.S. including a live broadcast recital at Chicago’s premiere classical music station 98.7 WFMT and “33 Variations,” an award-winning theater play based on Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations.
At age 12, Lipinski won the Grand Prix and the First Prize at the Paderewski Competition for Young Pianists in Tuchów, Poland. At 17, he played the role of a pianist in Kazimierz Braun’s theatre play “Paderewski’s Children” at the University at Buffalo. A year later, he graduated from the Paderewski Music High School in Tarnów, Poland where he studied piano with Jaroslaw Iwaneczko.
Lipinski earned his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Musical Arts and Master of Music in Piano Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester where he studied piano under the tutelage of Douglas Humpherys. As a teaching assistant of Vincent Lenti and Tony Caramia, he received Eastman’s Teaching Assistant Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Lipinski continued his graduate studies at Northwestern University Bienen School of Music earning his Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Alan Chow. Upon graduation from Northwestern, Lipinski joined the piano faculty at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville as the Lecturer of Piano where he received the KMTA Teacher of the Year award. In Fall 2017, Lipinski joined the piano faculty at the University of Oklahoma as the Assistant Professor of Piano.
Lipinski’s students have won multiple awards including the University of Oklahoma Concerto Competition and the Oklahoma MTNA Young Artist Piano Competition. Lipinski has been an adjudicator for many national piano competitions including Texas Music Teachers Association State Conference in Houston and the Young Artist Piano Competition Finals of the 2020 MTNA National Conference in Chicago where he was also selected to present a conference session entitled “Reimagining The Piano Recital: Creative Ideas To Engage Your Audience.”
Lipinski’s research interests focus on the history of recital programming featured in his DMA dissertation “From Liszt to Victor Borge: A Legacy of Unique Piano Performances.” Recognized for his own creative programming, Lipinski unified two of his lifelong passions, classical music and magic, in a unique recital program Piano Illusions. Originally developed for his honors senior thesis at Eastman, Lipinski collaborated on the program with Teller of Las Vegas duo Penn & Teller and won the WQXR Classical Comedy Contest at Caroline’s on Broadway. In light of his success in New York, Lipinski presented “Piano Illusions” at renowned concert series and festivals including Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation in Salt Lake City and Musica del Cuore Concert Series in Hong Kong.
Highlights of recent concert seasons include recitals at the San Francisco International Piano Festival, College of Charleston International Piano Series in Charleston, South Carolina, The Evelyn Miller Young Pianists Series in Knoxville, Tennessee, and WNYC’s Greene Space in New York City.
Since 2020, he has released several albums under his own record label Vanishing Records including Alchemy, Ravel, Masterpieces, and Liszt, all available on Spotify and Apple Music. His upcoming 2022 release will feature an album of piano music by Czech composer Leoš Janáček.
Year
- 2018
American pianist Julian Martin has been a College faculty member since 1999 and a Pre-College faculty member since 2003. He is winner of the 1975 Montevideo International Piano Competition and has won major prizes from the Ravel-Casadesus (now Cleveland International), Gina Bachauer, and Kapell competitions as well as the Collaborative Prize at the 1982 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He has played tours through North and South America, Europe, and Asia, and has recorded with violinist Berl Senofsky and flutist Robert Willoughby. Martin introduced new works by composers Richard Rodney Bennett, Stephen Albert, Mario Davidovsky, and Edward Barnes. He has served as a jury member for the Montreal, Iowa, and Jaén international piano competitions, and for Stars of the 21st Century in St. Petersburg. Martin is a member of the original selection committee for the Gilmore Foundation (Kalamazoo). He is founder and artistic director of the International Piano Festival of Gijón (Asturias, Spain). He is on the regular guest faculty at the Glenn Gould Professional School (Toronto), the Banff Centre, and the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival. He has taught master classes in Argentina, Colombia, England, Germany, Israel, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Venezuela. He is a former faculty member at Oberlin Conservatory (1982-87) and the Peabody Institute (1987-2002). Martin’s principal studies were at the Peabody Conservatory with Leon Fleisher. He also studied with Guido Agosti in Italy and with Robert Casadesus and Nadia Boulanger in France.
Year
- 2016
Pianist Ksenia Nosikova, praised as “First rate” (Germany’s Fono Forum), “Full of dramatic intensity” (London’s International Piano), “Subtle and expressive” (France’s Journal L’Alsace) “Impressive musicianship, musically very poetic” (Boston Globe), and “Refined sensibility and exquisite pianism” (New York Concert Reviews), has performed extensively in Europe, Asia, Russia, USA, Canada, and South America. The scope of her concert engagements expands from prestigious professional concert venues, such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall in New York City, Shanghai City Hall in China, City Hall Theatre in Hong Kong, Chetham’s International Piano Series in England, and Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, to major academic institutions world-wide, including over 150 American universities’ guest artist series. She performed in various music festivals including Amalfi Coast (Italy), Schlern (Italy), Rimini (Italy), Munster (France), Rovin (Yugoslavia), Gabrovo (Bulgaria), and Novi Sad (Serbia), as well as the Aspen and Sarasota Music Festivals in the United States.
