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"We are a wonderful, small, unpretentious, cooperative, supportive school for pianists. This is all we want to be."
-Edwine Behre, Founding Teacher
MEET OUR 2026 ARTIST FACULTY
Our artist faculty include celebrated performers, director-founders of acclaimed programs, and distinguished educators who inspire creativity and musical growth in artists across generations. Get to know our artist faculty by clicking on their profiles. We look forward to welcoming you to our vibrant community!
APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN!
Apply before January 15, 2026 for a decision by February 1, 2025 and tuition discount!
Apply January 16 - March 15 for a decision by April 1, 2026.
Artist Faculty are listed below in chronological order by program.
KEVIN KENNER
University of Miami
MASTERCLASS ARTIST
Masterclass 1: May 30-June 6, 2026
The year 1990 was a milestone for Pianist Kevin Kenner whose artistry was recognized throughout the world by three prestigious awards: the top prize at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw (together with the Peoples’ Prize and prize for the best Polonaise), the recipient of the International Terrence Judd Award in London, and the bronze medal at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow (together with the prize for best performance of a Russian work). And in the years leading up to those remarkable accomplishments, he won prizes at the Van Cliburn International Competition (Fort Worth, 1989) and the Gina Bachauer International Competition (Salt Lake City, 1988).
Born in Southern California, Kenner showed his interest in piano from a very young age and studied there with Polish pianist Krzysztof Brzuza. As a teenager, Brzuza sent him to Poland to audition for the eminent professor Ludwik Stefański, who immediately prepared him for the Tenth International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where as the youngest competitor he received a special award and finished in 10th place.
Kenner’s sojourn in Poland took place during a momentous period in Polish history, coinciding with the beginnings of Solidarity, strikes, protests and severe food shortages, events which left an indelible impression upon him.
Following the death of his Polish teacher, he continued his studies with legendary American pianist Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. And he finalized his formal training with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover, Germany.
Shortly after his prize at the 1990 Chopin Competition, Kenner settled in England where he remained for 19 years. He frequently appeared at Wigmore Hall and the South Bank Centre, recorded with the BBC Symphony and engaged in numerous projects with BBC Radio 3. The UK papers described Kenner as a “player of grace, subtle variety and strength, with a mature grasp of dramatic structure and proportion: in short, a grown-up musician nearing his peak.” (Financial Times), and following an appearance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Adrian Jack of the Independent described his recital as “…the best performance I have ever heard in the concert hall of all four of Chopin’s Ballades”.
Following a tour of Italy with the renowned conductor Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who had recorded with pianists such as Artur Rubinstein, he described Kenner’s Chopin interpretations as the most sensitive and beautiful he remembered.
Kenner's performance career has connected him with the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony of Japan, and in the US with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, New Jersey, Rochester, Baltimore, St. Paul and many others. He has collaborated with Sir Charles Groves, Andrew Davis, Hans Vonk, Frans Bruggen, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Kazimierz Kord, Jiri Belohlavek and Antoni Wit.
Kenner is also an active chamber musician. After working as duo partner to cellist Matt Haimovitz, he established a continuing partnership with violinist Kyung-Wha Chung with whom he has recorded and toured in Europe, Asia and America. He has performed with illustrious string quartets such as the Belcea, Tokyo, Endellion, Vogler, Panocha, and Escher Quartets. His most recent collaboration with the Apollon Musagète Quartet and double-bassist Sławomir Rozlach resulted in an award winning recording of the two Chopin Piano Concertos arranged by Kenner and Krzysztof Dombek for string quintet. He has also recorded special arrangements of works by Piazzolla as a member of the Piazzoforte Ensemble, earning him a “Fryderyk” in 2006 for best chamber recording of the year by the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Five years later he was awarded another “Fryderyk” for his recording of Paderewski’s Concerto and Polish Fantasy with the Podlaska Philharmonic.
Teaching has been one of Kenner’s passions since accepting a post in 2000 at the Royal College of Music in London, where he taught for over a decade. Since 2015, he has worked at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he currently serves as Associate Professor and Artistic Director and Founder of the Frost Chopin Academy, an annual summer academy that connects talented students of Chopin’s music in direct contact with some of the world’s most respected Chopin specialists. Kenner also served as visiting professor at the Academy of Music in Łódź, Poland from 2015-2017, from which he also received an honorary doctorate (2018).
Kenner’s commitment to building and supporting the next generation of classical pianists includes participating as juror in some of the most celebrated international piano competitions including the Busoni International Competition in Bolzano (2017), the Prague Spring International Music Competition (2021) and the International Chopin Competition (2010, 2021). He has also been invited to serve as chair of the jury at the International Chopin Competition in Darmstadt (2018), the National Chopin Competition in Miami (2020), and the Parnassus International Competition in Peru (2021).
MASTERCLASS ARTIST
Masterclass 1: May 30-June 6, 2026
The year 1990 was a milestone for Pianist Kevin Kenner whose artistry was recognized throughout the world by three prestigious awards: the top prize at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw (together with the Peoples’ Prize and prize for the best Polonaise), the recipient of the International Terrence Judd Award in London, and the bronze medal at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow (together with the prize for best performance of a Russian work). And in the years leading up to those remarkable accomplishments, he won prizes at the Van Cliburn International Competition (Fort Worth, 1989) and the Gina Bachauer International Competition (Salt Lake City, 1988).
Born in Southern California, Kenner showed his interest in piano from a very young age and studied there with Polish pianist Krzysztof Brzuza. As a teenager, Brzuza sent him to Poland to audition for the eminent professor Ludwik Stefański, who immediately prepared him for the Tenth International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where as the youngest competitor he received a special award and finished in 10th place.
Kenner’s sojourn in Poland took place during a momentous period in Polish history, coinciding with the beginnings of Solidarity, strikes, protests and severe food shortages, events which left an indelible impression upon him.
Following the death of his Polish teacher, he continued his studies with legendary American pianist Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. And he finalized his formal training with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover, Germany.
Shortly after his prize at the 1990 Chopin Competition, Kenner settled in England where he remained for 19 years. He frequently appeared at Wigmore Hall and the South Bank Centre, recorded with the BBC Symphony and engaged in numerous projects with BBC Radio 3. The UK papers described Kenner as a “player of grace, subtle variety and strength, with a mature grasp of dramatic structure and proportion: in short, a grown-up musician nearing his peak.” (Financial Times), and following an appearance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Adrian Jack of the Independent described his recital as “…the best performance I have ever heard in the concert hall of all four of Chopin’s Ballades”.
Following a tour of Italy with the renowned conductor Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who had recorded with pianists such as Artur Rubinstein, he described Kenner’s Chopin interpretations as the most sensitive and beautiful he remembered.
Kenner's performance career has connected him with the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony of Japan, and in the US with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, New Jersey, Rochester, Baltimore, St. Paul and many others. He has collaborated with Sir Charles Groves, Andrew Davis, Hans Vonk, Frans Bruggen, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Kazimierz Kord, Jiri Belohlavek and Antoni Wit.
Kenner is also an active chamber musician. After working as duo partner to cellist Matt Haimovitz, he established a continuing partnership with violinist Kyung-Wha Chung with whom he has recorded and toured in Europe, Asia and America. He has performed with illustrious string quartets such as the Belcea, Tokyo, Endellion, Vogler, Panocha, and Escher Quartets. His most recent collaboration with the Apollon Musagète Quartet and double-bassist Sławomir Rozlach resulted in an award winning recording of the two Chopin Piano Concertos arranged by Kenner and Krzysztof Dombek for string quintet. He has also recorded special arrangements of works by Piazzolla as a member of the Piazzoforte Ensemble, earning him a “Fryderyk” in 2006 for best chamber recording of the year by the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Five years later he was awarded another “Fryderyk” for his recording of Paderewski’s Concerto and Polish Fantasy with the Podlaska Philharmonic.
Teaching has been one of Kenner’s passions since accepting a post in 2000 at the Royal College of Music in London, where he taught for over a decade. Since 2015, he has worked at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he currently serves as Associate Professor and Artistic Director and Founder of the Frost Chopin Academy, an annual summer academy that connects talented students of Chopin’s music in direct contact with some of the world’s most respected Chopin specialists. Kenner also served as visiting professor at the Academy of Music in Łódź, Poland from 2015-2017, from which he also received an honorary doctorate (2018).
Kenner’s commitment to building and supporting the next generation of classical pianists includes participating as juror in some of the most celebrated international piano competitions including the Busoni International Competition in Bolzano (2017), the Prague Spring International Music Competition (2021) and the International Chopin Competition (2010, 2021). He has also been invited to serve as chair of the jury at the International Chopin Competition in Darmstadt (2018), the National Chopin Competition in Miami (2020), and the Parnassus International Competition in Peru (2021).
ROBERT MCDONALD
Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School
ARTIST FACULTY
Masterclass
Pianist Robert McDonald has toured extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America. He has performed with major orchestras in the U.S. and was a recital partner with violinist Isaac Stern for many years. He has participated in the Marlboro, Casals, and Lucerne festivals, performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and for broadcasts over BBC Television. He has also appeared with the Takács, Vermeer, Juilliard, Brentano, Borromeo, American, Shanghai, and St. Lawrence string quartets as well as with Musicians from Marlboro. McDonald’s prizes include the gold medal at the Busoni International Piano Competition, the top prize at the William Kapell International Competition, and the Deutsche Schallplatten Critics Award. His teachers include Theodore Rehl, Seymour Lipkin, Rudolf Serkin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Beveridge Webster, and Gary Graffman. He holds degrees from Lawrence University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard, and the Manhattan School of Music. McDonald has taught at the Curtis Institute, where he holds the Penelope P. Watkins Chair in piano studies, since 2007. During the summer, he is the artistic director of New Mexico’s Taos School of Music and Chamber Music Festival.
ARTIST FACULTY
Masterclass
Pianist Robert McDonald has toured extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America. He has performed with major orchestras in the U.S. and was a recital partner with violinist Isaac Stern for many years. He has participated in the Marlboro, Casals, and Lucerne festivals, performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and for broadcasts over BBC Television. He has also appeared with the Takács, Vermeer, Juilliard, Brentano, Borromeo, American, Shanghai, and St. Lawrence string quartets as well as with Musicians from Marlboro. McDonald’s prizes include the gold medal at the Busoni International Piano Competition, the top prize at the William Kapell International Competition, and the Deutsche Schallplatten Critics Award. His teachers include Theodore Rehl, Seymour Lipkin, Rudolf Serkin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Beveridge Webster, and Gary Graffman. He holds degrees from Lawrence University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard, and the Manhattan School of Music. McDonald has taught at the Curtis Institute, where he holds the Penelope P. Watkins Chair in piano studies, since 2007. During the summer, he is the artistic director of New Mexico’s Taos School of Music and Chamber Music Festival.
INNA FALIKS
University of California, Los Angeles
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Session 1: June 12 - 16, 2026
BM: Music Institute of Chicago
MM, Diploma: Peabody Conservatory
AD: Accademia Pianistica Internazionale
DMA: SUNY Stonybrook
“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker), Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks has established herself as one of the most communicative and poetic artists of her generation. She has made a name for herself through commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well as genre-bending, interdisciplinary projects and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. Her new memoir, Weight in the Fingertips, A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage, was published by Backbeat Books in October 2023.
Ms. Faliks’s distinguished career has brought thousands of recitals and concerts throughout the US, Asia, and Europe. Recent seasons have included performances at the Ravinia Festival, National Gallery of Art, and the Wallis Annenberg Center, tours of China, with appearances in all of its major halls including the Beijing Center for Performing Arts, Shanghai Oriental Arts Theater and Tianjin Grand Theater; debuts at the Festival Internacional de Piano in Mexico, the Fazioli Series in Italy, Israel’s Tel Aviv Museum, Portland Piano Festival, Camerata Pacifica and a collaboration with the contemporary dance company, Bodytraffic at the Broad Stage. She has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Concert Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Salle Cortot in Paris, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall and at many important festivals such as Verbier, Mondo Musica Cremona, Gilmore, Newport Classical and the Peninsula Music Festival (where she has appeared frequently), Music in the Mountains, Brevard, Taos, the International Keyboard Festival in New York, Bargemusic Here and Now, and Chautauqua. Since her acclaimed teenage debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Harvey Felder she has been regularly engaged as a concerto soloist: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto with Dmitry Sitkovetsky and the Greensboro Symphony, Gershwin with Daniel Meyer and the Erie Symphony, Clara Schumann with Erin Freeman at the Wintergreen Festival, Beethoven 3rd with the Williamsburg Symphony, Prokofiev 1 and 3 with Victor Yampolsky and the Peninsula Festival Orchestra, Tchaikovsky 1 with Robert Moody and the Memphis Symphony, and numerous concerti under the batons of such renowned conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart, Edward Polochick, and Neal Stuhlberg, as well as important emerging conductors like Thomas Heuser and Yaniv Attar.
Inquisitive and versatile, Inna Faliks has had a strong commitment to contemporary music giving premieres of works composed for and dedicated her by Timo Andres, Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Paola Prestini, Ljova, Clarice Assad, Peter Golub. In “Reimagine Beethoven and Ravel” nine contemporary composes responded to Beethoven Bagatelles and Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit. “13 Ways of Looking at the Goldberg” included new variations by contemporary composers based on Bach’s Goldberg Variations. She gave the North American premiere of Ilya Levinson’s Shtetle Suite and the world premiere of Ljova’s Sirota for piano and historical recording, which was composed for her. Ljova’s “Voices” was commissioned for her by the Milken Center of American Jewish Music Experience in 2020. She performed and recorded unknown piano works of the Russian poet Boris Pasternak. She went on to create a one-woman show which led to “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist”, an autobiographical monologue for pianist and actress, recently presented as a solo show in New York’s Symphony Space, Shenandoah Conservatory, Music Worcester, and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy. A committed chamber musician, she has had notable collaborations with Gilbert Kalish, Ron Leonard, Fred Sherry, Ilya Kaler, Colin Carr, Wendy Warner, Clive Greensmith, and Antonio Lysy, among many others.
Inna Faliks has been featured on radio and television throughout the world. She co-starred with Downton Abbey’s Lesley Nicol in “Admission – One Shilling,” a play for pianist and actor based on the life of the great British pianist, Dame Myra Hess. Her most recent CD releases, Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel on Navona Records and The Schumann Project Volume 1, on MSR Classics, received rave reviews, and were named to several “best of 2021” lists. With her all-Beethoven CD release on MSR, WTTW called Faliks “High priestess of the piano, concert pianist of the highest order, as dramatic and subtle as a great stage actor.” Sound of Verse, was released in 2009, featuring music of Boris Pasternak, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist” on Delos captures her autobiographical monologue-recital with short piano works from Bach to Carter. Her upcoming release on Sono Luminus, “Manuscripts Don’t Burn”, includes music by Veronika Krausas, Maya Miro Johnson, Clarice Assad, Fanny Mendelssohn, Schubert-Liszt, Ljova and Fazil Say.
Faliks is founder and curator of Music/Words, an award-winning poetry-music series: performances in collaboration with distinguished poets. Her long-standing relationship with Chicago’s WFMT radio has led to multiple broadcasts of Music/Words, which she produced alongside some of the nation’s most recognized poets in performances throughout the United States.
A past winner of many prestigious competitions, Inna Faliks is currently Professor of Piano and Head of Piano at UCLA. She is in demand as Artist Teacher and is frequently invited to judge competitions and give masterclasses at major conservatories and universities. As a writer, she has been published by LA Times and Washington Post. During Covid, she started a weekly online recital series, Corona Fridays, featuring children’s concerts, new music, and poetry.
Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist. www.innafaliks.com
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Session 1: June 12 - 16, 2026
BM: Music Institute of Chicago
MM, Diploma: Peabody Conservatory
AD: Accademia Pianistica Internazionale
DMA: SUNY Stonybrook
“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker), Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks has established herself as one of the most communicative and poetic artists of her generation. She has made a name for herself through commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well as genre-bending, interdisciplinary projects and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. Her new memoir, Weight in the Fingertips, A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage, was published by Backbeat Books in October 2023.
Ms. Faliks’s distinguished career has brought thousands of recitals and concerts throughout the US, Asia, and Europe. Recent seasons have included performances at the Ravinia Festival, National Gallery of Art, and the Wallis Annenberg Center, tours of China, with appearances in all of its major halls including the Beijing Center for Performing Arts, Shanghai Oriental Arts Theater and Tianjin Grand Theater; debuts at the Festival Internacional de Piano in Mexico, the Fazioli Series in Italy, Israel’s Tel Aviv Museum, Portland Piano Festival, Camerata Pacifica and a collaboration with the contemporary dance company, Bodytraffic at the Broad Stage. She has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Concert Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Salle Cortot in Paris, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall and at many important festivals such as Verbier, Mondo Musica Cremona, Gilmore, Newport Classical and the Peninsula Music Festival (where she has appeared frequently), Music in the Mountains, Brevard, Taos, the International Keyboard Festival in New York, Bargemusic Here and Now, and Chautauqua. Since her acclaimed teenage debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Harvey Felder she has been regularly engaged as a concerto soloist: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto with Dmitry Sitkovetsky and the Greensboro Symphony, Gershwin with Daniel Meyer and the Erie Symphony, Clara Schumann with Erin Freeman at the Wintergreen Festival, Beethoven 3rd with the Williamsburg Symphony, Prokofiev 1 and 3 with Victor Yampolsky and the Peninsula Festival Orchestra, Tchaikovsky 1 with Robert Moody and the Memphis Symphony, and numerous concerti under the batons of such renowned conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart, Edward Polochick, and Neal Stuhlberg, as well as important emerging conductors like Thomas Heuser and Yaniv Attar.