Ksenia Nosikova has recorded for Profil Medien, Albany Records, Centaur Records, and Capstone Records labels. Among her nine critically acclaimed CD recordings are the complete Years of Pilgrimage by Franz Liszt. Her recording of the Italie volume was called a ‘super disc’ and chosen as one of six recommendable recordings, along with recordings of Brendel, Berman, and Bolet by London’s International Piano magazine. Ksenia Nosikova’ s collaboration with an American composer, Lera Auerbach, led to her enthusiastically reviewed release of Flight and Fire (2007) by Profil Medien GmbH. Her latest solo CD recording Schumann and Schumann was released in 2013 on the same label. Ms. Nosikova has been featured on several live radio and television programs, including WQXR in New York City, WFMT in Chicago, WGBH in Boston, KMZT in Los Angeles, and Zagreb TV.
Ksenia Nosikova is a graduate of Moscow Conservatory, where she received her Undergraduate and Masters’ (with highest honors) degrees. She earned her Doctoral degree from the University of Colorado. Presently, Dr. Ksenia Nosikova is a Professor of Piano and Co-Chair of Piano Area at the University of Iowa, where she devotedly teaches an international studio of graduate and undergraduate students. Her students have won prizes at numerous competitions, including Eastman Young Artist International Competition, New York International Competition, Liszt-Garrison International Competition, Hilton Head International Competition, Louisiana International Competition, Ibla Grand Prize, and National MTNA Auditions. They performed as soloists with professional symphony orchestras, including Fort Worth Symphony (TX) and Des Moines Symphony (IA), and were featured on national concert series and radio broadcasts, such as the Dame Myra Hess and Phillips Collection Concert Series, and From the Top radio program. Many of her students obtained college teaching jobs and were accepted to leading undergraduate and graduate music programs, including Curtis, Juilliard, Colburn, Eastman, NEC, and Peabody. Since joining the University of Iowa faculty in 1998, Dr. Nosikova has presented over 200 master classes in the US and abroad. Among her most recent appointments are Honorable Professor of Music at the Wenzhou and Shenyang Normal universities, China, and guest artist faculty of the Amalfi Coast Music Festival, Italy, and the Schlern International Music Festival, Italy.
The prize-winner of three international competitions, she often serves on competitions jury panels, including Liszt-Garrison International Competition (USA), Los Angeles International Liszt Competition (USA), Ibla Grand Prize (Italy), Schmidbauer International Competition (USA), and MTNA auditions. She is a member of the American Liszt Society’s Board of Directors and one of the founders and the Artistic Director of Piano Sundays at Old Capitol Concert Series (IA). Ksenia Nosikova is a Steinway Artist.
Year
- 2016
Logan Skelton is a much sought after pianist, teacher, and composer whose work has received international critical acclaim. As a performer, Skelton has concertized widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia and has been featured on many public radio and television stations including NPR’s Audiophile Audition, Performance Today, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition, as well as on radio in China and national television in Romania. He has recorded numerous discs for Centaur, Albany, Crystal, Blue Griffin, and Naxos Records, the latter on which he performed on two pianos with fellow composer-pianist William Bolcom. A frequent guest at music festivals, Skelton regularly appears in such settings as Gina Bachauer; Amalfi Coast; Gijón; Eastman; Tunghai; Chautauqua Institution; American Romanian; Eastern; New Orleans; Poland International; Indiana University; Hilton Head Island; and the Prague International Piano Masterclasses. He is a popular presenter at music teacher organizations including numerous appearances at MTNA national conventions and EPTA World Piano Conferences, as well as serving as convention artist for state conventions in New York, Illinois, Michigan, Louisiana, North Carolina, Wyoming, and Iowa. Moreover, he has given countless performances and masterclasses at colleges, conservatories, and conferences throughout the U.S., South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Poland, and Czech Republic. He is a frequent juror for international piano competitions. His Centaur Records compact disc, of all 20th century American solo piano music, is titled American Grab Bag: Piano Music of Our Time. American Record Guide described this as a “fascinating recording,” commenting on Skelton’s “superb, wonderfully subtle and elegant playing … Bravo!”
As a composer, Skelton has a special affinity for art song, having composed well over a hundred songs, including numerous song cycles. Critics have noted the close fusion of text and music in Skelton’s songs, how words are “… illuminated with brilliance and deep emotional power,” American Record Guide. Others have found “… joy-a night unto ecstatic joy… in word and sound-play,” Dial M for Musicology. In Fanfare magazine reviews, Skelton as a composer of song has been singled out for his ability to “… plumb the depths of emotion … these are exquisitely crafted art songs in the American tradition … we are in the hands of someone who lives and breathes song.” His works have been performed throughout the world by a variety of musicians in settings such as Carnegie Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Tblisi in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, Australia, Sorrento, Italy, as well as numerous cities throughout the United States including Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Tampa, New Orleans, Lincoln, Houston, Detroit, and many others. He composed the required work for the 1993 New Orleans International Piano Competition. His song cycle Anderson Songs: The Islander, was a recipient of the Music Composition Award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters.