Inquisitive and versatile, Inna Faliks has had a strong commitment to contemporary music giving premieres of works composed for and dedicated her by Timo Andres, Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Paola Prestini, Ljova, Clarice Assad, Peter Golub. In “Reimagine Beethoven and Ravel” nine contemporary composes responded to Beethoven Bagatelles and Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit. “13 Ways of Looking at the Goldberg” included new variations by contemporary composers based on Bach’s Goldberg Variations. She gave the North American premiere of Ilya Levinson’s Shtetle Suite and the world premiere of Ljova’s Sirota for piano and historical recording, which was composed for her. Ljova’s “Voices” was commissioned for her by the Milken Center of American Jewish Music Experience in 2020. She performed and recorded unknown piano works of the Russian poet Boris Pasternak. She went on to create a one-woman show which led to “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist”, an autobiographical monologue for pianist and actress, recently presented as a solo show in New York’s Symphony Space, Shenandoah Conservatory, Music Worcester, and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy. A committed chamber musician, she has had notable collaborations with Gilbert Kalish, Ron Leonard, Fred Sherry, Ilya Kaler, Colin Carr, Wendy Warner, Clive Greensmith, and Antonio Lysy, among many others.
Inna Faliks has been featured on radio and television throughout the world. She co-starred with Downton Abbey’s Lesley Nicol in “Admission – One Shilling,” a play for pianist and actor based on the life of the great British pianist, Dame Myra Hess. Her most recent CD releases, Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel on Navona Records and The Schumann Project Volume 1, on MSR Classics, received rave reviews, and were named to several “best of 2021” lists. With her all-Beethoven CD release on MSR, WTTW called Faliks “High priestess of the piano, concert pianist of the highest order, as dramatic and subtle as a great stage actor.” Sound of Verse, was released in 2009, featuring music of Boris Pasternak, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. “Polonaise-Fantasie, Story of a Pianist” on Delos captures her autobiographical monologue-recital with short piano works from Bach to Carter. Her upcoming release on Sono Luminus, “Manuscripts Don’t Burn”, includes music by Veronika Krausas, Maya Miro Johnson, Clarice Assad, Fanny Mendelssohn, Schubert-Liszt, Ljova and Fazil Say.
Faliks is founder and curator of Music/Words, an award-winning poetry-music series: performances in collaboration with distinguished poets. Her long-standing relationship with Chicago’s WFMT radio has led to multiple broadcasts of Music/Words, which she produced alongside some of the nation’s most recognized poets in performances throughout the United States.
A past winner of many prestigious competitions, Inna Faliks is currently Professor of Piano and Head of Piano at UCLA. She is in demand as Artist Teacher and is frequently invited to judge competitions and give masterclasses at major conservatories and universities. As a writer, she has been published by LA Times and Washington Post. During Covid, she started a weekly online recital series, Corona Fridays, featuring children’s concerts, new music, and poetry.
Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist. www.innafaliks.com
HEATHER CONNER
Vanderbilt University
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 1: June 8-19, 2026
BM: Curtis Institute of Music
MM: Yale University School of Music
DMA: Manhattan School of Music
Originally from Lancaster, Pa., Steinway Artist Heather Conner is Chancellor's Chair of Piano and Area Coordinator of the Keyboard Department at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. Prior to this appointment, she was Professor of Piano at The University of Utah School of Music, where she served on the faculty for 14 years.
As a recitalist, Conner has performed in many prestigious venues such as Steinway Hall in New York City. She has also presented solo recitals in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New Haven, Moscow, Salzburg, Seoul, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, Greenville (S.C. and N.C.), Stillwater and Oklahoma City, (Okla.), Tuscaloosa and Montgomery, (Ala.), Murfreesboro and Salt Lake City.
Conner has won grand prizes at several international and national competitions, including the first Hilton Head Island International Piano Competition and the Kingsville International Young Performers Competition, and has performed on numerous occasions as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2010, she performed a solo recital at the Zwischen den Jahren festival in Antweiler, Germany. In 2006, she appeared as recitalist and artist teacher at several venues in Seoul, South Korea. She has recorded commercially for the Naxos and Centaur labels and has been heard on NPR’s Performance Today, WQED in Pittsburgh, WFLN in Philadelphia, and KCSC in Oklahoma City. Her performances can also be heard online at instantencore.com.
An avid chamber musician, Conner has appeared in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and the Glenn Gould Studios in Toronto. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, and is currently an artist performer with America’s Dream Chamber Artists both at Symphony Space in New York City and on tour nationally. She performs every year on the Intermezzo and Nova Chamber Music Series, both based in Salt Lake City, and has performed as a guest artist on the Brightmusic Chamber Music Series in Oklahoma City.
Conner’s students have been prize winners at MTNA national and regional competitions. Anastasia Magamedova competed as one of 24 competitors at the First Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition. Luke Turner was a 3rd Prize Winner in MTNA Nationals in the Senior Piano Category, a participant at the Second Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition, and performed as soloist with the Nashville Symphony as a winner of the Curb Concerto Competition. Conner’s high school students have been accepted as scholarship students at Juilliard, Eastman, New England Conservatory and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, University of Michigan and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Conner completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Arkady Aronov and received the Helen Cohn award for most promising doctoral graduate. Under the guidance of renowned pianist Peter Frankl, Conner received her Master of Music degree from the Yale University School of Music. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1997, where she studied with distinguished piano pedagogue Eleanor Sokoloff for five years.
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 1: June 8-19, 2026
BM: Curtis Institute of Music
MM: Yale University School of Music
DMA: Manhattan School of Music
Originally from Lancaster, Pa., Steinway Artist Heather Conner is Chancellor's Chair of Piano and Area Coordinator of the Keyboard Department at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. Prior to this appointment, she was Professor of Piano at The University of Utah School of Music, where she served on the faculty for 14 years.
As a recitalist, Conner has performed in many prestigious venues such as Steinway Hall in New York City. She has also presented solo recitals in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New Haven, Moscow, Salzburg, Seoul, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, Greenville (S.C. and N.C.), Stillwater and Oklahoma City, (Okla.), Tuscaloosa and Montgomery, (Ala.), Murfreesboro and Salt Lake City.
Conner has won grand prizes at several international and national competitions, including the first Hilton Head Island International Piano Competition and the Kingsville International Young Performers Competition, and has performed on numerous occasions as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2010, she performed a solo recital at the Zwischen den Jahren festival in Antweiler, Germany. In 2006, she appeared as recitalist and artist teacher at several venues in Seoul, South Korea. She has recorded commercially for the Naxos and Centaur labels and has been heard on NPR’s Performance Today, WQED in Pittsburgh, WFLN in Philadelphia, and KCSC in Oklahoma City. Her performances can also be heard online at instantencore.com.
An avid chamber musician, Conner has appeared in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and the Glenn Gould Studios in Toronto. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, and is currently an artist performer with America’s Dream Chamber Artists both at Symphony Space in New York City and on tour nationally. She performs every year on the Intermezzo and Nova Chamber Music Series, both based in Salt Lake City, and has performed as a guest artist on the Brightmusic Chamber Music Series in Oklahoma City.
Conner’s students have been prize winners at MTNA national and regional competitions. Anastasia Magamedova competed as one of 24 competitors at the First Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition. Luke Turner was a 3rd Prize Winner in MTNA Nationals in the Senior Piano Category, a participant at the Second Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition, and performed as soloist with the Nashville Symphony as a winner of the Curb Concerto Competition. Conner’s high school students have been accepted as scholarship students at Juilliard, Eastman, New England Conservatory and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, University of Michigan and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Conner completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Arkady Aronov and received the Helen Cohn award for most promising doctoral graduate. Under the guidance of renowned pianist Peter Frankl, Conner received her Master of Music degree from the Yale University School of Music. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1997, where she studied with distinguished piano pedagogue Eleanor Sokoloff for five years.
HENRY KRAMER
Université de Montréal
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 1: June 8-19, 2026
BM: The Juilliard School
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: Yale School of Music
Praised by The Cleveland Classical Review for his “astonishingly confident technique” and The New York Times for “thrilling [and] triumphant” performances, pianist Henry Kramer is developing a reputation as a musician of rare sensitivity who combines stylish programming with insightful and exuberant interpretations. In 2016, he garnered international recognition with a Second Prize win in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Mosre recently, he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant by Lincoln Center – one of the most coveted honors bestowed on young American soloists.
Kramer began playing piano at the relatively late age of 11 in his hometown of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. One day, he found himself entranced by the sound of film melodies as a friend played them on the piano, inspiring him to teach himself on his family’s old upright. His parents enrolled him in lessons shortly thereafter, and within weeks, he was playing Chopin and Mozart.
Henry emerged as a winner in the National Chopin Competition in 2010, the Montreal International Competition in 2011 and the China Shanghai International Piano Competition in 2012. In 2014 he was added to the roster of Astral Artists, an organization that annually selects a handful of rising stars among strings, piano, woodwinds and voice candidates. The following year, he earned a top prize in the Honens International Piano Competition.
Kramer has performed “stunning” solo recital debuts, most notably at Alice Tully Hall as the recipient of the Juilliard School’s William Petschek Award, as well as at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. At his Philadelphia debut, Peter Dobrin of The Philadelphia Inquirer remarked, “the 31-year-old pianist personalized interpretations to such a degree that works emerged anew. He is a big personality.”
A versatile performer, Kramer has been featured as soloist with orchestras around the world, including the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras, among many others, collaborating with conductors such as Marin Alsop, Gerard Schwarz, Stéphane Denève, Jan Pascal Tortelier and Hans Graf. As a recitalist, he has performed recitals in cities such as Washington (Phillips Collection), Durham (St. Stephens), Hilton Head (BravoPiano! festival), Seattle (Emerald City Music and the Seattle Series), Toronto (Koerner Hall), Montreal (Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur) and Halifax (Cecilia Concerts), at universities including Auburn University, Northwestern University and Western Washington University, and made summer appearances at the Anchorage, Kingston, Lakes Area, Maverick, Music Mountain (the latter two with the esteemed Borromeo String Quartet), Ravinia, Rockport, and Vivo music festivals.
Orchestral highlights of the 2025-26 season include Kramer’s debuts with the Baton Rouge Symphony, Southwest Symphony , and Wyndham Festival Chamber Orchestra in addition to a return engagement with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Kramer returns to Newport Classical, the Seattle Series, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and Ladies Morning Music Club in Montreal (together with the Verona Quartet) and appears for the first time with Parlance Chamber Concerts, Portland Ovations, and Salle Bourgie.
His love for the chamber music repertoire began early in his studies while a young teenager. A sought-after collaborator, he has appeared in recitals at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Mainly Mozart Festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and La Jolla Music Society’ (main season and Summerfest). His recording with violinist Jiyoon Lee on the Champs Hill label received four stars from BBC Music Magazine. Gramophone UK recently praised Kramer’s performance on a recording collaboration (Cedille Records) with violist Matthew Lipman for “exemplary flexible partnership.” Henry has also performed alongside violinist Stella Chen, flutist Emmanuel Pahud, the Calidore and Pacifica Quartets, Miriam Fried, as well as members of the Berlin Philharmonic and Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Teaching ranks among his greatest joys. In the fall of 2022, Kramer joined the music faculty of Université de Montréal. Previously, he served as the L. Rexford Whiddon Distinguished Chair in Piano at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. Throughout his multifaceted career, he also held positions at Smith College and the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Dance and Music.
Kramer graduated from the Juilliard School, where he worked with Julian Martin and Robert McDonald. He received his Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Yale School of Music under the guidance of Boris Berman. His teachers trace a pedagogical lineage extending back to Beethoven, Chopin and Busoni. Kramer is a Steinway Artist.
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 1: June 8-19, 2026
BM: The Juilliard School
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: Yale School of Music
Praised by The Cleveland Classical Review for his “astonishingly confident technique” and The New York Times for “thrilling [and] triumphant” performances, pianist Henry Kramer is developing a reputation as a musician of rare sensitivity who combines stylish programming with insightful and exuberant interpretations. In 2016, he garnered international recognition with a Second Prize win in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Mosre recently, he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant by Lincoln Center – one of the most coveted honors bestowed on young American soloists.
Kramer began playing piano at the relatively late age of 11 in his hometown of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. One day, he found himself entranced by the sound of film melodies as a friend played them on the piano, inspiring him to teach himself on his family’s old upright. His parents enrolled him in lessons shortly thereafter, and within weeks, he was playing Chopin and Mozart.
Henry emerged as a winner in the National Chopin Competition in 2010, the Montreal International Competition in 2011 and the China Shanghai International Piano Competition in 2012. In 2014 he was added to the roster of Astral Artists, an organization that annually selects a handful of rising stars among strings, piano, woodwinds and voice candidates. The following year, he earned a top prize in the Honens International Piano Competition.
Kramer has performed “stunning” solo recital debuts, most notably at Alice Tully Hall as the recipient of the Juilliard School’s William Petschek Award, as well as at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. At his Philadelphia debut, Peter Dobrin of The Philadelphia Inquirer remarked, “the 31-year-old pianist personalized interpretations to such a degree that works emerged anew. He is a big personality.”
A versatile performer, Kramer has been featured as soloist with orchestras around the world, including the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras, among many others, collaborating with conductors such as Marin Alsop, Gerard Schwarz, Stéphane Denève, Jan Pascal Tortelier and Hans Graf. As a recitalist, he has performed recitals in cities such as Washington (Phillips Collection), Durham (St. Stephens), Hilton Head (BravoPiano! festival), Seattle (Emerald City Music and the Seattle Series), Toronto (Koerner Hall), Montreal (Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur) and Halifax (Cecilia Concerts), at universities including Auburn University, Northwestern University and Western Washington University, and made summer appearances at the Anchorage, Kingston, Lakes Area, Maverick, Music Mountain (the latter two with the esteemed Borromeo String Quartet), Ravinia, Rockport, and Vivo music festivals.
Orchestral highlights of the 2025-26 season include Kramer’s debuts with the Baton Rouge Symphony, Southwest Symphony , and Wyndham Festival Chamber Orchestra in addition to a return engagement with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Kramer returns to Newport Classical, the Seattle Series, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and Ladies Morning Music Club in Montreal (together with the Verona Quartet) and appears for the first time with Parlance Chamber Concerts, Portland Ovations, and Salle Bourgie.
His love for the chamber music repertoire began early in his studies while a young teenager. A sought-after collaborator, he has appeared in recitals at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Mainly Mozart Festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and La Jolla Music Society’ (main season and Summerfest). His recording with violinist Jiyoon Lee on the Champs Hill label received four stars from BBC Music Magazine. Gramophone UK recently praised Kramer’s performance on a recording collaboration (Cedille Records) with violist Matthew Lipman for “exemplary flexible partnership.” Henry has also performed alongside violinist Stella Chen, flutist Emmanuel Pahud, the Calidore and Pacifica Quartets, Miriam Fried, as well as members of the Berlin Philharmonic and Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Teaching ranks among his greatest joys. In the fall of 2022, Kramer joined the music faculty of Université de Montréal. Previously, he served as the L. Rexford Whiddon Distinguished Chair in Piano at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. Throughout his multifaceted career, he also held positions at Smith College and the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Dance and Music.
Kramer graduated from the Juilliard School, where he worked with Julian Martin and Robert McDonald. He received his Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Yale School of Music under the guidance of Boris Berman. His teachers trace a pedagogical lineage extending back to Beethoven, Chopin and Busoni. Kramer is a Steinway Artist.
JAMES GILES
Northwestern University
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 1: June 8-19, 2026
BM: Oberlin Conservatory
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: Manhattan School of Music
James Giles regularly performs in important musical centers in America, Europe, and Asia as a recitalist and chamber musician. He is coordinator of the piano program and director of music performance graduate studies at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where his class of students has featured many prize-winning young artists.
In an eclectic repertoire encompassing the solo and chamber music literatures, Giles is equally at home in the standard repertoire as in the music of our time. He has commissioned and premiered works by William Bolcom, C. Curtis-Smith, Stephen Hough, Lowell Liebermann, Ned Rorem, Augusta Read Thomas, Earl Wild, and James Wintle. Most of these new works are featured on Giles’s Albany Records release entitled “American Virtuoso.” His recording of solo works by Schumann and Prokofiev is available on England’s Master Musicians label. He recorded John Harbison’s Horn Trio with the Chicago Chamber Musicians and Timothy Dunne’s Piano Concerto with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in Russia.
His Paris recital at the Salle Cortot in was hailed as “a true revelation, due equally to the pianist’s artistry as to his choice of program.” After a recital at the Sibelius Academy, the critic for Helsinki’s main newspaper wrote that “Giles is a technically polished, elegant pianist.” And a London critic called his Wigmore Hall recital “one of the most sheerly inspired piano recitals I can remember hearing for some time” and added that “with a riveting intelligence given to everything he played, it was the kind of recital you never really forget.”
He has performed with New York’s Jupiter Symphony (Alkan and Czerny); the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra in Queen Elizabeth Hall (Mozart and Beethoven); the Kharkiv Philharmonic in Ukraine (Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff); and with the Opera Orchestra of New York in Alice Tully Hall (Chopin). After his Tully Hall solo recital debut, critic Harris Goldsmith wrote: “Giles has a truly distinctive interpretive persona. This was beautiful pianism – direct and unmannered.” Other tours have included concerts in the Shanghai International Piano Festival; St. Petersburg’s White Nights New Music Festival, Warsaw’s Chopin Academy of Music; Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Series, Salt Lake City’s Assembly Hall Concert Series, and in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Musikhalle in Hamburg, and the Purcell Room at London’s South Bank Centre. He has given live recitals over the public radio stations of New York, Boston, Chicago, and Indianapolis. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with members of the National and Chicago Symphonies and with members of the Escher, Pacifica, Cassatt, Chicago, Ying, Chester, St. Lawrence, Essex, Lincoln, and Miami Quartets, as well as singers Aprile Millo and Anthony Dean Griffey.