Professor Skelton’s principal teachers have included John Murphy, Rebecca Penneys, Lillian Freundlich, and Artur Balsam. A devoted teacher himself, his own piano students have repeatedly won awards in many national and international competitions including Hilton Head; San Antonio; Cincinnati World; Washington; Bartók-Kabalevsky-Prokofieff; Fischoff; Jacob Flier; Iowa; Frinna Awerbuch; Eastman; Crescendo; Dallas Chamber; Missouri Southern; Los Angeles Liszt; Wideman; Concorso Internazionale di Esecuzione Musicale; Schimmel, Liszt-Garrison; Grieg Festival; Del Rosario; Beethoven Sonata; Ithaca; Piano Arts; Heida Hermanns; Dubois; Schmidbauer; Peabody Mason; Janáček; Seattle; Kingsville; New York; Oberlin; Idyllwild; as well as numerous Music Teachers National Association competitions. His former students hold positions of prominence in music schools and conservatories throughout the world. He was honored by the University of Michigan as the recipient of the prestigious Harold Haugh Award for excellence in studio teaching. He has served on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music, Missouri State University, and is currently professor of Piano and director of Doctoral Studies in Piano Performance at U-M.
Year
- 2015
Praised by critics as “a diva of the piano” (The Salt Lake City Tribune), “a mesmerizing risk-taker” (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland), and “simply spectacular” (Chicago International Music Foundation) Ukrainian-American pianist Marina Lomazov has established herself as one of the most passionate and charismatic performers on the concert scene today. Following prizes in the Cleveland International Piano Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Ms. Lomazov has given performances throughout North America, South America, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Japan and in nearly all of the fifty states in the U.S.
Marina Lomazov has given major debuts in New York (Weill-Carnegie Hall) Boston (Symphony Hall), Chicago (Dame Myra Hess Concert Series), Los Angeles (Museum of Art), Shanghai (City Theater) and Kiev (Kiev International Music Festival). She has performed as soloist with the Boston Pops, Rochester Philharmonic, Eastman Philharmonia, Chernigov Philharmonic (Ukraine), KUG Orchester Graz (Austria), Bollington Festival Orchestra (England), Piccolo Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Brevard Festival Orchestra and South Carolina Philharmonic, to name a few. New York Times chief music critic Anthony Tommasini describes a recent New York performance as “dazzling” and Talk Magazine Shanghai describes her performances as “a dramatic blend of boldness and wit”.
In recent seasons, Lomazov has performed extensively in China, including concerts in Shenyang, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Dalian, Guangzhou, Jinan, Nanjing, Qingdao and Yingkou. She is a frequent guest at music festivals in the U.S. and abroad, including Hamamatsu, Chautauqua, Brevard, Eastman, Burgos (Spain), Sulzbach-Rosenberg (Germany) and Varna (Bulgaria), among others. She has recorded for the Albany, Centaur and Innova labels and American Record Guide praised her recent recording of piano works by Rodion Shchedrin for its “breathtaking virtuosity”. She has been featured on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today”, the “Bravo” cable channel and WNYC’s “Young Artist Showcase” and her recordings have been broadcast more than 100 times by WNYC and WQXR in New York, WFMT in Chicago and WBGH in Boston.
Before immigrating to the United States in 1990, Marina studied at the Kiev Conservatory where she became the youngest First Prize Winner at the all-Kiev Piano Competition. Ms. Lomazov holds degrees from the Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music, the latter bestowing upon her the highly coveted Artist’s Certificate – an honor the institution had not given a pianist for nearly two decades. Her principal teachers include Natalya Antonova, Jerome Lowenthal and Barry Snyder. Also active as a chamber musician, Lomazov has performed widely as a member of the Lomazov/Rackers Piano Duo. The duo garnered significant attention as Second Prize winners at the Sixth Biennial Ellis Competition for Duo Pianists (2005), the only national duo piano competition in the United States at that time. As advocates of modern repertoire for duo piano, they have given premieres of numerous works across the United States, including several works written specifically for them.
Ms. Lomazov is Ira McKissick Koger Professor of Piano at the University of South Carolina School of Music where she is Founder and Artistic Director of the Southeastern Piano Festival. She has served as jury member for the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Eastman International Piano Competition, Minnesota International Piano e-Competition, National Federation Biennial Young Artist Auditions and is a National Panelist for the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts, the organization that nominates Presidential Scholars in the arts.
Marina Lomazov is a Steinway Artist.
Year
- 2018
Nancy Weems has performed extensively in the United States, Europe, Asia, Mexico, Central America, and the former Soviet Union to wide critical acclaim. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Texas, her solo appearances include concerts in fourteen foreign countries, in addition to the U.S. After a recital in Reykjavik, Iceland, one critic called her “a rare treasure… Nancy Weems is an extraordinary pianist, grand in scope, and powerful in her interpretation, possessing fantastic technique.” In Mexico City, a reviewer stated that “Nancy Weems is gradually beginning to occupy the place of one of the top international pianists in Mexico.” A Houston Post article reported, “The young performer put an amazing display of energy and keyboard technique into a recital that went from strength to strength.”