A native of North Carolina, Dr. Giles studied with Byron Janis at the Manhattan School of Music, Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School, Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music, and Robert Shannon at Oberlin College. He received early career assistance from the Clarisse B. Kampel Foundation and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Italy with the legendary pianist Lazar Berman.
The pianist was the recipient of a fellowship grant and the Christel Award from the American Pianists Association. He won first prizes at the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, and the Music Teachers National Association Competition. As a student he was awarded the prestigious William Petschek Scholarship at the Juilliard School and the Arthur Dann Award at the Oberlin College Conservatory. He wrote for Piano and Keyboard magazine and has presented lecture-recitals at the national conventions of the Music Teachers National Association, the College Music Society, and Pi Kappa Lambda. He regularly serves on competition jury panels and has been conference artist for many state music teachers associations.
He gives master classes and lectures at schools nationwide, including Juilliard, Manhattan, Eastman, Oberlin, Indiana, Yale, and New England. During the summers he is director of the Amalfi Coast Music Festival and has taught at the Gijon Piano Festival, Obidos Master Classes, Artcial Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Bowdoin, Brevard, Art of the Piano, Colburn, Interlochen, ARIA, Pianofest in the Hamptons, and the Schlern Festival in Italy. His classes internationally have occurred throughout China as well as at Seoul National University, Hanyang University (Seoul), Ewha Woman’s University (Seoul), the Royal Danish Academy of Music (Copenhagen), the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), the Chopin Academy (Warsaw), the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester) and the Royal College of Music (London).
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 1: June 8-19, 2026
BM: Oberlin Conservatory
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: Manhattan School of Music
James Giles regularly performs in important musical centers in America, Europe, and Asia as a recitalist and chamber musician. He is coordinator of the piano program and director of music performance graduate studies at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where his class of students has featured many prize-winning young artists.
In an eclectic repertoire encompassing the solo and chamber music literatures, Giles is equally at home in the standard repertoire as in the music of our time. He has commissioned and premiered works by William Bolcom, C. Curtis-Smith, Stephen Hough, Lowell Liebermann, Ned Rorem, Augusta Read Thomas, Earl Wild, and James Wintle. Most of these new works are featured on Giles’s Albany Records release entitled “American Virtuoso.” His recording of solo works by Schumann and Prokofiev is available on England’s Master Musicians label. He recorded John Harbison’s Horn Trio with the Chicago Chamber Musicians and Timothy Dunne’s Piano Concerto with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in Russia.
His Paris recital at the Salle Cortot in was hailed as “a true revelation, due equally to the pianist’s artistry as to his choice of program.” After a recital at the Sibelius Academy, the critic for Helsinki’s main newspaper wrote that “Giles is a technically polished, elegant pianist.” And a London critic called his Wigmore Hall recital “one of the most sheerly inspired piano recitals I can remember hearing for some time” and added that “with a riveting intelligence given to everything he played, it was the kind of recital you never really forget.”
He has performed with New York’s Jupiter Symphony (Alkan and Czerny); the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra in Queen Elizabeth Hall (Mozart and Beethoven); the Kharkiv Philharmonic in Ukraine (Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff); and with the Opera Orchestra of New York in Alice Tully Hall (Chopin). After his Tully Hall solo recital debut, critic Harris Goldsmith wrote: “Giles has a truly distinctive interpretive persona. This was beautiful pianism – direct and unmannered.” Other tours have included concerts in the Shanghai International Piano Festival; St. Petersburg’s White Nights New Music Festival, Warsaw’s Chopin Academy of Music; Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Series, Salt Lake City’s Assembly Hall Concert Series, and in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Musikhalle in Hamburg, and the Purcell Room at London’s South Bank Centre. He has given live recitals over the public radio stations of New York, Boston, Chicago, and Indianapolis. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with members of the National and Chicago Symphonies and with members of the Escher, Pacifica, Cassatt, Chicago, Ying, Chester, St. Lawrence, Essex, Lincoln, and Miami Quartets, as well as singers Aprile Millo and Anthony Dean Griffey.
A native of North Carolina, Dr. Giles studied with Byron Janis at the Manhattan School of Music, Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School, Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music, and Robert Shannon at Oberlin College. He received early career assistance from the Clarisse B. Kampel Foundation and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Italy with the legendary pianist Lazar Berman.
The pianist was the recipient of a fellowship grant and the Christel Award from the American Pianists Association. He won first prizes at the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, and the Music Teachers National Association Competition. As a student he was awarded the prestigious William Petschek Scholarship at the Juilliard School and the Arthur Dann Award at the Oberlin College Conservatory. He wrote for Piano and Keyboard magazine and has presented lecture-recitals at the national conventions of the Music Teachers National Association, the College Music Society, and Pi Kappa Lambda. He regularly serves on competition jury panels and has been conference artist for many state music teachers associations.
He gives master classes and lectures at schools nationwide, including Juilliard, Manhattan, Eastman, Oberlin, Indiana, Yale, and New England. During the summers he is director of the Amalfi Coast Music Festival and has taught at the Gijon Piano Festival, Obidos Master Classes, Artcial Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Bowdoin, Brevard, Art of the Piano, Colburn, Interlochen, ARIA, Pianofest in the Hamptons, and the Schlern Festival in Italy. His classes internationally have occurred throughout China as well as at Seoul National University, Hanyang University (Seoul), Ewha Woman’s University (Seoul), the Royal Danish Academy of Music (Copenhagen), the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), the Chopin Academy (Warsaw), the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester) and the Royal College of Music (London).
LIZA STEPANOVA
University of Georgia
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 1: June 8 -19, 2026
BM: "Hans Eisler" Hochschule in Berlin
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: The Juilliard School
Praised by The New York Times for her “thoughtful musicality” and “fleet-fingered panache,” Liza Stepanova is in demand as a soloist, collaborator, and educator. In the 2024-2025 season, she performs and teaches at the Bowdoin, Brevard, Music in May in Santa Cruz, CA, and Songfest at Pomona College summer festivals, directs the Chamber Music Athens Festival, and hosts the 2024 American Liszt Society national conference. She also continues to tour as a founding member of the Lysander Piano Trio, now in its second decade, at prominent concert series around the US and Canada.
Stepanova has performed extensively in Europe, most recently, as a soloist with the Southwest-German Philharmonic and in chamber music performances at the Berlin Museum of Musical Instruments, at the Copenhagen Music Festival, and in Belgrade’s Kolarac Hall. In the United States, she has appeared in Weill and Zankel Recital Halls at Carnegie; Alice Tully Hall, Merkin and Steinway halls in New York City; at the Kennedy Center and The Smithsonian in Washington, DC; and live on WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago, and WETA Washington. Stepanova was twice featured as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra led by James DePreist and Nicholas McGegan and was a top prizewinner at the Liszt-Garrison, Juilliard Concerto, Steinway, and Ettlingen competitions. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has been invited to international festivals at Castleton, La Jolla, Music@Menlo, Mostly Mozart, Copenhagen (Denmark), and Davos (Switzerland), where she had opportunities to collaborate with leading artists including violinist Cho-Liang Lin, violist James Dunham, clarinetist Charles Neidich, soprano Lucy Shelton, mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer and members of the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and the Atlanta Symphony. Deeply committed to new music, she has premiered works by Jennifer Higdon and Libby Larsen and worked with composers William Bolcom, Gabriela Lena Frank, and John Harbison.
Stepanova's most recent, second solo album "E Pluribus Unum" (Navona Records) celebrated contemporary American composers with an immigrant background. The CD, which features a commission and three world-premiere recordings, received universal acclaim with reviews in the top three British classical music journals: Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and International Piano, as well as The Whole Note in Canada and Piano Magazine in the US. The album was broadcast widely on national and international radio including "Album of the Week" on Canada's public radio, several plays in Australia, and across the US. Following the release, Stepanova was profiled as Musical America Worldwide's "New Artist of the Month," a distinction celebrating her body of work to-date. Stepanova’s debut solo album “Tones & Colors: Music and Visual Art” (CAG Records, 2018), recorded in New York City with Grammy-winning producer Adam Abeshouse, brought together music from Bach to Ligeti that was inspired by visual art. This record was also praised in international media and continues to be regularly played on American Public Media's Performance Today, including multiple features as a headliner.
As a member of the Lysander Piano Trio, Stepanova won the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and received top prizes at the Coleman and Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions. The ensemble recently celebrated its tenth anniversary with a new album "Mirrors" (First Hand Records, UK) dedicated to works the group either commissioned or premiered, including a world-premiere recording of a work by Jennifer Higdon. Lysander has performed at all major venues in New York City including Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival to enthusiastic reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Highlights of Lysander's recent tours include the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; Purdue University’s Convocations Series, Los Angeles’ Clark Memorial Library at UCLA and the Da Camera Society; Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Concert series and Rockford Coronado Concerts; San Francisco’s Music at Kohl Mansion; and Juneau Jazz and Classics (AK). Liza Stepanova studied art song collaboration with Wolfram Rieger in Berlin and was invited by the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to perform in several of his master classes including the Hugo-Wolf-Tage festival in Austria.
Stepanova's UGA students have been invited to the Aspen, Bowdoin, Brevard, Chautauqua, and Salzburg Mozarteum summer programs and received scholarships to elite graduate programs. Recent student successes include top prizes at the national round of the MTNA Competition, Liszt-Ohio International Competition, GMTA, MTNA, Atlanta Music Club, and Atlanta Mozart Society competitions, and a finalist award at the Wideman International Piano Competition. Stepanova is committed to expanding educational and professional opportunities for her students. At UGA, she directs the biannual Chamber Music Athens festival and academy, featuring acclaimed international artists performing and teaching alongside UGA musicians.
Stepanova received her DMA from The Juilliard School with a Richard F. French Award for outstanding doctoral work. Previously a graduate of the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin, Germany, she studied with Joseph Kalichstein, Seymour Lipkin, Jerome Lowenthal, and George Sava, and performed in master classes for Alfred Brendel, Daniel Barenboim, and András Schiff. Following teaching positions at The Juilliard School and Smith College, she joined the faculty at the University of Georgia, Hugh Hodgson School of Music in 2015 and was recently promoted to the rank of Professor of Piano, beginning August 2025.
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 1: June 8 -19, 2026
BM: "Hans Eisler" Hochschule in Berlin
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: The Juilliard School
Praised by The New York Times for her “thoughtful musicality” and “fleet-fingered panache,” Liza Stepanova is in demand as a soloist, collaborator, and educator. In the 2024-2025 season, she performs and teaches at the Bowdoin, Brevard, Music in May in Santa Cruz, CA, and Songfest at Pomona College summer festivals, directs the Chamber Music Athens Festival, and hosts the 2024 American Liszt Society national conference. She also continues to tour as a founding member of the Lysander Piano Trio, now in its second decade, at prominent concert series around the US and Canada.
Stepanova has performed extensively in Europe, most recently, as a soloist with the Southwest-German Philharmonic and in chamber music performances at the Berlin Museum of Musical Instruments, at the Copenhagen Music Festival, and in Belgrade’s Kolarac Hall. In the United States, she has appeared in Weill and Zankel Recital Halls at Carnegie; Alice Tully Hall, Merkin and Steinway halls in New York City; at the Kennedy Center and The Smithsonian in Washington, DC; and live on WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago, and WETA Washington. Stepanova was twice featured as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra led by James DePreist and Nicholas McGegan and was a top prizewinner at the Liszt-Garrison, Juilliard Concerto, Steinway, and Ettlingen competitions. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has been invited to international festivals at Castleton, La Jolla, Music@Menlo, Mostly Mozart, Copenhagen (Denmark), and Davos (Switzerland), where she had opportunities to collaborate with leading artists including violinist Cho-Liang Lin, violist James Dunham, clarinetist Charles Neidich, soprano Lucy Shelton, mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer and members of the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and the Atlanta Symphony. Deeply committed to new music, she has premiered works by Jennifer Higdon and Libby Larsen and worked with composers William Bolcom, Gabriela Lena Frank, and John Harbison.
Stepanova's most recent, second solo album "E Pluribus Unum" (Navona Records) celebrated contemporary American composers with an immigrant background. The CD, which features a commission and three world-premiere recordings, received universal acclaim with reviews in the top three British classical music journals: Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and International Piano, as well as The Whole Note in Canada and Piano Magazine in the US. The album was broadcast widely on national and international radio including "Album of the Week" on Canada's public radio, several plays in Australia, and across the US. Following the release, Stepanova was profiled as Musical America Worldwide's "New Artist of the Month," a distinction celebrating her body of work to-date. Stepanova’s debut solo album “Tones & Colors: Music and Visual Art” (CAG Records, 2018), recorded in New York City with Grammy-winning producer Adam Abeshouse, brought together music from Bach to Ligeti that was inspired by visual art. This record was also praised in international media and continues to be regularly played on American Public Media's Performance Today, including multiple features as a headliner.
As a member of the Lysander Piano Trio, Stepanova won the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and received top prizes at the Coleman and Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions. The ensemble recently celebrated its tenth anniversary with a new album "Mirrors" (First Hand Records, UK) dedicated to works the group either commissioned or premiered, including a world-premiere recording of a work by Jennifer Higdon. Lysander has performed at all major venues in New York City including Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival to enthusiastic reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Highlights of Lysander's recent tours include the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; Purdue University’s Convocations Series, Los Angeles’ Clark Memorial Library at UCLA and the Da Camera Society; Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Concert series and Rockford Coronado Concerts; San Francisco’s Music at Kohl Mansion; and Juneau Jazz and Classics (AK). Liza Stepanova studied art song collaboration with Wolfram Rieger in Berlin and was invited by the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to perform in several of his master classes including the Hugo-Wolf-Tage festival in Austria.
Stepanova's UGA students have been invited to the Aspen, Bowdoin, Brevard, Chautauqua, and Salzburg Mozarteum summer programs and received scholarships to elite graduate programs. Recent student successes include top prizes at the national round of the MTNA Competition, Liszt-Ohio International Competition, GMTA, MTNA, Atlanta Music Club, and Atlanta Mozart Society competitions, and a finalist award at the Wideman International Piano Competition. Stepanova is committed to expanding educational and professional opportunities for her students. At UGA, she directs the biannual Chamber Music Athens festival and academy, featuring acclaimed international artists performing and teaching alongside UGA musicians.
Stepanova received her DMA from The Juilliard School with a Richard F. French Award for outstanding doctoral work. Previously a graduate of the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin, Germany, she studied with Joseph Kalichstein, Seymour Lipkin, Jerome Lowenthal, and George Sava, and performed in master classes for Alfred Brendel, Daniel Barenboim, and András Schiff. Following teaching positions at The Juilliard School and Smith College, she joined the faculty at the University of Georgia, Hugh Hodgson School of Music in 2015 and was recently promoted to the rank of Professor of Piano, beginning August 2025.
ARTHUR GREENE
University of Michigan
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Session 2: June 25 - 29, 2026
BA: Yale University
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: SUNY-Stony Brook
Born in New York, Arthur Greene studied at Juilliard with Martin Canin, and received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a doctorate from Stony Brook. Greene was a Gold Medal winner in the William Kapell and Gina Bachauer International Piano Competitions, and a top laureate at the Busoni International Competition. He performed the complete solo piano works of Johannes Brahms in a series of six programs in Boston and recorded the Complete Etudes of Alexander Scriabin for Supraphon. Greene has performed the 10 Sonata Cycle of Alexander Scriabin in many important international venues, including multi-media presentations with Symbolist artworks. He has made many recordings together with his wife, the violinist Solomia Soroka, for Naxos and Toccata Classics, including the Violin-Piano Sonatas of William Bolcom. Greene recently recorded the Concord Sonata of Charles Ives, available for free high-resolution download on his homepage.
Greene has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco, Utah, and National Symphonies, the Czech National Symphony, the Tokyo Symphony, and many others. He has played recitals in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Moscow Rachmaninov Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Lisbon Sao Paulo Opera House, Hong Kong City Hall, and concert houses in Shanghai and Beijing. He toured Japan and Korea many times. He was an Artistic Ambassador to Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia for the United States Information Agency.
Greene has been on the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance since 1990. He has won the Harold Haugh Award for Excellence in studio teaching. His current and former students include prizewinners in international competitions, and his former students hold important teaching posts throughout the United States. He is a frequent judge at international competitions, including the Gilels Competition in Odessa and the Isangyun Competition in Tongyeong, South Korea.
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Session 2: June 25 - 29, 2026
BA: Yale University
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: SUNY-Stony Brook
Born in New York, Arthur Greene studied at Juilliard with Martin Canin, and received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a doctorate from Stony Brook. Greene was a Gold Medal winner in the William Kapell and Gina Bachauer International Piano Competitions, and a top laureate at the Busoni International Competition. He performed the complete solo piano works of Johannes Brahms in a series of six programs in Boston and recorded the Complete Etudes of Alexander Scriabin for Supraphon. Greene has performed the 10 Sonata Cycle of Alexander Scriabin in many important international venues, including multi-media presentations with Symbolist artworks. He has made many recordings together with his wife, the violinist Solomia Soroka, for Naxos and Toccata Classics, including the Violin-Piano Sonatas of William Bolcom. Greene recently recorded the Concord Sonata of Charles Ives, available for free high-resolution download on his homepage.
Greene has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco, Utah, and National Symphonies, the Czech National Symphony, the Tokyo Symphony, and many others. He has played recitals in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Moscow Rachmaninov Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Lisbon Sao Paulo Opera House, Hong Kong City Hall, and concert houses in Shanghai and Beijing. He toured Japan and Korea many times. He was an Artistic Ambassador to Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia for the United States Information Agency.