In l984, Ms. Weems won the Artistic Ambassador Competition sponsored by the United States Information Agency in Washington, D.C. As a result, Ms. Weems represented the United States in an international concert tour, including the countries of Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and the U.S.S.R. In March, l987, Ms. Weems presented a solo debut recital at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The music critic of The Washington Post praised “Weems’ powerful technique” and “delightful mix of strength and flexibility.” In 1987, Ms. Weems was invited for a second international tour to the countries of Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Costa Rica and in 1993, to Taiwan and Hong Kong. In addition, Ms. Weems has represented the United States in the 1981 Van Cliburn International Competition, and won top awards in the International Recording Competition. She has appeared as guest artist with numerous symphony orchestras, and has given master classes in music schools and conservatories in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the West Indies. Ms. Weems was an exchange professor and guest performer at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England; Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul, Korea; and in 2008, the International Piano Master Class Series of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Currently, Nancy Weems is Professor and Division Chair of the piano area at the University of Houston Moores School of Music in Houston, Texas. Her students have won top awards in many national and international competitions including the first prizes in the MTNA Collegiate Artist Competition, the Corpus Christi Young Artist Competition, and the Nena Wideman National Young Artist Concerto Competition. Many of her current and former students now hold positions in music schools and universities worldwide, and several have successful performing careers under professional artist management. A dedicated teacher, she was named the Outstanding Collegiate Teacher in 1991 by the Texas Music Teachers Association, and received a University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award in 1995. Professor Weems regularly presents lectures, recitals and teacher workshops and has been a featured MTNA convention artist for the states of New York, Washington, Minnesota, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas. In addition, Ms. Weems has been a frequent presenter at the Music Teachers National Association Convention and the World Piano Pedagogy Conferences.
Ms. Weems has recorded for the Albany and the Bay Cities labels. The recording, “Classical Hollywood” was nominated for a Grammy award in 1990. In addition, she has been featured in recordings of American composers Arnold Rosner and Chris Theofanidis.
Year
- 2017
Pianist Ning An was the first prize winner of the 2003 William Kapell Piano Competition. An made his concerto debut at the age of 16, performing the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra in February of 1993. He has since appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Belgian National Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Flemish Radio Symphony, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, and has worked with such conductors as Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Kasmierz Kord, Jajha Ling, Vladimir Fedosseyev, Jorg-Peter Weigle, Marc Soustrot, and Sergiu Comissiona. An has presented recitals at venues such as Salle Verdi in Milan, Italy, Salle Cortot in Paris, and the Palais de Beaux Arts in Antwerp. He has been invited to perform at numerous festivals, including the International Chopin Festival in Duszinski, Poland, the Gina Bachauer Piano Festival in Salt Lake City, New Hampshire’s Monadnock Music Festival, the Bourglinster Festival in Luxembourg and the Interlaken Music Festival in Switzerland. An was also a soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic during their 2001 centennial world tour.
An’s recent Carnegie Hall debut, an all-Chopin program presented by the Chopin Foundation of the United States in Weill Recital Hall, was praised in the New York Concert Review for “the almost sculpted clarity of his playing, and his ability to maintain balance and tension in large-scale dramatic forms.” The author went on to say, “Ning An impresses with his developed musicianship, his discerning sense of form and style, his penetrating and illuminating interpretation, and his perfect technical command. I have no doubt that he will join the ranks of the finest interpreters of Chopin.”
An was the third prize winner of the 1999 Queen Elizabeth Music Competition, was first prize winner in the 2000 National Chopin Piano Competition, and received the Alfred Cortot Prize at the 2000 International Chopin Competition. Other top prizes he has received are from the American Pianists’ Association, the Kosciusko Chopin Competition and the Stravinsky International Piano Competition. An was also the third prize winner of the 2002 Paloma O’Shea Santander Competition in Spain, as well as being a laureate and recipient of the audience prize at the 2002 Rachmaninoff International Competition, held in Pasadena, Calif. His principal teachers were Russell Sherman and Olga Radosalvjevich.
Year
- 2013
Pamela Mia Paul is both a brilliant performer and a deeply dedicated teacher. On stage, she has performed with the world’s great orchestras. She has given concerts throughout the United States, and in Europe, the People’s Republic of China, South Korea and Turkey both as soloist and as chamber musician. In the studio, or in the setting of a masterclass, she is an internationally sought-after pedagogue whose students hold teaching positions throughout the United States and Asia, and who have participated in and won competitions including the Nina Widemann Competition and the Naumburg International Piano Competition.
Ms. Paul has commissioned and premiered works for the piano; Robert Beaser’s Piano Concerto, which was written for her, had its world premiere in the United States with the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin, and in Europe with the Monte Carlo Philharmonic under the baton of American conductor Richard Dufallo. The Beaser Concerto had its New York premiere in 1992 at Carnegie Hall, with Dennis Russell Davies conducting the American Composers Orchestra.