Greene has been on the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance since 1990. He has won the Harold Haugh Award for Excellence in studio teaching. His current and former students include prizewinners in international competitions, and his former students hold important teaching posts throughout the United States. He is a frequent judge at international competitions, including the Gilels Competition in Odessa and the Isangyun Competition in Tongyeong, South Korea.
CATHERINE KAUTSKY
Lawrence University
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 2: June 21-July 2, 2026
BM: New England Conservatory
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: SUNY Stony Brook
Catherine Kautsky, Professor of Music at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, has been lauded by the New York Times as “a pianist who can play Mozart and Schubert as though their sentiments and habits of speech coincided exactly with hers … The music spoke directly to the listener, with neither obfuscation nor pretense.” She was the 2016 winner of the Lawrence Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2013 winner of the university’s Faculty Convocation Award, and in 2017 she was honored with the George and Marjorie Olsen Chandler Chair in Music. Her recording of the Debussy Preludes, released by Centaur in September, 2014, was said to “bring out all the power, majesty, and mystery of Debussy’s conception,“ and a recording of the complete Brahms Sonatas for Violin and Piano was released in 2019 to top reviews. Ms. Kautsky, whose teachers included Rosina Lhevinne, Gyorgy Sebok, Leon Fleisher, Martin Canin, and Gilbert Kalish, has concertized widely, performing in major halls such as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall, the Phillips Collection, Jordan Hall, and the Chicago Cultural Center. She has soloed with numerous orchestras, including the St. Louis Symphony and Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, and appeared frequently on public radio. Two sabbaticals were spent in Paris preparing performances and research on Debussy, and she has played, taught, and presented masterclasses on six continents. Known as both a solo and collaborative performer, Ms. Kautsky has performed chamber music at the Aspen, Tanglewood, and Grand Teton Festivals.
Ms. Kautsky, whose students have won prizes across the country and gone on to leading graduate programs, has taught at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music since 1987, with a 6 -year hiatus as piano faculty and chair of the Keyboard Dept. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Known for her cross-disciplinary interests and speaking ability, she was awarded the Arts Institute Creative Arts Award at UW-Madison and has presented frequently at national conferences on such topics as “On the Trail of Chopin and George Sand,” “WWI: A Centenary Look at the Musical Wars,” “Celebrating Debussy and the Arts du Spectacle,” and “Poetry, Music and Art of the Chicago Black Renaissance.” Her articles have appeared in Clavier Companion, American Music Teacher, and International Piano, and her book, Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Epoque, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in September 2017. Reviewed by Booklist as "a fascinating fusion of music, literature, and social history," it has won accolades from eminent pianists across the country. Ms. Kautsky is also deeply concerned with the role music plays in society and administers a series of prison concerts in WI as well as heading a chapter of Music for Food.
Ms Kautsky recently released a 24 video set of lecture-recitals, entitled “Great Piano Works Explained” for Great Courses, https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/great-piano-works-explained and also presents courses on piano literature for the Juilliard Extension Division and the 92nd Str. Y of New York City. Her current performances and research center on the music of Vienna in the years during and directly preceding the Holocaust, and she has recently returned from presenting and performing at the Relais de Mémoire in both Vienna and Marseilles as well as the Stefan Zweig House in Petropolis, Brazil. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory, a master’s from the Juilliard School, and a doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. www.catherinekautsky.com
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 2: June 21-July 2, 2026
BM: New England Conservatory
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: SUNY Stony Brook
Catherine Kautsky, Professor of Music at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, has been lauded by the New York Times as “a pianist who can play Mozart and Schubert as though their sentiments and habits of speech coincided exactly with hers … The music spoke directly to the listener, with neither obfuscation nor pretense.” She was the 2016 winner of the Lawrence Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2013 winner of the university’s Faculty Convocation Award, and in 2017 she was honored with the George and Marjorie Olsen Chandler Chair in Music. Her recording of the Debussy Preludes, released by Centaur in September, 2014, was said to “bring out all the power, majesty, and mystery of Debussy’s conception,“ and a recording of the complete Brahms Sonatas for Violin and Piano was released in 2019 to top reviews. Ms. Kautsky, whose teachers included Rosina Lhevinne, Gyorgy Sebok, Leon Fleisher, Martin Canin, and Gilbert Kalish, has concertized widely, performing in major halls such as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall, the Phillips Collection, Jordan Hall, and the Chicago Cultural Center. She has soloed with numerous orchestras, including the St. Louis Symphony and Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, and appeared frequently on public radio. Two sabbaticals were spent in Paris preparing performances and research on Debussy, and she has played, taught, and presented masterclasses on six continents. Known as both a solo and collaborative performer, Ms. Kautsky has performed chamber music at the Aspen, Tanglewood, and Grand Teton Festivals.
Ms. Kautsky, whose students have won prizes across the country and gone on to leading graduate programs, has taught at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music since 1987, with a 6 -year hiatus as piano faculty and chair of the Keyboard Dept. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Known for her cross-disciplinary interests and speaking ability, she was awarded the Arts Institute Creative Arts Award at UW-Madison and has presented frequently at national conferences on such topics as “On the Trail of Chopin and George Sand,” “WWI: A Centenary Look at the Musical Wars,” “Celebrating Debussy and the Arts du Spectacle,” and “Poetry, Music and Art of the Chicago Black Renaissance.” Her articles have appeared in Clavier Companion, American Music Teacher, and International Piano, and her book, Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Epoque, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in September 2017. Reviewed by Booklist as "a fascinating fusion of music, literature, and social history," it has won accolades from eminent pianists across the country. Ms. Kautsky is also deeply concerned with the role music plays in society and administers a series of prison concerts in WI as well as heading a chapter of Music for Food.
Ms Kautsky recently released a 24 video set of lecture-recitals, entitled “Great Piano Works Explained” for Great Courses, https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/great-piano-works-explained and also presents courses on piano literature for the Juilliard Extension Division and the 92nd Str. Y of New York City. Her current performances and research center on the music of Vienna in the years during and directly preceding the Holocaust, and she has recently returned from presenting and performing at the Relais de Mémoire in both Vienna and Marseilles as well as the Stefan Zweig House in Petropolis, Brazil. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory, a master’s from the Juilliard School, and a doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. www.catherinekautsky.com
JOSÉ RAMÓN MÉNDEZ
Oberlin Conservatory
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 2: June 21-July 2, 2026
BM: Manhattan School of Music
MM: Manhattan School of Music
DMA: Manhattan School of Music
Described as "an artist with a polished sound and tremendous constructive power" and hailed by the Hoja del Lunes de Madrid, as "the Spanish pianist of his generation," José Ramón Méndez is one of the most exciting Spanish pianists of today.
Recent performances include Chopin's first piano concerto with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra and Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain with the Nittany Valley Symphony, as well as numerous solo and chamber music performances in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His playing has been featured on WQXR's "Performance Today" and on Classical KMFA. He has been a guest performer at many music festivals, including the Caramoor Festival, Barge Music Series, Festival Internacional de Piano de las Islas Canarias, Music at Penn's Woods, Amalfi Coast International Music Festival, "Tocando el Cielo," Musica en Compostela, the Stony Brook International Piano Festival, and the Santander International Music Festival, among many others. As a chamber musician, Méndez has collaborated with such distinguished artists as Karl Leister, Itzhak Perlman, Michael Tree, Pascual Martinez-Nieto, and Pinchas Zukerman.
Méndez received his first music instruction from his father and by the age of 7 was already performing on Spanish television and radio stations. He made his solo debut at the age of 11 at Spain’s Oviedo Philharmonic Society, the youngest performer ever to do so in the history of the society. He first gained international recognition when he performed Liszt's first piano concerto under the direction of Sergiu Commissiona at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Since then, he has concertized extensively in his native Spain, the United States, Italy, England, Portugal, Holland, and Japan, to great acclaim.
At the age of 18, Méndez' success brought him to the United States, where he began his studies at Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance with renowned pedagogue Solomon Mikowsky and went on to finish his Doctorate of Musical Arts under the tutelage of Byron Janis and Miyoko Lotto. During his stay in New York, he won top prizes in many international competitions, including Pilar Bayona International Piano Competition, Hilton Head Island International Piano Competition, Frederick Chopin Competition in New York, and Hermanos Guerrero International Piano Competition, among others.
Méndez' professional teaching career began in 1996, when he was invited to teach master classes at the Gijon School of Music. Since then, he has given master classes in numerous cities in Spain, including Lugo, Aviles, Valencia, Gijon, Oviedo, Santiago de Compostela, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, as well as in the United States at top music schools such as Oberlin Conservatory, Northwestern University, University of Michigan, and Columbus State University. Mendez also taught as an assistant teacher to Miyoko Lotto at the Perlman Music Program, a program for gifted young musicians founded by the world famous violinist Itzhak Perlman. He was formerly a member of the keyboard faculties of University of Texas at Austin, New York University, The Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University, and Northern Arizona University. He is the artistic director and on the faculty of the Gijon International Piano Festival in Gijon, Spain, and is frequently invited to perform and teach at various summer festivals.
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 2: June 21-July 2, 2026
BM: Manhattan School of Music
MM: Manhattan School of Music
DMA: Manhattan School of Music
Described as "an artist with a polished sound and tremendous constructive power" and hailed by the Hoja del Lunes de Madrid, as "the Spanish pianist of his generation," José Ramón Méndez is one of the most exciting Spanish pianists of today.
Recent performances include Chopin's first piano concerto with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra and Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain with the Nittany Valley Symphony, as well as numerous solo and chamber music performances in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His playing has been featured on WQXR's "Performance Today" and on Classical KMFA. He has been a guest performer at many music festivals, including the Caramoor Festival, Barge Music Series, Festival Internacional de Piano de las Islas Canarias, Music at Penn's Woods, Amalfi Coast International Music Festival, "Tocando el Cielo," Musica en Compostela, the Stony Brook International Piano Festival, and the Santander International Music Festival, among many others. As a chamber musician, Méndez has collaborated with such distinguished artists as Karl Leister, Itzhak Perlman, Michael Tree, Pascual Martinez-Nieto, and Pinchas Zukerman.
Méndez received his first music instruction from his father and by the age of 7 was already performing on Spanish television and radio stations. He made his solo debut at the age of 11 at Spain’s Oviedo Philharmonic Society, the youngest performer ever to do so in the history of the society. He first gained international recognition when he performed Liszt's first piano concerto under the direction of Sergiu Commissiona at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Since then, he has concertized extensively in his native Spain, the United States, Italy, England, Portugal, Holland, and Japan, to great acclaim.
At the age of 18, Méndez' success brought him to the United States, where he began his studies at Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance with renowned pedagogue Solomon Mikowsky and went on to finish his Doctorate of Musical Arts under the tutelage of Byron Janis and Miyoko Lotto. During his stay in New York, he won top prizes in many international competitions, including Pilar Bayona International Piano Competition, Hilton Head Island International Piano Competition, Frederick Chopin Competition in New York, and Hermanos Guerrero International Piano Competition, among others.
Méndez' professional teaching career began in 1996, when he was invited to teach master classes at the Gijon School of Music. Since then, he has given master classes in numerous cities in Spain, including Lugo, Aviles, Valencia, Gijon, Oviedo, Santiago de Compostela, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, as well as in the United States at top music schools such as Oberlin Conservatory, Northwestern University, University of Michigan, and Columbus State University. Mendez also taught as an assistant teacher to Miyoko Lotto at the Perlman Music Program, a program for gifted young musicians founded by the world famous violinist Itzhak Perlman. He was formerly a member of the keyboard faculties of University of Texas at Austin, New York University, The Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University, and Northern Arizona University. He is the artistic director and on the faculty of the Gijon International Piano Festival in Gijon, Spain, and is frequently invited to perform and teach at various summer festivals.
JOSEPH RACKERS
Eastman School of Music
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 2: June 21-July 2, 2026
MM: Eastman School of Music
DMA: Eastman School of Music
“An expert artist…enormous power and intelligent, instinctive interpretation” Spoleto Today
“The results are consistently compelling…as if Rackers response were primarily to his relationship with the composer as some sort of kindred spirit” Gramophone
“Unflappable virtuosity…highly expressive” American Record Guide
“Simply dazzling” The State
Hailed as an “American Virtuoso”, pianist Joseph Rackers has performed for enthusiastic audiences in New York, Boston, Chicago, Kiev, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Seoul and Washington D.C., at venues across Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Bulgaria, Ukraine and extensively throughout the United States. His performances around the world include the Shanghai and Sichuan Conservatories of Music, Kiev International Music Festival, Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival, Seoul International Piano Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Dame Myra Hess Concert Series and Banff Centre for the Arts, in addition to recitals in most of the fifty states in the U.S.
Joseph Rackers is an International Steinway Artist. His recordings as soloist, collaborative pianist and producer are available on MSR Classics, Navona, Centaur, Equilibrium, Beauport Classics and Steinway Spirio and his performances have been broadcast on radio and television across the United States and Europe. His recent solo release with MSR Classics was widely recognized by the press; “unflappable virtuosity…highly expressive…committed to letting the composer’s voice—as he hears it—come through” (American Record Guide), “compelling power, rhythmic persuasiveness…consummate style…complete mastery” (Audio Society).
Rackers is Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music, Co-Founder of the Southeastern Piano Festival and Artistic Director of the Vivace Music Foundation. A devoted teacher, Rackers’ students have earned awards in dozens of national and international piano competitions, including the Bonn Beethoven International Piano Competition (First Prize, Audience Prize, Contemporary Music Prize, Chamber Music Prize and Bärenreiter-Urtext Prize), Leipzig Bach International Piano Competition, Concours International de Piano d’Orléans, National Winner of the MTNA National Competition, Minnesota International, Seattle International, Yamaha Young Performing Artists, National Society of Arts and Letters, Steinway, Shenzhen, YoungArts, Eastman Concerto Competition, Blount-Slawson, Liszt-Garrison, Dubois, and numerous others. His students have performed for venues including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Minnesota Orchestra, Aspen and Cliburn music festivals, From the Top on NPR and Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater.
Rackers has given performances and masterclasses at Indiana University, University of Michigan, Boston University, Cincinnati, UCLA, UNLV, Vanderbilt, and at conservatories and music festivals across Europe and Asia. He has recently served as Schwartz Artist in Residence at Emory University and as faculty or guest artist at the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, Chicago International Music Institute, Seoul International Piano Festival, Perugia International Music Festival, Southeastern Piano Festival, Texas State International Piano Festival, American Liszt Society Festival, Yantai International Music Festival, Varna International Piano Festival and as a National Reviewer for the National YoungArts Foundation. He has given presentations and performances for conferences of the Music Teachers National Association and College Music Society and has been honored by the South Carolina House of Representatives and South Carolina State Senate for his personal contribution to the arts and leadership of the Southeastern Piano Festival.
Also active as a chamber musician, Rackers has performed widely as a member of the Lomazov/Rackers Piano Duo. Praised for “demon precision and complete dedication” (Audio Society), the duo garnered significant attention as the Second Prize winners of the Sixth Ellis Competition for Duo Pianists, the only national duo piano competition in the United States at that time. Gramophone praises the duo for “assured and centered pianism” and American Record Guide writes “the ensemble between Lomazov and Rackers is dead-on”. Rackers earned the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees at the Eastman School of Music, where he was also awarded the Performer’s Certificate. His principal teachers were Raymond Herbert and Natalya Antonova. For more information, please visit www.josephrackers.com.
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 2: June 21-July 2, 2026
MM: Eastman School of Music
DMA: Eastman School of Music
“An expert artist…enormous power and intelligent, instinctive interpretation” Spoleto Today
“The results are consistently compelling…as if Rackers response were primarily to his relationship with the composer as some sort of kindred spirit” Gramophone
“Unflappable virtuosity…highly expressive” American Record Guide
“Simply dazzling” The State
Hailed as an “American Virtuoso”, pianist Joseph Rackers has performed for enthusiastic audiences in New York, Boston, Chicago, Kiev, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Seoul and Washington D.C., at venues across Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Bulgaria, Ukraine and extensively throughout the United States. His performances around the world include the Shanghai and Sichuan Conservatories of Music, Kiev International Music Festival, Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival, Seoul International Piano Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Dame Myra Hess Concert Series and Banff Centre for the Arts, in addition to recitals in most of the fifty states in the U.S.
Joseph Rackers is an International Steinway Artist. His recordings as soloist, collaborative pianist and producer are available on MSR Classics, Navona, Centaur, Equilibrium, Beauport Classics and Steinway Spirio and his performances have been broadcast on radio and television across the United States and Europe. His recent solo release with MSR Classics was widely recognized by the press; “unflappable virtuosity…highly expressive…committed to letting the composer’s voice—as he hears it—come through” (American Record Guide), “compelling power, rhythmic persuasiveness…consummate style…complete mastery” (Audio Society).
Rackers is Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music, Co-Founder of the Southeastern Piano Festival and Artistic Director of the Vivace Music Foundation. A devoted teacher, Rackers’ students have earned awards in dozens of national and international piano competitions, including the Bonn Beethoven International Piano Competition (First Prize, Audience Prize, Contemporary Music Prize, Chamber Music Prize and Bärenreiter-Urtext Prize), Leipzig Bach International Piano Competition, Concours International de Piano d’Orléans, National Winner of the MTNA National Competition, Minnesota International, Seattle International, Yamaha Young Performing Artists, National Society of Arts and Letters, Steinway, Shenzhen, YoungArts, Eastman Concerto Competition, Blount-Slawson, Liszt-Garrison, Dubois, and numerous others. His students have performed for venues including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Minnesota Orchestra, Aspen and Cliburn music festivals, From the Top on NPR and Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater.