In 2012 Ms. Paul commissioned a concerto for piano and symphonic winds from Steven Bryant. The concerto was premiered with the UNT Wind Symphony conducted by Eugene Corporon and recorded for release on the Klavier label in December 2012.Miss Paul has received critical acclaim for her appearances with orchestras in the United States and Europe, where her interpretations of both standard repertoire and twentieth-century piano concertos have garnered consistent critical praise.
Miss Paul’s European orchestral appearances include the Vienna ORF Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Berlin Stadskapelle, and the Dutch Radio Symphony; her U.S. orchestral appearances include those with the New York Philharmonic, symphonies of Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Houston, American Composers Orchestra, Boston Pops, New York Pops, the Minnesota Orchestra, and Caramoor Festival Orchestra.In both orchestral performances and recitals, Ms. Paul has appeared in the world’s major concert halls including Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, and the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam.
As a chamber musician, she has been an invited guest artist at the Salzburg and Bregenz festivals in Austria, Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and at Music Mountain in Connecticut. Quartets with which she has performed include Cassatt, Penderecki, Borromeo, Chester, Orlando, Leontovich, Miro, DaPonte and St. Petersburg.
Summer programs at which Ms. Paul has taught include the Prague International Master Classes, The Institute for Strings, and the Vienna International Piano Academy. She has presented masterclasses in Europe, the People’s Republic of China, Turkey, South Korea, and throughout the United States. Pamela Mia Paul received the doctor of musical arts, master of music, and bachelor of music degrees from the Juilliard School. She is currently Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas and is a Steinway artist.
Year
- 2014
“Formidable…dizzying…magical.” These words from New York reviewer Harris Goldsmith vividly illustrate pianist Petronel Malan’s uniquely captivating style. Indeed, as a multiple Grammy® nominee and gold medalist of several international piano competitions, Petronel continues to enthrall audiences worldwide.
Lauded by reviewers as an unmistakably creative force in the classical music industry, Petronel’s critical acclaim culminated in the nomination of three Grammy® Awards, including “Best Instrumental Solo Album” for her debut disc “Transfigured Bach: Bach Transcriptions of Bartok, Lipatti & Friedman.” As an exclusive recording artist for Hänssler Classic, “Transfigured Mozart” (2006) and “Transfigured Beethoven” (2008) followed. Her 2013 release “Transfigured Tchaikovsky” includes the world premiere recordings of the art song transcriptions by Isaac Mikhnovsky and Samuel Feinberg and was awarded “The American Prize of Excellence in the Arts.” She will record “Transfigured Brahms” in 2014.
Petronel maintains a full performance schedule as recitalist, orchestral soloist and chamber musician in major venues throughout the world. After her European debut in Rome in 1987, further highlights have included Carnegie Recital Hall, Théâtre du Châtelet & Salle Cortot (Paris), Mozarteum (Salzburg), Liszt Museum (Budapest), Orchestra Hall (Chicago), Alte Handelsbörse (Leipzig), Bass Hall (Fort Worth), as well as the Levoca, Ravinia and Gilmore International Festivals. Petronel has appeared with orchestras such as the St. Petersburg State (Russia), Martinú (Czech Republic), Bucaramanga (Colombia), Batumi (Republic of Georgia), Sicilian Chamber (Italy), and several others in the US and South Africa, under the batons of Vasily Petrenko, Bernhard Gueller, Dmitry Manilov, Yoshimi Takeda, Omri Hadari, Wolfgang Bothe, James Brooks, Robert Hanson, and Fuzao Kajima.
Ms. Malan’s career was launched following five gold medals in 2000 at international piano competitions throughout the United States. These included the Louise McMahon, Missouri Southern, Los Angeles Liszt “Budapest Concert” and Hilton Head International Piano Competitions. She also garnered the grand prize in the 2000 Web Concert Hall Competition and gold medals in both the Grace Welsh Piano Competition and the Entergy Young Artist Award.
Born in South Africa, Petronel began lessons with her mother at age four, continuing with Adolph Hallis, Joseph Stanford and Albie van Schalkwyk. She debuted with the Johannesburg Symphony at age ten and subsequently won all major national competitions, before moving to the United States to further her studies. Following a degree at Michigan State University, Petronel completed her graduate degrees at the University of North Texas. Her teachers included Steven de Groote, Ralph Votapek and Joseph Banowetz. She also received intensive coaching sessions from American legend Earl Wild.
Although residing in the United States, Ms. Malan continues strong ties to her native South Africa. She received the “Rapport/City Press Prestige Award” as one of the “10 Most Inspirational Women in South Africa,” and has appeared on magazine covers, documentary TV programs as well as picture-clues in crossword puzzles. Apart from a love for vintage gowns, Ms. Malan’s stage wardrobe is designed by foremost South African designers. A frequent speaker and promoter for classical music in schools, music scholarships in her name are awarded annually to promising young musicians.
Year
- 2015
Pianist Ran Dank deploys his brilliant technique with astonishing energy, intellect and intensity, captivating audiences and critics alike.
In recent seasons, he has performed Beethoven sonatas at Merkin Hall, Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2 in his debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall, the Grieg Piano Concerto with Daniel Meyer and the Asheville Symphony, and tours with his duo partner and wife, pianist Soyeon Kate Lee. Their performance of the world premiere of Fredric Rzewki’s Four Hands at New York City’s (le) Poisson Rouge “absorbed and exhilarated” (The New York Times).
In the 2014/15 season Dank performs Liszt’s Totentanz and Piano Concerto No. 1 for a return to the Jerusalem Symphony; Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra; a recital of Boulez, Beethoven, Chopin, and Liszt in New York for the People’s Symphony; the season-opening concert of the International Piano Series at the College of Charleston; and joins his wife, the pianist Soyeon Kate Lee, in concerts for their New York-based chamber music series, Music by the Glass, among other dates.
Mr. Dank has appeared as soloist with the Phoenix, Ann Arbor, Hilton Head, and Pensacola symphonies, the Cleveland Orchestra as a laureate of the Cleveland International Competition, as well as the Orquesta de Valencia in Spain, among others; he has been presented by the Washington Performing Arts Society’s prestigious Hayes Piano Series at the Kennedy Center, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, Finland’s Mänttä Festival where his all-Liszt recital was broadcast on Finnish National Radio; and performed as a chamber musician at YCA’s Tokyo Festival and the Seattle and Montreal chamber music festivals. Recipient of the Sander Buchman Memorial First Prize of the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Dank made his New York debut in the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Concert. At the Auditions, he was also honored with the John Browning Memorial Prize, the Slomovic Orchestra Soloist Prize, the Albany Symphony Prize, the Embassy Series Prize for a concert in Washington DC, and the Saint Vincent College Bronder Prize for Piano.
In his native Israel, Mr. Dank has been invited as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Jerusalem, Rishon Lezion, Haifa and Raanana, as well as the Israel Festival in Jerusalem, and most recently, at the Israel Conservatory of Music in a recital celebrating Debussy’s 150th anniversary.
In addition to First Prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Mr. Dank is a laureate of the Naumburg Piano Competition and the Sydney International Piano Competition. Mr. Dank is the recipient of grants from the Arthur Foundation and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
Mr. Dank earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University, where he studied with Emanuel Krasovsky, and received his Master’s degree from the Juilliard School where he worked with Emanuel Ax and Joseph Kalichstein and Juilliard’s Artist Diploma, under Robert McDonald. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate of Musical Arts with Ursula Oppens and Richard Goode at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York as a chancellor’s fellow.
Mr. Dank has recently been appointed to the faculty of the University of Charleston. He is an Assistant Professor and the Director of Piano Studies and the Artistic Director of the University of Charleston’s International Piano Series.
Year
- 2014
Canadian pianist Roger Lord won First Prizes in the Canadian Music Competition as well as in the Canadian National Festival of Music. As a result of this success, he was invited to perform over 120 concerts in Canada and Europe in the Jeunesses Musicales concert series. His various professional engagements have later taken him to some of the world’s great cities: Paris, Oslo, Vienna, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Quito, Cairo, Tunis, Tripoli, Riyadh, Hanoi, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, etc.
Roger Lord has been featured as a guest soloist with symphony orchestras in North America, South America, Europe and Asia with conductors such as Jan Ola Amundsen, Jong Yoo, Graham Sutcliffe, James Mark, Miguel Jiménez Cueva and Davit Harutyunyan. Hailed as “The Piano Prince of Canada” by the China Daily, some of his performances took place in world renowned venues such as the Great Hall of the People located on Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Niccolo Paganini Auditorium in Parma, the Cairo Opera House, the Carthage Acropolium in Tunis, the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, etc. Critics are enthusiastic and acknowledge “his skillful talent, great subtlety, genuine emotional generosity, as well as his grand technical mastery”.
During the VIII Francophonie Summit held in Canada in 1999, Roger Lord was invited to perform a recital for the State Leaders of 52 nations. He represented Canada as a pianist at the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988 and in various festivals around the world. The Association of Acadian Artists in Canada awarded him the “Éloize” Award for “Most Successful Acadian Artist Abroad” in 1999. He also received the “Excellence Award” in Music from the New Brunswick Arts Board in 2008.
In November 2004, Roger Lord released a critically acclaimed CD of piano music by 19th century Louisiana composer and virtuoso Louis Moreau Gottschalk produced by the SNE label in Montreal. This CD received nominations in Canada for an Éloize Award as well as for an ECMA Award, and earned the special distinction “Bravo!!!” from Trad Magazine France.
Roger Lord’s concert repertoire is wide and varied. He glides effortlessly from Bach, Händel and Mozart to Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Gershwin and Oscar Peterson. Mr. Lord has travelled to Asia numerous times. He has a particular interested in Chinese culture & music and is now preparing a CD recording of Chinese piano music which should be released in the near future.