Rackers has given performances and masterclasses at Indiana University, University of Michigan, Boston University, Cincinnati, UCLA, UNLV, Vanderbilt, and at conservatories and music festivals across Europe and Asia. He has recently served as Schwartz Artist in Residence at Emory University and as faculty or guest artist at the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, Chicago International Music Institute, Seoul International Piano Festival, Perugia International Music Festival, Southeastern Piano Festival, Texas State International Piano Festival, American Liszt Society Festival, Yantai International Music Festival, Varna International Piano Festival and as a National Reviewer for the National YoungArts Foundation. He has given presentations and performances for conferences of the Music Teachers National Association and College Music Society and has been honored by the South Carolina House of Representatives and South Carolina State Senate for his personal contribution to the arts and leadership of the Southeastern Piano Festival.
Also active as a chamber musician, Rackers has performed widely as a member of the Lomazov/Rackers Piano Duo. Praised for “demon precision and complete dedication” (Audio Society), the duo garnered significant attention as the Second Prize winners of the Sixth Ellis Competition for Duo Pianists, the only national duo piano competition in the United States at that time. Gramophone praises the duo for “assured and centered pianism” and American Record Guide writes “the ensemble between Lomazov and Rackers is dead-on”. Rackers earned the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees at the Eastman School of Music, where he was also awarded the Performer’s Certificate. His principal teachers were Raymond Herbert and Natalya Antonova. For more information, please visit www.josephrackers.com.
MARINA LOMAZOV
Eastman School of Music
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 2: June 21-July 2, 2026
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: Eastman School of Music
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. 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”.
Lomazov has earned prizes in the Cleveland International Piano Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and Hilton Head International Piano Competition and has given performances throughout North America, South America, China, South Korea, Japan, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, and in nearly all of the fifty states in the U.S. She 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), including performances with the Boston Pops and Rochester Philharmonic among dozens of orchestras.
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, Spoleto, Interlochen, Amalfi Coast, Atlantic, Eastman, Art of the Piano and numerous 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.
Ms. Lomazov is Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music, Founder of the Southeastern Piano Festival and Artistic Director of the Vivace Music Foundation. She has served as jury member for the Cleveland International Piano Competition, American Pianists Association, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, New Orleans International Piano Competition, Eastman International Piano Competition, Minnesota International Piano Competition and served as Chair of the National Panel for the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts, the only organization that nominates Presidential Scholars in the Arts.
Before immigrating to the United States in 1990, Marina studied at the Kiev Conservatory (Ukraine) 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, Leonid Fundiler, Jerome Lowenthal, Valery Sagaidachny and Barry Snyder. Also active as a chamber musician, Lomazov performs 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. Praised for “demon precision and complete dedication”, the duo performs extensively throughout the United States and abroad.
Marina Lomazov is a Steinway Artist.
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 2: June 21-July 2, 2026
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: Eastman School of Music
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. 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”.
Lomazov has earned prizes in the Cleveland International Piano Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and Hilton Head International Piano Competition and has given performances throughout North America, South America, China, South Korea, Japan, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, and in nearly all of the fifty states in the U.S. She 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), including performances with the Boston Pops and Rochester Philharmonic among dozens of orchestras.
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, Spoleto, Interlochen, Amalfi Coast, Atlantic, Eastman, Art of the Piano and numerous 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.
Ms. Lomazov is Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music, Founder of the Southeastern Piano Festival and Artistic Director of the Vivace Music Foundation. She has served as jury member for the Cleveland International Piano Competition, American Pianists Association, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, New Orleans International Piano Competition, Eastman International Piano Competition, Minnesota International Piano Competition and served as Chair of the National Panel for the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts, the only organization that nominates Presidential Scholars in the Arts.
Before immigrating to the United States in 1990, Marina studied at the Kiev Conservatory (Ukraine) 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, Leonid Fundiler, Jerome Lowenthal, Valery Sagaidachny and Barry Snyder. Also active as a chamber musician, Lomazov performs 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. Praised for “demon precision and complete dedication”, the duo performs extensively throughout the United States and abroad.
Marina Lomazov is a Steinway Artist.
ALVIN CHOW
Oberlin Conservatory
MASTERCLASS ARTIST
Masterclass 2: July 5-12, 2026
BM: University of Maryland, College Park
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: Indiana University
Alvin Chow has appeared throughout North America and Asia as orchestral soloist and recitalist. In addition, he has performed extensively in duo-piano recitals with his wife, Angela Cheng, and his twin brother, Alan. A native of Miami, Florida, he graduated summa cum laude and Co-Valedictorian (with his brother) at the University of Maryland, where he was a student of Nelita True. Mr. Chow received the Victor Herbert Prize in Piano upon graduation from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Sascha Gorodnitzki, and held the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship at Indiana University as a student of Menahem Pressler.
Mr. Chow has won top prizes in numerous competitions such as the National Symphony Young Soloists Competition, Civic Orchestra of Chicago Young Soloists Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, and the New York Piano Teachers Congress International Piano Competition. He has been presented as recitalist in such cities as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Vienna, Montreal, Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, and has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Pan-Asia Symphony in Hong Kong, Shanghai Philharmonic, and Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, among others. He has also been Convention Artist for the state MTNA conferences in California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, and Tennessee. With Angela Cheng, he performed as Conference Artist for the 2019 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and in 2023 they presented the Advanced Piano Master Class at the National Conference of MTNA. In 2011, a CD of music for four and six hands, recorded with Angela Cheng and Alan Chow, was released by Arioso Classics. It features music by Brahms, Dvorák, Ravel, Milhaud, Corigliano, and Copland.
Mr. Chow has presented numerous master classes and lectures at music institutions throughout the United States and abroad, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Taichung University in Taiwan, Colburn School in Los Angeles, Eastman School of Music, University of Michigan, and Indiana University. He has taught and performed at numerous summer festivals, including the Shanghai Piano Festival, Banff Piano Master Classes, Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, North Coast Piano Festival, Southeastern Piano Festival, New Orleans International Piano Festival, Adamant Music School, Lake Como Summer Piano School in Italy, and the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria.
Mr. Chow has been a member of numerous competition juries, most recently serving on the jury of the 2026 Gina Bachauer International Junior and Young Artists Competitions, Chair of the Jury at the 2023 Hilton Head International Junior Piano Competition and on the Screening Jury of the 2023 Van Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition. Others include the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Iowa International Piano Competition, the Jacksonville International Piano Competition, MTNA Student Competitions, the International Piano e-Competition, and the Cooper International Piano Competition at Oberlin.
Mr. Chow was the first Fulbright Visiting Artist in Piano at the University of Arkansas, and also taught at the University of Colorado. Mr. Chow has been a member of the artist faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music since 1999, where he currently serves as Chair of the Piano Department. Mr. Chow was named the Ruth Strickland Gardner Professor of Music from 2011-14, and also received Oberlin’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016.
MASTERCLASS ARTIST
Masterclass 2: July 5-12, 2026
BM: University of Maryland, College Park
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: Indiana University
Alvin Chow has appeared throughout North America and Asia as orchestral soloist and recitalist. In addition, he has performed extensively in duo-piano recitals with his wife, Angela Cheng, and his twin brother, Alan. A native of Miami, Florida, he graduated summa cum laude and Co-Valedictorian (with his brother) at the University of Maryland, where he was a student of Nelita True. Mr. Chow received the Victor Herbert Prize in Piano upon graduation from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Sascha Gorodnitzki, and held the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship at Indiana University as a student of Menahem Pressler.
Mr. Chow has won top prizes in numerous competitions such as the National Symphony Young Soloists Competition, Civic Orchestra of Chicago Young Soloists Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, and the New York Piano Teachers Congress International Piano Competition. He has been presented as recitalist in such cities as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Vienna, Montreal, Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, and has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Pan-Asia Symphony in Hong Kong, Shanghai Philharmonic, and Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, among others. He has also been Convention Artist for the state MTNA conferences in California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, and Tennessee. With Angela Cheng, he performed as Conference Artist for the 2019 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and in 2023 they presented the Advanced Piano Master Class at the National Conference of MTNA. In 2011, a CD of music for four and six hands, recorded with Angela Cheng and Alan Chow, was released by Arioso Classics. It features music by Brahms, Dvorák, Ravel, Milhaud, Corigliano, and Copland.
Mr. Chow has presented numerous master classes and lectures at music institutions throughout the United States and abroad, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Taichung University in Taiwan, Colburn School in Los Angeles, Eastman School of Music, University of Michigan, and Indiana University. He has taught and performed at numerous summer festivals, including the Shanghai Piano Festival, Banff Piano Master Classes, Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, North Coast Piano Festival, Southeastern Piano Festival, New Orleans International Piano Festival, Adamant Music School, Lake Como Summer Piano School in Italy, and the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria.
Mr. Chow has been a member of numerous competition juries, most recently serving on the jury of the 2026 Gina Bachauer International Junior and Young Artists Competitions, Chair of the Jury at the 2023 Hilton Head International Junior Piano Competition and on the Screening Jury of the 2023 Van Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition. Others include the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Iowa International Piano Competition, the Jacksonville International Piano Competition, MTNA Student Competitions, the International Piano e-Competition, and the Cooper International Piano Competition at Oberlin.
Mr. Chow was the first Fulbright Visiting Artist in Piano at the University of Arkansas, and also taught at the University of Colorado. Mr. Chow has been a member of the artist faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music since 1999, where he currently serves as Chair of the Piano Department. Mr. Chow was named the Ruth Strickland Gardner Professor of Music from 2011-14, and also received Oberlin’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016.
ANGELA CHENG
Oberlin Conservatory
MASTERCLASS FACULTY
Masterclass 2: July 5-12, 2026
BM: The Juilliard School
MM: Indiana University
Consistently praised for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty and superb musicianship, Canadian pianist Angela Cheng is one of her country’s national treasures. She has appeared as soloist with more than 100 orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Buffalo Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, St. Louis, Houston, San Diego, Indianapolis, Syracuse, Utah and Colorado. An avid recitalist, Ms. Cheng has performed solo and chamber recitals throughout North America, Asia, and Europe, including New York City (Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y), Wigmore Hall in London, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg and the Sydney Opera House, as well as in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Montreal, Toronto, Taiwan, Italy and Australia. In 2012 she made her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the Edmonton Symphony.
Ms. Cheng has collaborated with numerous chamber ensembles including the Takács, Colorado, and Vogler quartets. Festival appearances have included Verbier, Edinburgh, Miyazaki, St. Petersburg/Stars of the White Nights, Enescu/Romania, Banff, Bravo! Vail, Chautauqua, Colorado, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla’s SummerFest, Ravinia, Vancouver, the Festival International de Lanaudière in Quebec, Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Cartegena International Music Festival in Colombia and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany.
Ms. Cheng has been invited to give masterclasses throughout North America and in Asia, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, Taichung University in Taiwan, Indiana University, University of Michigan and the University of Texas. She has also served on the jury of many competitions, including the Seoul International Piano Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition, Esther Honens International Piano Competition, Montreal International Piano Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, New Orleans International Piano Competition, Young Concert Artists Competition, and the American Pianists Association Competition. In 2022, she served on the Selection Jury of the Sixteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and was a webcast co-host for the live competition.
Ms. Cheng’s many honors include a Gold Medal at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition, the distinction of being the first Canadian to win the prestigious Montreal International Piano Competition, additional first prizes at the William Kapell International Piano Competition and D’Angelo Young Artist Competition, the Medal of Excellence from the Salzburg Mozarteum for her outstanding interpretations of Mozart, and a Career Development Grant from the Canada Council. In 2010, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and cited for her life as a “concert pianist and ambassador for classical music.”
A native of Hong Kong, Ms. Cheng studied extensively with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University and with Sascha Gorodnitzki at the Juilliard School. She is currently on the artist faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she is the Robert W. Wheeler Professor of Piano, and the recipient of the 2011-12 Excellence in Teaching Award.
MASTERCLASS FACULTY
Masterclass 2: July 5-12, 2026
BM: The Juilliard School
MM: Indiana University
Consistently praised for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty and superb musicianship, Canadian pianist Angela Cheng is one of her country’s national treasures. She has appeared as soloist with more than 100 orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Buffalo Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, St. Louis, Houston, San Diego, Indianapolis, Syracuse, Utah and Colorado. An avid recitalist, Ms. Cheng has performed solo and chamber recitals throughout North America, Asia, and Europe, including New York City (Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y), Wigmore Hall in London, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg and the Sydney Opera House, as well as in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Montreal, Toronto, Taiwan, Italy and Australia. In 2012 she made her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the Edmonton Symphony.
Ms. Cheng has collaborated with numerous chamber ensembles including the Takács, Colorado, and Vogler quartets. Festival appearances have included Verbier, Edinburgh, Miyazaki, St. Petersburg/Stars of the White Nights, Enescu/Romania, Banff, Bravo! Vail, Chautauqua, Colorado, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla’s SummerFest, Ravinia, Vancouver, the Festival International de Lanaudière in Quebec, Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Cartegena International Music Festival in Colombia and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany.
Ms. Cheng has been invited to give masterclasses throughout North America and in Asia, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, Taichung University in Taiwan, Indiana University, University of Michigan and the University of Texas. She has also served on the jury of many competitions, including the Seoul International Piano Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition, Esther Honens International Piano Competition, Montreal International Piano Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, New Orleans International Piano Competition, Young Concert Artists Competition, and the American Pianists Association Competition. In 2022, she served on the Selection Jury of the Sixteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and was a webcast co-host for the live competition.
Ms. Cheng’s many honors include a Gold Medal at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition, the distinction of being the first Canadian to win the prestigious Montreal International Piano Competition, additional first prizes at the William Kapell International Piano Competition and D’Angelo Young Artist Competition, the Medal of Excellence from the Salzburg Mozarteum for her outstanding interpretations of Mozart, and a Career Development Grant from the Canada Council. In 2010, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and cited for her life as a “concert pianist and ambassador for classical music.”
A native of Hong Kong, Ms. Cheng studied extensively with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University and with Sascha Gorodnitzki at the Juilliard School. She is currently on the artist faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she is the Robert W. Wheeler Professor of Piano, and the recipient of the 2011-12 Excellence in Teaching Award.
SPENCER MYER
Indiana University
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Session 3: July 18 - 22, 2026
BM: Oberlin Conservatory
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: SUNY Stonybrook
Lauded for “superb playing” and “poised, alert musicianship” by the Boston Globe, and labeled “definitely a man to watch” by London’s The Independent, American pianist SPENCER MYER is one of the most respected and sought-after artists on today’s concert stage.
Spencer Myer’s orchestral, recital and chamber music performances have been heard throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has been soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Boise, Dayton, Rhode Island, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestras, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the Baton Rouge, Indianapolis, Knoxville, New Haven, Omaha, Phoenix, Santa Fe and Tucson Symphony Orchestras, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Mexico’s Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco and Beijing’s China National Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with, among others, conductors Michael Christie, Leslie B. Dunner, Arthur Fagen, Robert Franz, Bernhard Gueller, Jacques Lacombe, Jahja Ling, Rossen Milanov, Timothy Muffitt, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kevin Rhodes, Lucas Richman, Steven Smith, Thomas Wilkins and Victor Yampolsky. His 2005 recital/orchestral tour of South Africa included a performance of the five piano concerti of Beethoven with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, followed by six return orchestra and recital tours.
Spencer Myer’s recital appearances have been presented in New York City’s Weill Recital Hall, 92nd Street Y and Steinway Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and London’s Wigmore Hall, while many of his performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York City), WHYY (Philadelphia), WCLV (Cleveland) and WFMT (Chicago). An in-demand chamber musician, he has appeared numerous summers at the Lev Aronson Legacy Festival in Dallas with cellists Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum, Amit Peled and Brian Thornton, and has enjoyed a recurring partnership for over a decade with the Miami String Quartet at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival. Other artistic partners have included clarinetist David Shifrin, sopranos Nicole Cabell, Martha Guth and Erin Wall, the Jupiter and Pacifica String Quartets and the Dorian Wind Quintet.
Spencer Myer’s career was launched with three important prizes: First Prize in the 2004 UNISA International Piano Competition in South Africa, the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianists Association and the Gold Medal from the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition. He is also a laureate of the 2007 William Kapell, 2005 Cleveland and 2005 Busoni International Piano Competitions. He enjoys an esteemed reputation as a vocal collaborator since winning the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. Mr. Myer was a member of Astral Artists’ performance roster from 2003-2010.
A renowned pedagogue,
Spencer Myer is currently Associate Professor of Piano at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he received the 2024 Trustees Teaching Award. Previously, he has served as a guest faculty at the Oberlin and Baldwin-Wallace Conservatories of Music, and was a member of the Piano Faculty of Boston’s Longy School of Music of Bard College from 2016 to 2022. He is the recipient of a 2025 Outstanding Service Recognition Award from the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy. He currently serves on the Board of New York’s Musicians Foundation and Brooklyn Art Song Society.
Spencer Myer’s debut CD for harmonia mundi usa - solo music of Busoni, Copland, Debussy and Kohs - was released in the fall of 2007 to critical acclaim by Fanfare and Gramophone magazines. Mr. Myer has released six recordings on the Steinway & Sons label since 2017: Piano Rags of William Bolcom, Chopin’s Four Impromptus, and four discs with cellist Brian Thornton encompassing cello/piano repertoire of Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Schumann and Rachmaninoff.
Spencer Myer is a Steinway Artist.
www.spencermyer.com
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Session 3: July 18 - 22, 2026
BM: Oberlin Conservatory
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: SUNY Stonybrook
Lauded for “superb playing” and “poised, alert musicianship” by the Boston Globe, and labeled “definitely a man to watch” by London’s The Independent, American pianist SPENCER MYER is one of the most respected and sought-after artists on today’s concert stage.
Spencer Myer’s orchestral, recital and chamber music performances have been heard throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has been soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Boise, Dayton, Rhode Island, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestras, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the Baton Rouge, Indianapolis, Knoxville, New Haven, Omaha, Phoenix, Santa Fe and Tucson Symphony Orchestras, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Mexico’s Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco and Beijing’s China National Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with, among others, conductors Michael Christie, Leslie B. Dunner, Arthur Fagen, Robert Franz, Bernhard Gueller, Jacques Lacombe, Jahja Ling, Rossen Milanov, Timothy Muffitt, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kevin Rhodes, Lucas Richman, Steven Smith, Thomas Wilkins and Victor Yampolsky. His 2005 recital/orchestral tour of South Africa included a performance of the five piano concerti of Beethoven with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, followed by six return orchestra and recital tours.
Spencer Myer’s recital appearances have been presented in New York City’s Weill Recital Hall, 92nd Street Y and Steinway Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and London’s Wigmore Hall, while many of his performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York City), WHYY (Philadelphia), WCLV (Cleveland) and WFMT (Chicago). An in-demand chamber musician, he has appeared numerous summers at the Lev Aronson Legacy Festival in Dallas with cellists Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum, Amit Peled and Brian Thornton, and has enjoyed a recurring partnership for over a decade with the Miami String Quartet at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival. Other artistic partners have included clarinetist David Shifrin, sopranos Nicole Cabell, Martha Guth and Erin Wall, the Jupiter and Pacifica String Quartets and the Dorian Wind Quintet.
Spencer Myer’s career was launched with three important prizes: First Prize in the 2004 UNISA International Piano Competition in South Africa, the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianists Association and the Gold Medal from the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition. He is also a laureate of the 2007 William Kapell, 2005 Cleveland and 2005 Busoni International Piano Competitions. He enjoys an esteemed reputation as a vocal collaborator since winning the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. Mr. Myer was a member of Astral Artists’ performance roster from 2003-2010.
A renowned pedagogue,
Spencer Myer is currently Associate Professor of Piano at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he received the 2024 Trustees Teaching Award. Previously, he has served as a guest faculty at the Oberlin and Baldwin-Wallace Conservatories of Music, and was a member of the Piano Faculty of Boston’s Longy School of Music of Bard College from 2016 to 2022. He is the recipient of a 2025 Outstanding Service Recognition Award from the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy. He currently serves on the Board of New York’s Musicians Foundation and Brooklyn Art Song Society.
Spencer Myer’s debut CD for harmonia mundi usa - solo music of Busoni, Copland, Debussy and Kohs - was released in the fall of 2007 to critical acclaim by Fanfare and Gramophone magazines. Mr. Myer has released six recordings on the Steinway & Sons label since 2017: Piano Rags of William Bolcom, Chopin’s Four Impromptus, and four discs with cellist Brian Thornton encompassing cello/piano repertoire of Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Schumann and Rachmaninoff.
Spencer Myer is a Steinway Artist.
www.spencermyer.com
ANDRIUS ŽLABYS
Boston University, Longy School of Music
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 3: July 14-25, 2026
BM: Curtis Institute of Music
MM: Yale School of Music
AD: Cleveland Institute of Music
Grammy-nominated pianist Andrius Žlabys has received international acclaim for his appearances with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including The New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Rotterdam Symphony, and Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires. He joined the Boston University keyboard faculty in Fall 2021.
Born in Lithuania and trained at the Curtis Institute of Music, Žlabys was 18 years old when the Chicago Tribune wrote: “Pianist-composer Andrius Žlabys is one of the most gifted young keyboard artists to emerge in years.” He was also heralded by The New York Sun in a review titled “A Shining Hope of Pianists” after his recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Mr. Žlabys’s concerts have included appearances on many of the world’s leading stages, such as Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Phillips Collection, Teatro Colón, Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and Suntory Hall. He has also appeared at numerous festivals both in the U.S. and abroad, including the Menuhin, Salzburg, Lockenhaus and Caramoor music festivals, and made his Carnegie Hall debut at the Isaac Stern Auditorium with the New York Youth Symphony conducted by Misha Santora in 2001 in a performance of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. He was also invited the following season as soloist with Kremerata Baltica to perform Benjamin Britten’s Young Apollo at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall.
Andrius Žlabys has enjoyed collaborations with several esteemed musicians, including violist Yuri Bashmet, violinist Hilary Hahn, and an enduring collaboration with violinist Gidon Kremer with whom Zlabys has toured extensively in Europe, Japan, South America, and the U.S.
In 2003, Žlabys received a Grammy nomination for his recording of Enescu’s Piano Quintet with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica. A multifaceted musician of wide-ranging repertoire, Andrius Žlabys holds a special reverence for J. S. Bach, while remaining a strong advocate for the contemporary stage with numerous works commissioned by and written for him.
He began piano studies at the age of six in his native Lithuania with Laima Jakniuniene at the Ciurlionis Art School and continued his studies in the U.S. with Victoria Mushkatkol (Interlochen Arts Academy), Seymour Lipkin (BM, Curtis Institute of Music), Sergei Babayan (AD, Cleveland Institute of Music), and Claude Frank (MM, Yale School of Music).
Andrius Žlabys is represented by Felsner Artists. Visit andriuszlabys.com.
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 3: July 14-25, 2026
BM: Curtis Institute of Music
MM: Yale School of Music
AD: Cleveland Institute of Music
Grammy-nominated pianist Andrius Žlabys has received international acclaim for his appearances with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including The New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Rotterdam Symphony, and Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires. He joined the Boston University keyboard faculty in Fall 2021.
Born in Lithuania and trained at the Curtis Institute of Music, Žlabys was 18 years old when the Chicago Tribune wrote: “Pianist-composer Andrius Žlabys is one of the most gifted young keyboard artists to emerge in years.” He was also heralded by The New York Sun in a review titled “A Shining Hope of Pianists” after his recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Mr. Žlabys’s concerts have included appearances on many of the world’s leading stages, such as Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Phillips Collection, Teatro Colón, Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and Suntory Hall. He has also appeared at numerous festivals both in the U.S. and abroad, including the Menuhin, Salzburg, Lockenhaus and Caramoor music festivals, and made his Carnegie Hall debut at the Isaac Stern Auditorium with the New York Youth Symphony conducted by Misha Santora in 2001 in a performance of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. He was also invited the following season as soloist with Kremerata Baltica to perform Benjamin Britten’s Young Apollo at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall.
Andrius Žlabys has enjoyed collaborations with several esteemed musicians, including violist Yuri Bashmet, violinist Hilary Hahn, and an enduring collaboration with violinist Gidon Kremer with whom Zlabys has toured extensively in Europe, Japan, South America, and the U.S.
In 2003, Žlabys received a Grammy nomination for his recording of Enescu’s Piano Quintet with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica. A multifaceted musician of wide-ranging repertoire, Andrius Žlabys holds a special reverence for J. S. Bach, while remaining a strong advocate for the contemporary stage with numerous works commissioned by and written for him.
He began piano studies at the age of six in his native Lithuania with Laima Jakniuniene at the Ciurlionis Art School and continued his studies in the U.S. with Victoria Mushkatkol (Interlochen Arts Academy), Seymour Lipkin (BM, Curtis Institute of Music), Sergei Babayan (AD, Cleveland Institute of Music), and Claude Frank (MM, Yale School of Music).
Andrius Žlabys is represented by Felsner Artists. Visit andriuszlabys.com.
CAROLINE HONG
The Ohio State University
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 3: July 14-25, 2026
BM: Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University
MM: The Juilliard School
DM: Indiana University
Caroline Hong, Professor of Piano and Steinway Artist, directs the Franz Liszt International Piano Festival and Competition – Ohio State University (ages 24–40), where she also serves as the chair of the keyboard area. She holds degrees from Indiana University (DM), The Juilliard School (MM), and the Peabody Institute (BM). Dr. Hong has served on the faculties of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Longwood University, Pianale International Piano Academy (Germany), Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival, IU Jacobs School of Music Summer Piano Academy, Vianden International Festival (Luxembourg), Piano at Peabody, and joined the Adamant Music Festival (Vermont) in 2025. She is the founding President of the American Liszt Society Ohio Chapter, a member of the Board of Directors of the American Liszt Society, and holds the Reinberger Foundation Chair at the Columbus Symphony.
Dr. Hong's career spans work as a soloist, chamber musician, master class teacher, adjudicator, and recording artist. Her performances have been hailed as “expressive and powerful,” “breathtaking,” and marked by “a keen sense of lyricism and the classical style” (Richmond Times, Columbus Dispatch). Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano has praised her as “one of the greatest pianists I have ever heard” following her acclaimed performance of his Etude Fantasy. She made her New York debut at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall and has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Utah Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Indiana University Philharmonic, and West Texas Symphony. She competed in the Van Cliburn International Audition, Robert Casadesus, William Kapell, Beethoven Foundation, D’Angelo International, and others. She was accepted to compete in Concours Musical International de Montréal, was a semifinalist in UNISA International Piano Competition and Concert Artists Guild, She is a laureate of the Palm Beach International Piano Competition, and winner of the Chicago Civic Orchestra Soloist Competition, Southern California Bach Festival, and the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition of New York.
Her artistry has been featured on radio and television broadcasts worldwide, including performances for Robert Sherman’s “Young Artists Showcase” (WQXR, New York) and the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy. Critics have lauded her as a leading interpreter of 20th and 21st-century piano music, with favorable reviews in American Record Guide and other major publications.
As a chamber musician, Dr. Hong has performed with renowned ensembles including the Vermeer String Quartet and the Dorian Wind Quintet. She toured extensively in the U.S. as a member of the piano-violin duo, Duo Viardot, and continues to champion collaboration.
Dr. Hong’s expertise is sought after as a jury member for major international competitions, including the Mid Atlantic Artists USArtists International, Aarhus International Piano Competition (Denmark), Los Angeles International Liszt Piano Competition, Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition (U.S.), Princeton Symphony Orchestra International Piano Competition, and the International Young Artists Concerto Competition.
Dr. Hong’s musical lineage is distinguished by her studies with luminaries such as Martin Canin, Jerome Lowenthal, Sergei Babayan, Dmitrii Paperno, Ann Schein, Karen Shaw, M. Deitzer, and Fernando Laires. She has also participated in master classes with Claude Frank, John Browning, Leon Fleisher, Gyorgy Sebok, Menahem Pressler, and Charles Rosen. Her first teacher was her mother, Mrs. Koon Ja Hong, with whom she began piano studies at the age of two. Her students continue to secure positions in academia and in international piano competitions.
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 3: July 14-25, 2026
BM: Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University
MM: The Juilliard School
DM: Indiana University
Caroline Hong, Professor of Piano and Steinway Artist, directs the Franz Liszt International Piano Festival and Competition – Ohio State University (ages 24–40), where she also serves as the chair of the keyboard area. She holds degrees from Indiana University (DM), The Juilliard School (MM), and the Peabody Institute (BM). Dr. Hong has served on the faculties of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Longwood University, Pianale International Piano Academy (Germany), Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival, IU Jacobs School of Music Summer Piano Academy, Vianden International Festival (Luxembourg), Piano at Peabody, and joined the Adamant Music Festival (Vermont) in 2025. She is the founding President of the American Liszt Society Ohio Chapter, a member of the Board of Directors of the American Liszt Society, and holds the Reinberger Foundation Chair at the Columbus Symphony.
Dr. Hong's career spans work as a soloist, chamber musician, master class teacher, adjudicator, and recording artist. Her performances have been hailed as “expressive and powerful,” “breathtaking,” and marked by “a keen sense of lyricism and the classical style” (Richmond Times, Columbus Dispatch). Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano has praised her as “one of the greatest pianists I have ever heard” following her acclaimed performance of his Etude Fantasy. She made her New York debut at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall and has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Utah Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Indiana University Philharmonic, and West Texas Symphony. She competed in the Van Cliburn International Audition, Robert Casadesus, William Kapell, Beethoven Foundation, D’Angelo International, and others. She was accepted to compete in Concours Musical International de Montréal, was a semifinalist in UNISA International Piano Competition and Concert Artists Guild, She is a laureate of the Palm Beach International Piano Competition, and winner of the Chicago Civic Orchestra Soloist Competition, Southern California Bach Festival, and the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition of New York.
Her artistry has been featured on radio and television broadcasts worldwide, including performances for Robert Sherman’s “Young Artists Showcase” (WQXR, New York) and the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy. Critics have lauded her as a leading interpreter of 20th and 21st-century piano music, with favorable reviews in American Record Guide and other major publications.
As a chamber musician, Dr. Hong has performed with renowned ensembles including the Vermeer String Quartet and the Dorian Wind Quintet. She toured extensively in the U.S. as a member of the piano-violin duo, Duo Viardot, and continues to champion collaboration.
Dr. Hong’s expertise is sought after as a jury member for major international competitions, including the Mid Atlantic Artists USArtists International, Aarhus International Piano Competition (Denmark), Los Angeles International Liszt Piano Competition, Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition (U.S.), Princeton Symphony Orchestra International Piano Competition, and the International Young Artists Concerto Competition.
Dr. Hong’s musical lineage is distinguished by her studies with luminaries such as Martin Canin, Jerome Lowenthal, Sergei Babayan, Dmitrii Paperno, Ann Schein, Karen Shaw, M. Deitzer, and Fernando Laires. She has also participated in master classes with Claude Frank, John Browning, Leon Fleisher, Gyorgy Sebok, Menahem Pressler, and Charles Rosen. Her first teacher was her mother, Mrs. Koon Ja Hong, with whom she began piano studies at the age of two. Her students continue to secure positions in academia and in international piano competitions.
ELIZABETH SCHUMANN
Stanford University
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 3: July 14-25, 2026
BA: Cleveland Institute of Music
MM: Cleveland Institute of Music
AD: Colburn Conservatory of Music
DMA: Université de Montréal
Dr. Elizabeth Schumann is a concert pianist, educator, and interdisciplinary artist whose work spans leading concert halls, public art initiatives, and research at the intersection of the arts, technology, and human performance. Described by The Washington Post as “deft, relentless, and devastatingly good—the sort of performance you experience not so much with your ears as your solar plexus,” she approaches the concert stage as a place where artistry and inquiry meet, offering audiences experiences that link music with the broader human story.
As a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist, she has performed at the Kennedy Center, Vienna’s Bösendorfer Saal, Montreal’s Place des Arts, San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix, Ravinia’s Rising Stars Series, Australia’s Huntington Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Her performances have been featured on NPR’s Performance Today, PBS, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Honors include the Gilmore Young Artist Award, first prizes at the Bösendorfer and Pacific International Piano Competitions, and awards at the Cleveland, Hilton Head, Montreal, and World International Piano Competitions.
Her portfolio extends beyond traditional concert work to collaborative projects that place music in fresh contexts. She has developed touring productions that integrate performance with narrative and visual design, large-scale public installations that transform city spaces into concert venues, and educational programs for children and underserved communities that pair music with literature and live storytelling. These include Piano Carnival, which grew from a 15-city tour into a book, CD, and interactive applications reaching more than 20,000 students and teachers; Son et Lumière, premiered at Boston’s Illuminus Festival and later commissioned for the Pike & Rose Audio Visual Arts Festival, attracting audiences of over 8,000; and Pianimal, a concert and video series presented across the United States and distributed to children’s hospitals through partnerships with leading arts organizations. Across these projects, her aim is to allow audiences to meet music on their own terms and to experience its power without barriers of price or pretense. Her work has also reached international audiences through U.S. Embassy cultural diplomacy programs, building connections and mutual understanding through performance.
Carrying on the pedagogical tradition of her teacher, Sergei Babayan, Dr. Schumann has taught at Winter and Summer Performing Arts at The Juilliard School, Itzhak Perlman’s Perlman Music Program, the Crowden Chamber Music Workshop, and the Vancouver Piano Sessions. She is the Billie Bennett Director of Keyboard Studies and Assistant Professor of Music at Stanford University, where she combines conservatory-level training with insights from neuroscience, psychology, and biomechanics to help pianists achieve expressive freedom while minimizing injury risk. At Stanford, her research examines how physiology, pedagogy, and instrument design shape performance, with applications that extend beyond the arts to fields such as medicine, rehabilitation, and human performance science.
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 3: July 14-25, 2026
BA: Cleveland Institute of Music
MM: Cleveland Institute of Music
AD: Colburn Conservatory of Music
DMA: Université de Montréal
Dr. Elizabeth Schumann is a concert pianist, educator, and interdisciplinary artist whose work spans leading concert halls, public art initiatives, and research at the intersection of the arts, technology, and human performance. Described by The Washington Post as “deft, relentless, and devastatingly good—the sort of performance you experience not so much with your ears as your solar plexus,” she approaches the concert stage as a place where artistry and inquiry meet, offering audiences experiences that link music with the broader human story.
As a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist, she has performed at the Kennedy Center, Vienna’s Bösendorfer Saal, Montreal’s Place des Arts, San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix, Ravinia’s Rising Stars Series, Australia’s Huntington Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Her performances have been featured on NPR’s Performance Today, PBS, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Honors include the Gilmore Young Artist Award, first prizes at the Bösendorfer and Pacific International Piano Competitions, and awards at the Cleveland, Hilton Head, Montreal, and World International Piano Competitions.