Roger Lord studied at Université de Moncton, McGill University, Université de Montréal as well as in Paris and Strasbourg, France. He also attended of the Moscow Piano Institute in Russia at the Gnessin Music Academy. He holds a Doctorate in Music and is now a Professor of piano at the Université de Moncton in Canada.
Year
- 2022
Dr. Se-Hee Jin has been acclaimed for her keen musical intelligence and exquisite sensitivity. Dr. Jin is Assistant Professor of Piano at Texas Tech University, having joined the faculty in 2022. She has concertized and taught throughout the United States, Canada, Italy, China, and Korea.
As a solo pianist, Dr. Jin has been featured in various recitals, including concerts at the Weill-Carnegie Hall, Kaufman Music Center, Bentley Recital Hall, and Seiji Ozawa Hall. She participated in the Tanglewood Music Festival as a recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship and the Banff Summer Arts Festival in Canada. She has performed a broad range of repertoire from Baroque to the music of our times, continuing her solo projects on The Art of Fugue by J. S. Bach and music written by Russian Romantic composers and American living composers. Dr. Jin has also presented her collaborative performances with distinguished musicians in the United States and abroad. She has appeared in Backstage Pass on WXXI-FM Classical 91.5, Women in Music Festival, Festival of Contemporary Music, and various chamber music concerts.
As a founder and artistic director, Dr. Jin has presented two new music concert series – American Living Composer Series for composer portrait recitals and N (AND) Series for solo piano music representing two different nationalities. The concert series featured the music of Pulitzer Prize winners and leading composers, including John Harbison, Charles Wuorinen, Louis Karchin, Zhang Zhao, and Tan Dun. She has presented the concert series in several venues in the New York and Oklahoma areas. The concert series was supported by universities and the regional art council.
Dr. Jin has performed and given master classes in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Canada, Italy, China, and Korea. She holds the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Piano Performance and Literature (Minor in Music Theory) from the Eastman School of Music. She graduated from Ewha Womans University (Seoul, Korea) with a Bachelor of Music degree. Prior to her appointment at Texas Tech University, she taught at Oklahoma State University and the University of Rochester.
Year
- 2024
As the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung Heidelberger described, “Shijun Wang is a fascinating, serious and sensitive musician” As a solo pianist and orchestral soloist, Shijun Wang has performed in California, Pennsylvania, New York, Arizona, Oklahoma, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Utah, Michigan, Idaho, Connecticut, New Jersey, as well as Germany, France, Norway, Spain, China, Mexico, South Korea, and Japan. In his most recent China tour, he gave master classes, lectures and recitals in more than half of the major Chinese conservatories includes Shenyang Conservatory, Xi’an Conservatory, Sichuan Conservatory and Jilin College of Arts. He was appointed as visiting professor of Xi’an Conservatory where he would give concerts and master classes for one month each summer starting from 2017. He also teaches at Puigcerda Music Festival in Spain, East/West International Piano Festival in South Korea and Lancaster International Music Festival in Pennsylvania in the summer.
His recent orchestral appearances include the Rachmaninoff “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” with the Lafayette Symphony, Beethoven Piano Concerto No.2 with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Evening Stars Orchestra; Duxbury Music Festival Orchestra; Manhattan Chamber Orchestra; Music Academy of the West Orchestra; Tulsa Signature Symphony Orchestra.
He has won many national and international prizes of piano performances, including the Excellence Award in the 65th Steinway Children and Young pianist Competition 2002. He subsequently won the Excellence award of the 8th Germany Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists in 2002. The same year he won the Bronze medal at the Hong Kong Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. In 2008, he won the fifth prize in the Hamamatsu Piano Academy. In 2010, he won the first prize and the audience prize in Crescendo Piano Competition.
Professor Wang currently an assistant professor of piano at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He also worked at Weber State University where he taught piano major students, music theory, collaborative piano, and chamber music. Professor Wang got his early music training in Shenyang, China. He began learning piano at the age of four. In 1999 he was accepted into the Music High School of the Shenyang Conservatory of Music and studied with Professor Dong-Dun Zhang. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School studied with Oxana Yablonskaya and Joseph Kalichstein. He also completed his Doctoral of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music under the guidance of Nelita True. His musical mentors have also included Thomas Schumacher, Dan-Wen Wei, Alfred Brendel, Emanuel Ax, and Richard Goode.
Year
- 2024
Pianist Tali Morgulis is a passionate performer and a dedicated pedagogue. Prize winner of several international competitions, Dr. Morgulis continues to present critically acclaimed solo, chamber music, and orchestral performances worldwide. Tali champions living composers with regular commissions and performances of new pieces. In recent years she has premiered works by Marcus Maroney, Lei Liang and Finola Merivale. Her concert repertoire also includes many lesser known gems of composers past and present. Her most recent performances have championed works by women composers. An expert collaborator, Tali has shared the stage with such renowned musicians soprano Albina Shagimuratova, cellist Misha Quint, violinist Uri PIanka, mezzo-soprano Sonja Bruzauskas and many others.