Her portfolio extends beyond traditional concert work to collaborative projects that place music in fresh contexts. She has developed touring productions that integrate performance with narrative and visual design, large-scale public installations that transform city spaces into concert venues, and educational programs for children and underserved communities that pair music with literature and live storytelling. These include Piano Carnival, which grew from a 15-city tour into a book, CD, and interactive applications reaching more than 20,000 students and teachers; Son et Lumière, premiered at Boston’s Illuminus Festival and later commissioned for the Pike & Rose Audio Visual Arts Festival, attracting audiences of over 8,000; and Pianimal, a concert and video series presented across the United States and distributed to children’s hospitals through partnerships with leading arts organizations. Across these projects, her aim is to allow audiences to meet music on their own terms and to experience its power without barriers of price or pretense. Her work has also reached international audiences through U.S. Embassy cultural diplomacy programs, building connections and mutual understanding through performance.
Carrying on the pedagogical tradition of her teacher, Sergei Babayan, Dr. Schumann has taught at Winter and Summer Performing Arts at The Juilliard School, Itzhak Perlman’s Perlman Music Program, the Crowden Chamber Music Workshop, and the Vancouver Piano Sessions. She is the Billie Bennett Director of Keyboard Studies and Assistant Professor of Music at Stanford University, where she combines conservatory-level training with insights from neuroscience, psychology, and biomechanics to help pianists achieve expressive freedom while minimizing injury risk. At Stanford, her research examines how physiology, pedagogy, and instrument design shape performance, with applications that extend beyond the arts to fields such as medicine, rehabilitation, and human performance science.
SCOTT HOLDEN
Brigham Young University
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 3: July 14-25, 2026
BM: University of Michigan
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: Manhattan School of Music
Fulbright: Liszt Academy, Budapest, Hungary
Scott Holden maintains a diverse career where he is sought after as a soloist, collaborator, teacher, adjudicator and clinician. He has performed in over forty US states, and throughout Europe and in Asia. He has performed in Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Moscow’s Svetlanov Hall. His 1996 debut recital in Carnegie Hallwas a result of winning first prize in the Leschetizky New York Debut Competition. It garnered critical praise for his “effortless technique and beautiful tone” and his “ability to transform notes on a page into a distinctly personal statement.” (New York Concert Review) Holden returned to Carnegie Hall to play another solo recital in 2018, featuring multiple world premieres. His performances have gathered critical praise. “Few are the live performances which bring out, build, and shape this work as artistically as in this live performance....Mr. Holden sizzled the audience.” (The Detroit Monitor) “Scott Holden displayed his delicate touch and deep feeling.” (New Orleans Times-Picayune.)
He has been broadcast on NPR, NBC, CBC, as well as numerous local networks. His enthusiastic support of contemporary music has led to a variety of premieres, including William Wallace’s Second Piano Concerto with Keith Lockhart and the Utah Symphony of which The Salt Lake Tribune wrote, “Mr. Holden secured the stage in a virtuosic performance…We were torn between examining every new note passing by our ears, and Holden’s pianistic acrobatics. It was a wonderful dilemma.” Recent concerts have brought him across the country ranging from Alaska to New York, as well as in China, Singapore, Vietnam, and in Europe. Recent and upcoming concerto appearances include those by Grieg, Beethoven, Gershwin, and Tchaikovsky. He is a member of the American Piano Quartet with whom he has made many international tours.
He has recorded solo and chamber music for Tantara, NAXOS, Bridge, and Parma record labels. His 2018 album “the Unknown Galaxy” was given high praise by Fanfare Magazine: “he brings it off with excellence, mastering everything…. It’s safe to say that there is no other piano disc quite like this one.” His CD, Beyond Vernon Duke, featured multiple world premiere recordings and was given the highest five-star rating stating: “Holden exhibits profoundly musical readings with obvious commitment and great attention to detail.”
Teaching is a passionate commitment for Dr. Holden. He been piano professor at Brigham Young University since 2002, where he was director of the piano area for 14 years. In the summers he has taught at various festivals including Juilliard’s program for pre-college aged students, “Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard”, where has taught annually since 2017. Holden’s students have been top prizewinners in numerous national competitions including the Gina Bachauer, Atlanta’s Emory Young Artists, the PianoArtsNorth American Competition, and many others. His students were top prize winners at the Music Teacher’s National Association National (MTNA) competitions in 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025 in multiple divisions. He has had over 30 students from his studio perform as soloists in concerti with the orchestras at Brigham Young University as winners of its annual concerto competitions. His students are regularly accepted to the leading graduate and undergraduate programs in the country including Juilliard, Eastman, Manhattan School of Music, Peabody, Cleveland Institute, Yale, Boston University, Northwestern, Indiana University, University of Michigan, San Francisco Conservatory, USC and many others. He travels extensively to adjudicate and give master classes at festivals, universities and pedagogy workshops. Some of Dr. Holden’s former students now hold university piano faculty positions around the country.
Holden holds degrees from the University of Michigan (BM), The Juilliard School (MM), and The Manhattan School of Music (DMA). He studied for a year at The Liszt Academy in Budapest as a Fulbright Scholar. His former teachers include Arthur Greene, Nina Lelchuk, Martin Canin, Arkady Aronov, Ferenc Rados and András Kemenes. He is a passionate explorer of Utah’s red rock deserts and enjoys cooking and tending to his apple orchard at his home in the mountains of Utah.
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 3: July 14-25, 2026
BM: University of Michigan
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: Manhattan School of Music
Fulbright: Liszt Academy, Budapest, Hungary
Scott Holden maintains a diverse career where he is sought after as a soloist, collaborator, teacher, adjudicator and clinician. He has performed in over forty US states, and throughout Europe and in Asia. He has performed in Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Moscow’s Svetlanov Hall. His 1996 debut recital in Carnegie Hallwas a result of winning first prize in the Leschetizky New York Debut Competition. It garnered critical praise for his “effortless technique and beautiful tone” and his “ability to transform notes on a page into a distinctly personal statement.” (New York Concert Review) Holden returned to Carnegie Hall to play another solo recital in 2018, featuring multiple world premieres. His performances have gathered critical praise. “Few are the live performances which bring out, build, and shape this work as artistically as in this live performance....Mr. Holden sizzled the audience.” (The Detroit Monitor) “Scott Holden displayed his delicate touch and deep feeling.” (New Orleans Times-Picayune.)
He has been broadcast on NPR, NBC, CBC, as well as numerous local networks. His enthusiastic support of contemporary music has led to a variety of premieres, including William Wallace’s Second Piano Concerto with Keith Lockhart and the Utah Symphony of which The Salt Lake Tribune wrote, “Mr. Holden secured the stage in a virtuosic performance…We were torn between examining every new note passing by our ears, and Holden’s pianistic acrobatics. It was a wonderful dilemma.” Recent concerts have brought him across the country ranging from Alaska to New York, as well as in China, Singapore, Vietnam, and in Europe. Recent and upcoming concerto appearances include those by Grieg, Beethoven, Gershwin, and Tchaikovsky. He is a member of the American Piano Quartet with whom he has made many international tours.
He has recorded solo and chamber music for Tantara, NAXOS, Bridge, and Parma record labels. His 2018 album “the Unknown Galaxy” was given high praise by Fanfare Magazine: “he brings it off with excellence, mastering everything…. It’s safe to say that there is no other piano disc quite like this one.” His CD, Beyond Vernon Duke, featured multiple world premiere recordings and was given the highest five-star rating stating: “Holden exhibits profoundly musical readings with obvious commitment and great attention to detail.”
Teaching is a passionate commitment for Dr. Holden. He been piano professor at Brigham Young University since 2002, where he was director of the piano area for 14 years. In the summers he has taught at various festivals including Juilliard’s program for pre-college aged students, “Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard”, where has taught annually since 2017. Holden’s students have been top prizewinners in numerous national competitions including the Gina Bachauer, Atlanta’s Emory Young Artists, the PianoArtsNorth American Competition, and many others. His students were top prize winners at the Music Teacher’s National Association National (MTNA) competitions in 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025 in multiple divisions. He has had over 30 students from his studio perform as soloists in concerti with the orchestras at Brigham Young University as winners of its annual concerto competitions. His students are regularly accepted to the leading graduate and undergraduate programs in the country including Juilliard, Eastman, Manhattan School of Music, Peabody, Cleveland Institute, Yale, Boston University, Northwestern, Indiana University, University of Michigan, San Francisco Conservatory, USC and many others. He travels extensively to adjudicate and give master classes at festivals, universities and pedagogy workshops. Some of Dr. Holden’s former students now hold university piano faculty positions around the country.
Holden holds degrees from the University of Michigan (BM), The Juilliard School (MM), and The Manhattan School of Music (DMA). He studied for a year at The Liszt Academy in Budapest as a Fulbright Scholar. His former teachers include Arthur Greene, Nina Lelchuk, Martin Canin, Arkady Aronov, Ferenc Rados and András Kemenes. He is a passionate explorer of Utah’s red rock deserts and enjoys cooking and tending to his apple orchard at his home in the mountains of Utah.
REBECCA PENNEYS
Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Session 4: July 31 - August 4, 2026
American pianist Rebecca Penneys is a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, educator, and adjudicator. For almost eight decades her passionate and insightful performances have held audiences spellbound. Hailed as a pianist of prodigious talent, she possesses a daredevil technique, the sort of charismatic stage presence that demands attention, and an interpretive gift that make her performances into musical revelations.
Rebecca has concertized throughout all the continents north of Antarctica and she has represented the United States on United States Information Service State Department Cultural tours. Rebecca’s playing leaves an indelible impression. Her current CDs and DVDs for Naxos, Fleur De Son Classics and Centaur Records, available on all streaming audio and video platforms, have received worldwide acclaim and are eloquent testimonies of a major artist of intelligence, originality, massive technique, and bravura temperament. American Record Guide says: “Penneys offers an extraordinary collection of performances displaying an astonishing control over piano sound. It is gorgeous and full of unimaginable colors. She sings through the instrument, seemingly without effort. Her playing is simply revelatory.”
Born in Los Angeles, Rebecca made her recital debut at the age of nine and performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra when she was eleven. At seventeen, after winning several young artist competitions in the United States, she was awarded the unprecedented Special Critics’ Prize, created in her honor, at the Seventh International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland. Critics there said: “A sensational effect was created by the playing of Rebecca Penneys. She is a genius of the piano.” Subsequently, she won the Most Outstanding Musician Prize at the Fifth Vianna Da Motta International Piano Competition (Portugal) and was Top Prizewinner in the Second Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition (Spain). She made her New York Debut in Alice Tully Hall in 1972, and in 1974 she founded the acclaimed New Arts Trio, which won the prestigious Naumburg Award for Chamber Music in New York City on two separate occasions. The Trio was Trio-in-Residence at the Chautauqua Institution from 1978-2012. She was Chair of the Chautauqua Piano Department for thirty-four years.
A renowned Steinway Artist, and a member of the Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame, Rebecca is a popular guest artist, keynote speaker and celebrated pedagogue. She has received extensive recognition for her ability to teach keyboard technique (Motion and Emotion) that allows pianists to achieve individual performance goals without physical strain or injury. She has taught and performed in such summer festivals as Adamant Music School, PianoTexas, Eastern Music Festival, Sitka, Marlboro, Woodstock, Aspen, Vermont Mozart, Montreal, Tel Hai Israel, Tibor Varga, Birch Creek, International Music, Shawnigan Johannesen, Peninsula, Roycroft, Mammoth Lakes, Southeastern Piano Festival, Bay PianoFest and Music Mountain. In 2013, Rebecca formed the non-profit Rebecca Penneys Friends of Piano to support the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival and RPPF-Mini. The festival, held every summer from June 27-July 17 at the University of South Florida, is tuition-free for collegiate pianists worldwide. In 2013, Rebecca formed the non-profit Rebecca Penneys Friends of Piano to support the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival and RPPF-Mini. The festival, held every summer from June 27-July 17 at the University of South Florida, is tuition-free for collegiate pianists worldwide.
Rebecca is currently Professor Emerita of Piano at Eastman School of Music, and Courtesy-Steinway-Artist-in-Residence at the University of South Florida. Launched in 2021, The Rebecca Penneys USF Music Fund and RP Graduate Collective is a legacy venture for USF providing two-year tuition free assistantships to select graduate performance majors who study at USF and perform chamber music. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle notes, “In an age of pianistic sameness, Penneys shines as a true original.” Rebecca’s teachers included Aube Tzerko, Leonard Stein, Rosina Lhevinne, Artur Rubinstein, Menahem Pressler, Gyorgy Sebok, Janos Starker, Josef Gingold, and Iannis Xenakis.
Learn more at rebeccapenneys.com, rebeccapenneyspianofestival.org and on https://www.youtube.com/c/RPPFRebeccaPenneys and RPGraduateCollective
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Session 4: July 31 - August 4, 2026
American pianist Rebecca Penneys is a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, educator, and adjudicator. For almost eight decades her passionate and insightful performances have held audiences spellbound. Hailed as a pianist of prodigious talent, she possesses a daredevil technique, the sort of charismatic stage presence that demands attention, and an interpretive gift that make her performances into musical revelations.
Rebecca has concertized throughout all the continents north of Antarctica and she has represented the United States on United States Information Service State Department Cultural tours. Rebecca’s playing leaves an indelible impression. Her current CDs and DVDs for Naxos, Fleur De Son Classics and Centaur Records, available on all streaming audio and video platforms, have received worldwide acclaim and are eloquent testimonies of a major artist of intelligence, originality, massive technique, and bravura temperament. American Record Guide says: “Penneys offers an extraordinary collection of performances displaying an astonishing control over piano sound. It is gorgeous and full of unimaginable colors. She sings through the instrument, seemingly without effort. Her playing is simply revelatory.”
Born in Los Angeles, Rebecca made her recital debut at the age of nine and performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra when she was eleven. At seventeen, after winning several young artist competitions in the United States, she was awarded the unprecedented Special Critics’ Prize, created in her honor, at the Seventh International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland. Critics there said: “A sensational effect was created by the playing of Rebecca Penneys. She is a genius of the piano.” Subsequently, she won the Most Outstanding Musician Prize at the Fifth Vianna Da Motta International Piano Competition (Portugal) and was Top Prizewinner in the Second Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition (Spain). She made her New York Debut in Alice Tully Hall in 1972, and in 1974 she founded the acclaimed New Arts Trio, which won the prestigious Naumburg Award for Chamber Music in New York City on two separate occasions. The Trio was Trio-in-Residence at the Chautauqua Institution from 1978-2012. She was Chair of the Chautauqua Piano Department for thirty-four years.
A renowned Steinway Artist, and a member of the Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame, Rebecca is a popular guest artist, keynote speaker and celebrated pedagogue. She has received extensive recognition for her ability to teach keyboard technique (Motion and Emotion) that allows pianists to achieve individual performance goals without physical strain or injury. She has taught and performed in such summer festivals as Adamant Music School, PianoTexas, Eastern Music Festival, Sitka, Marlboro, Woodstock, Aspen, Vermont Mozart, Montreal, Tel Hai Israel, Tibor Varga, Birch Creek, International Music, Shawnigan Johannesen, Peninsula, Roycroft, Mammoth Lakes, Southeastern Piano Festival, Bay PianoFest and Music Mountain. In 2013, Rebecca formed the non-profit Rebecca Penneys Friends of Piano to support the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival and RPPF-Mini. The festival, held every summer from June 27-July 17 at the University of South Florida, is tuition-free for collegiate pianists worldwide. In 2013, Rebecca formed the non-profit Rebecca Penneys Friends of Piano to support the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival and RPPF-Mini. The festival, held every summer from June 27-July 17 at the University of South Florida, is tuition-free for collegiate pianists worldwide.
Rebecca is currently Professor Emerita of Piano at Eastman School of Music, and Courtesy-Steinway-Artist-in-Residence at the University of South Florida. Launched in 2021, The Rebecca Penneys USF Music Fund and RP Graduate Collective is a legacy venture for USF providing two-year tuition free assistantships to select graduate performance majors who study at USF and perform chamber music. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle notes, “In an age of pianistic sameness, Penneys shines as a true original.” Rebecca’s teachers included Aube Tzerko, Leonard Stein, Rosina Lhevinne, Artur Rubinstein, Menahem Pressler, Gyorgy Sebok, Janos Starker, Josef Gingold, and Iannis Xenakis.
Learn more at rebeccapenneys.com, rebeccapenneyspianofestival.org and on https://www.youtube.com/c/RPPFRebeccaPenneys and RPGraduateCollective
CLARA YANG
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 4: July 27-August 7, 2026
BM: USC Thornton School of Music
MM, AD: Yale School of Music
DMA: Eastman School of Music
Praised for her “breathtaking technical prowess” and “profound artistry,” Chinese-American pianist Clara Yang has performed on some of the world’s leading stages, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (New York), the Forbidden City Concert Hall (Beijing), the National Auditorium of Music (Madrid), the Seymour Centre (Sydney), and Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theatre (Rochester). Featured on prestigious concert series such as Carolina Performing Arts and Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, she connects with audiences by creating deep emotional experiences through her musical storytelling. Recipient of the prestigious Institute of Arts and Humanities Fellowship and the Schwab Academic Excellence Award at UNC-Chapel Hill, Dr. Yang currently serves as the Head of Keyboard Studies at the university.
Dr. Yang is equally at home in the classical canon, new music, and interdisciplinary work. Known for her bold artistic vision, she has collaborated across genres with luminaries including pianist Aaron Diehl, new media artist Xuan, rock guitarist Yvette Young, and hip-hop artist Suzi Analogue. In 2024, she was named an Artist-in-Residence at the renowned Baryshnikov Arts for her multimedia project Ex Machina. A champion of new music, she performed alongside Philip Glass, Timo Andres, and other distinguished artists in The Complete Philip Glass Piano Etudes concert produced by Pomegranate Arts. She also gave the world and U.S. premieres of Chen Yi’s Piano Concerto Four Spirits—written for her—with the China Philharmonic Orchestra (中国爱乐) at the Forbidden Concert Hall in Beijing and on Carolina Performing Arts.