Dr. Morgulis’ students come from many different countries and backgrounds. They describe her as a great motivator and an inspiring mentor. She takes pride in supporting not only their performance and teaching but also in becoming important members of their respective communities. Tali began her college teaching career at Fort Hays State University, KS in 2005. She is currently an Associate Professor of Piano at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, TX. Tali is passionate about learning how music affects every stage and aspect of human life. In the Spring of 2019 Dr. Morgulis and psychologist Dr. Gregory Beaulieu co-created and taught an interdisciplinary course on the intersection of music and cognitive science.
Tali started her music education in her native Ukraine at age 4. She continued studying piano after moving to Israel at age 15. Dr. Morgulis holds degrees in piano performance from Tel Aviv Academy of Music (BM and MM), the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA (DMA). She holds diplomas from the Manhattan School of Music and the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles. She was fortunate to study with such wonderful musicians as Esther Balasha, Mikhail Boguslawski, Wha Kyung Byun, Lev Natochenny, Alexander Gorin (organ) and Patricia Zander (chamber music).
In her free time Tali enjoys playing with her daughter Marianna and her toy poodle Lucy, traveling, reading about the mind, hiking. More than anything else – she loves spending time with family and friends.
Year
- 2022
Terry Lynn Hudson is Associate Professor of Piano at Baylor University. A native of Maryland, she began her formal musical study at the Peabody Preparatory of Music and completed the institution’s Advanced Certificate program in piano. She earned degrees in Piano Performance from James Madison University (BM, summa cum laude), the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (MM), and the University of Texas at Austin (DMA), where she was named the Couper Presidential Scholar in Piano Performance.
Dr. Hudson is a committed performer, presenting recitals as a soloist, duo pianist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, and Central America, as well as a prizewinner in competitions sponsored by the American College of Musicians, Music Teachers National Association, and Sigma Alpha Iota. She has a special affinity for French piano literature and contemporary ensemble works, and her programs often feature this repertoire. She is an MSR recording artist; her most recent recording on the label, a two-disc set of the complete Debussy Préludes, has been reviewed as an “exemplary reading” displaying “a fine, graded, and intimate sensibility,” “a very impressive arsenal of technical skills,” and “a tremendous variety of piano colors.” In the words of a recent commentator, “I regularly review American pianists with university positions and am impressed whenever I run across an exceptional one. Hudson is among the two or three most gifted that I’ve heard, and I can enthusiastically recommend her Debussy.” World and regional premieres include Rachel McInturff’s The Jagged Persistence of Memory, Larry Barnes’s Rituals for Six Pianos, and selections from Edward Taylor’s Ashlee Preludes.
Other professional activity includes presentations and lecture-recitals at national, regional, and state conferences of the Music Teachers National Association, College Music Society, and Texas Music Educators Association. Dr. Hudson has been published in American Music Teacher, College Music Symposium, and the MTNA E-Journal. An active member of several professional organizations, she has been especially involved in The College Music Society during the past decade, serving as a national officer and chairing multiple committees.
Dr. Hudson is a frequent adjudicator at competitions and festivals, and has earned invitations to teach lessons and masterclasses in London, Paris, Salzburg, San José (Costa Rica), and throughout the U.S. Her students have continued on to prestigious graduate programs, solo and collaborative performance engagements, pre-collegiate and collegiate teaching positions, and competitive recognition at Baylor and beyond, including the designation of Steinway Artist.
Year
- 2013
Young-Hyun Cho currently serves as Assistant Professor of Piano on the faculty at The University of Texas at Arlington. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, Master of Music and a Graduate Performance Diploma from Peabody Conservatory, and Bachelor of Music from Seoul National University. Her major teachers include Nelita True, Boris Slutsky, and Mi-Kyung Kim.
As an international performer, Dr. Cho has performed with the Seoul National Symphony, Korean Broadcasting System Symphony, Korean Symphony, Daejeon Philharmonic, International Chamber Ensemble of Rome, Eurasian Philharmonic, Holland Symphony, Eastman Symphony, and The University of Texas at Arlington Orchestra. Her accolades on the national and international piano competition circuit from numerous competing in Louisiana International Piano Competition, Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, the Harrison Winter Competition, Eastman Concerto Competition, Korea Music Association Competition, Seoul Arts Center’s Orchestral Festival Soloist Music Competition, KBS Music Competition, and the JoongAng Times Music Competition.
Over the past several years, Dr. Cho has been invited to present recitals and master classes across North America, Asia, and Europe. She has appeared at California State University, Levine School of Music, Louisiana State University, University of Central Oklahoma, Bowling Green State University, Auburn University, South Carolina State University, Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian University, Oakland University, McNeese State University, Henderson State University, Texas State University, West Texas A&M University, Midwestern State University, Morningside College, Briar Cliff University, Northwestern College, Texas Music Teachers Association, German Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, AUA Auditorium in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the University-College Sedaya International in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the World Piano Conference in Serbia, Regensburg University in Germany, Yonsei University, the German Embassy in Seoul, Korea.
In 2013, Dr. Cho’s performance schedule includes recitals, lectures, and master classes throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.