She has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the European Union Youth Orchestra, Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Madrid, Pacific Symphony, and North Carolina Symphony, under the baton of distinguished conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Long Yu, Carl St. Clair, Josep Caballé Domenech, Laura Jackson, George Jackson, Tonu Kalam, Grant Llewellyn, and Jeff Tyzik.
Dr. Yang’s recordings have received critical acclaim and international media coverage. Her solo album Folding Time (Albany Records) was awarded a Global Music Awards Gold Medal and named one of the Best of 2016 by American Record Guide. Her collaborative albums—Mother Tales (Navona Records), with violinist Sunmi Chang, and Grieg and Prokofiev (Albany Records), with cellist Helen Xiao-Dan Zheng Altenbach—have been praised by Strings Magazine, Pizzicato, and Fanfare. Her performances have been broadcast worldwide, and she has been profiled by major media outlets and publications in both the United States and China.
A committed educator and mentor, Dr. Yang has presented masterclasses, lectures, and coaching sessions at leading institutions and festivals across the globe, including the China Conservatory of Music, Central Conservatory of Music, Piano Academy in Gulangyu, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory’s Musical College, King’s College London, Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona, and the Southeastern Piano Festival. Her students have garnered top prizes in national and international competitions. She was a national reviewer for the renowned YoungArts organization and served on the Artistic Panel for New Music USA.
Dr. Yang holds a DMA from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Nelita True; an MM and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, under Claude Frank; and a BM from the USC Thornton School of Music, where she studied with John Perry. Her precollege mentors include Hans Boepple, Zhou Guangren (周广仁), and Li Huili
Artist website: https://www.clarayangpiano.com
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 4: July 27-August 7, 2026
BM: USC Thornton School of Music
MM, AD: Yale School of Music
DMA: Eastman School of Music
Praised for her “breathtaking technical prowess” and “profound artistry,” Chinese-American pianist Clara Yang has performed on some of the world’s leading stages, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (New York), the Forbidden City Concert Hall (Beijing), the National Auditorium of Music (Madrid), the Seymour Centre (Sydney), and Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theatre (Rochester). Featured on prestigious concert series such as Carolina Performing Arts and Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, she connects with audiences by creating deep emotional experiences through her musical storytelling. Recipient of the prestigious Institute of Arts and Humanities Fellowship and the Schwab Academic Excellence Award at UNC-Chapel Hill, Dr. Yang currently serves as the Head of Keyboard Studies at the university.
Dr. Yang is equally at home in the classical canon, new music, and interdisciplinary work. Known for her bold artistic vision, she has collaborated across genres with luminaries including pianist Aaron Diehl, new media artist Xuan, rock guitarist Yvette Young, and hip-hop artist Suzi Analogue. In 2024, she was named an Artist-in-Residence at the renowned Baryshnikov Arts for her multimedia project Ex Machina. A champion of new music, she performed alongside Philip Glass, Timo Andres, and other distinguished artists in The Complete Philip Glass Piano Etudes concert produced by Pomegranate Arts. She also gave the world and U.S. premieres of Chen Yi’s Piano Concerto Four Spirits—written for her—with the China Philharmonic Orchestra (中国爱乐) at the Forbidden Concert Hall in Beijing and on Carolina Performing Arts.
She has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the European Union Youth Orchestra, Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Madrid, Pacific Symphony, and North Carolina Symphony, under the baton of distinguished conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Long Yu, Carl St. Clair, Josep Caballé Domenech, Laura Jackson, George Jackson, Tonu Kalam, Grant Llewellyn, and Jeff Tyzik.
Dr. Yang’s recordings have received critical acclaim and international media coverage. Her solo album Folding Time (Albany Records) was awarded a Global Music Awards Gold Medal and named one of the Best of 2016 by American Record Guide. Her collaborative albums—Mother Tales (Navona Records), with violinist Sunmi Chang, and Grieg and Prokofiev (Albany Records), with cellist Helen Xiao-Dan Zheng Altenbach—have been praised by Strings Magazine, Pizzicato, and Fanfare. Her performances have been broadcast worldwide, and she has been profiled by major media outlets and publications in both the United States and China.
A committed educator and mentor, Dr. Yang has presented masterclasses, lectures, and coaching sessions at leading institutions and festivals across the globe, including the China Conservatory of Music, Central Conservatory of Music, Piano Academy in Gulangyu, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory’s Musical College, King’s College London, Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona, and the Southeastern Piano Festival. Her students have garnered top prizes in national and international competitions. She was a national reviewer for the renowned YoungArts organization and served on the Artistic Panel for New Music USA.
Dr. Yang holds a DMA from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Nelita True; an MM and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, under Claude Frank; and a BM from the USC Thornton School of Music, where she studied with John Perry. Her precollege mentors include Hans Boepple, Zhou Guangren (周广仁), and Li Huili
Artist website: https://www.clarayangpiano.com
DMITRY RACHMANOV
California State University, Northridge
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 4: July 27-August 7, 2026
BM: The Juilliard School
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: The Manhattan School of Music
Dr. Dmitry Rachmanov is Chair of Keyboard Studies at California State University, Northridge. A sought-after performer, master class clinician, adjudicator, and lecturer, he has served on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music and Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, and has been a guest artist/lecturer/clinician at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Royal Northern College of Music (UK), Shanghai and Beijing Central Conservatories.
Rachmanov has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, London’s Barbican and South Bank Centres, at venues across Europe and Asia, and has collaborated as a soloist with the Ukraine National Symphony, and National Orchestra of Porto, among others. He has recorded for Naxos, Parma, Master Musicians and Vista Vera labels.
An active member of the American Liszt Society, Rachmanov is the president of the society’s Southern California chapter. He was the Artistic Director of the ALS 2016 Festival “Liszt and Russia,” hosted by CSUN. His summer festivals include Piano Sicily and InterHarmony in Italy, Corfu Piano Institute in Greece, Montecito in California, Adamant in Vermont; In the summer of 2019 he was a resident at the Brahmshouse in Baden-Baden, Germany. He has served as a Co-Director of the ChamberFest @ CSUN Festival.
A proponent of Russian repertoire, Rachmanov gave the US premiere of Boris Pasternak’s Piano Sonata, broadcast by the NPR, and he is a founding member and President of the Scriabin Society of America. His April 2014 commemorative all-Scriabin program at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall was described as “a ‘poem of ecstasy’ in every sense: giant in conception, quantity, quality, execution, thoughtfulness, and sensitivity” by the New York Concert Review. His 2022 Cambria 2-CD album release “Alexander Scriabin, the 150th Anniversary Celebration,” was praised as a “distinguished recital[…]full of riveting performances” by Fanfare magazine, adding that “Rachmanov may be considered alongside the great Scriabin interpreters.” He is in the process of recording a video anthology of Alexander Scriabin’s piano works.
Rachmanov is a recipient of numerous awards, among them “Jerome Richfield Memorial Scholar” at CSUN and receiving an “Outstanding CAPMT Member State Recognition Award” by California Association of Professional Music Teachers. He is a Steinway Artist.
Learn more at dmitryrachmanov.com
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 4: July 27-August 7, 2026
BM: The Juilliard School
MM: The Juilliard School
DMA: The Manhattan School of Music
Dr. Dmitry Rachmanov is Chair of Keyboard Studies at California State University, Northridge. A sought-after performer, master class clinician, adjudicator, and lecturer, he has served on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music and Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, and has been a guest artist/lecturer/clinician at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Royal Northern College of Music (UK), Shanghai and Beijing Central Conservatories.
Rachmanov has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, London’s Barbican and South Bank Centres, at venues across Europe and Asia, and has collaborated as a soloist with the Ukraine National Symphony, and National Orchestra of Porto, among others. He has recorded for Naxos, Parma, Master Musicians and Vista Vera labels.
An active member of the American Liszt Society, Rachmanov is the president of the society’s Southern California chapter. He was the Artistic Director of the ALS 2016 Festival “Liszt and Russia,” hosted by CSUN. His summer festivals include Piano Sicily and InterHarmony in Italy, Corfu Piano Institute in Greece, Montecito in California, Adamant in Vermont; In the summer of 2019 he was a resident at the Brahmshouse in Baden-Baden, Germany. He has served as a Co-Director of the ChamberFest @ CSUN Festival.
A proponent of Russian repertoire, Rachmanov gave the US premiere of Boris Pasternak’s Piano Sonata, broadcast by the NPR, and he is a founding member and President of the Scriabin Society of America. His April 2014 commemorative all-Scriabin program at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall was described as “a ‘poem of ecstasy’ in every sense: giant in conception, quantity, quality, execution, thoughtfulness, and sensitivity” by the New York Concert Review. His 2022 Cambria 2-CD album release “Alexander Scriabin, the 150th Anniversary Celebration,” was praised as a “distinguished recital[…]full of riveting performances” by Fanfare magazine, adding that “Rachmanov may be considered alongside the great Scriabin interpreters.” He is in the process of recording a video anthology of Alexander Scriabin’s piano works.
Rachmanov is a recipient of numerous awards, among them “Jerome Richfield Memorial Scholar” at CSUN and receiving an “Outstanding CAPMT Member State Recognition Award” by California Association of Professional Music Teachers. He is a Steinway Artist.
Learn more at dmitryrachmanov.com
MIKA SASAKI
The Juilliard School
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 4: July 27-August 7, 2026
BM, MM: Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University
DMA: The Juilliard School
Praised as a “superb interpreter” (Fanfare) and for her “virtuosity… and sparkling sound” (Times Argus), pianist Mika Sasaki enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. She has performed across the U.S. and in the U.K., Italy, Japan, and Switzerland, appearing in notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. Her performances have been broadcasted on WQXR, WFMT, WCRB, KQAC, Vermont Public, and Radio Sweden, and she has appeared as concerto soloist with the Sinfonia of Cambridge, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, 92Y Orchestra, and the InterSchool Symphony Orchestra of New York. Her 2025-2026 season includes a tour of J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the world premiere of a new piano work by Chris Rogerson as part of the Kayden Commissioning Program at the Juilliard Pre-College, and chamber music performances in Boston, Dallas, Seattle, Philadelphia, and New York City.
A passionate chamber musician, Mika has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Manhattan Chamber Players, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, and Longleash, and is a member of powerhouse sextet Ensemble Mélange, Decoda (affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall), and Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston. A proud alumna of summer programs such as the Tanglewood Music Center, Music@Menlo, Accademia Chigiana, Yellow Barn, Aspen, Icicle Creek, Mannes Beethoven Institute, and Taos School of Music, she has been invited to perform at festivals such as Weekend of Chamber Music, Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival, Monadnock Music, Time:Spans, Shandelee, Caramoor, Rite of Summer, Connecticut Summerfest, and Taubman Piano Festival. She has taught and performed at pianoSonoma, Rushmore, Omaha SoundWaves, and Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute, and regularly returns to the WCYO’s Charles Ives Music Festival and Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard as artist faculty.
Dedicated to education and community engagement, Mika has also presented interactive performances at schools and community venues all around New York City and across the country, including residencies for String Theory at the Hunter (Chattanooga, TN), Skidmore College, and Chamber Music Northwest (Portland, OR), and is a frequent lecturer for the Juilliard Lifelong Learning program. She has given masterclasses at institutions such as Georgetown University, Deerfield Academy, College of the Holy Cross, UCLA, Music@Menlo, Taubman Piano Festival, Omaha Conservatory, Grand Valley State University, Smith College, and the SOUP International Music Program (Japan).
Based in New York City, Mika is a faculty member at The Juilliard School, where she teaches keyboard skills, piano, and chamber music in the College, Pre-College, and Extension Divisions and serves as Faculty Chair in Piano and Chamber Music in the Extension. She is an alumna of the Peabody Conservatory (B.M., M.M.), Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and The Juilliard School (D.M.A.), where she studied with Joseph Kalichstein and received the Juilliard Career Advancement Grant upon graduation. When not at the piano, she can be found tending to her houseplants, running, folding origami, or chasing after her cat. mikasasaki.com
ARTIST FACULTY
Session 4: July 27-August 7, 2026
BM, MM: Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University
DMA: The Juilliard School
Praised as a “superb interpreter” (Fanfare) and for her “virtuosity… and sparkling sound” (Times Argus), pianist Mika Sasaki enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. She has performed across the U.S. and in the U.K., Italy, Japan, and Switzerland, appearing in notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. Her performances have been broadcasted on WQXR, WFMT, WCRB, KQAC, Vermont Public, and Radio Sweden, and she has appeared as concerto soloist with the Sinfonia of Cambridge, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, 92Y Orchestra, and the InterSchool Symphony Orchestra of New York. Her 2025-2026 season includes a tour of J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the world premiere of a new piano work by Chris Rogerson as part of the Kayden Commissioning Program at the Juilliard Pre-College, and chamber music performances in Boston, Dallas, Seattle, Philadelphia, and New York City.
A passionate chamber musician, Mika has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Manhattan Chamber Players, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, and Longleash, and is a member of powerhouse sextet Ensemble Mélange, Decoda (affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall), and Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston. A proud alumna of summer programs such as the Tanglewood Music Center, Music@Menlo, Accademia Chigiana, Yellow Barn, Aspen, Icicle Creek, Mannes Beethoven Institute, and Taos School of Music, she has been invited to perform at festivals such as Weekend of Chamber Music, Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival, Monadnock Music, Time:Spans, Shandelee, Caramoor, Rite of Summer, Connecticut Summerfest, and Taubman Piano Festival. She has taught and performed at pianoSonoma, Rushmore, Omaha SoundWaves, and Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute, and regularly returns to the WCYO’s Charles Ives Music Festival and Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard as artist faculty.
Dedicated to education and community engagement, Mika has also presented interactive performances at schools and community venues all around New York City and across the country, including residencies for String Theory at the Hunter (Chattanooga, TN), Skidmore College, and Chamber Music Northwest (Portland, OR), and is a frequent lecturer for the Juilliard Lifelong Learning program. She has given masterclasses at institutions such as Georgetown University, Deerfield Academy, College of the Holy Cross, UCLA, Music@Menlo, Taubman Piano Festival, Omaha Conservatory, Grand Valley State University, Smith College, and the SOUP International Music Program (Japan).
Based in New York City, Mika is a faculty member at The Juilliard School, where she teaches keyboard skills, piano, and chamber music in the College, Pre-College, and Extension Divisions and serves as Faculty Chair in Piano and Chamber Music in the Extension. She is an alumna of the Peabody Conservatory (B.M., M.M.), Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and The Juilliard School (D.M.A.), where she studied with Joseph Kalichstein and received the Juilliard Career Advancement Grant upon graduation. When not at the piano, she can be found tending to her houseplants, running, folding origami, or chasing after her cat. mikasasaki.com
SERGEI GLAVATSKIH
Moscow Conservatory
ARTIST FACULTY
Festival 4: July 27-August 7, 2026
Graduate/Post-Graduate studies: Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and Special Music School of the Ural Conservatory
Sergei Glavatskikh is a pianist of the distinguished Neuhaus tradition and a student of the legendary Evgeny Malinin, with whom he also completed postgraduate studies. For many years he served as assistant to Vera Gornostaeva, continuing the artistic lineage of Heinrich Neuhaus.
Born in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) in 1970, he received his early training with L. Raitsyna and later studied at the Special Music School of the Ural Conservatory under M. Olle. In 1988 he became a laureate of the All-Union Competition in Tbilisi and subsequently entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Malinin’s class, graduating in 1993 and completing his postgraduate studies in 1995.
Sergei Glavatskikh is a prizewinner of several international competitions, including the Emil Hajek Memorial (Belgrade, 1990), the First Rachmaninov International Competition (Moscow, 1993), the Eduard Flipse Competition (Rotterdam, 1996), and the piano competitions in Epinal (France, 1997) and Porto (Portugal, 1997).
Since 1994 he has been a soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic. He has taught at the Moscow Conservatory since 1999, working first as assistant to E. R. Richter and V. V. Gornostaeva, and currently serves as an Associate Professor.
Sergei Glavatskikh gives regular masterclasses in Taiwan, Germany, the United States, and throughout Russia and the CIS. He is frequently invited as a jury member of national and international competitions and performs widely in recital, chamber, and orchestral settings. Since 2008 he has been a member of the “New Trio” with violinist Dmitry German and cellist Oleg Bugaev.
ARTIST FACULTY
Festival 4: July 27-August 7, 2026
Graduate/Post-Graduate studies: Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and Special Music School of the Ural Conservatory
Sergei Glavatskikh is a pianist of the distinguished Neuhaus tradition and a student of the legendary Evgeny Malinin, with whom he also completed postgraduate studies. For many years he served as assistant to Vera Gornostaeva, continuing the artistic lineage of Heinrich Neuhaus.
Born in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) in 1970, he received his early training with L. Raitsyna and later studied at the Special Music School of the Ural Conservatory under M. Olle. In 1988 he became a laureate of the All-Union Competition in Tbilisi and subsequently entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Malinin’s class, graduating in 1993 and completing his postgraduate studies in 1995.
Sergei Glavatskikh is a prizewinner of several international competitions, including the Emil Hajek Memorial (Belgrade, 1990), the First Rachmaninov International Competition (Moscow, 1993), the Eduard Flipse Competition (Rotterdam, 1996), and the piano competitions in Epinal (France, 1997) and Porto (Portugal, 1997).
Since 1994 he has been a soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic. He has taught at the Moscow Conservatory since 1999, working first as assistant to E. R. Richter and V. V. Gornostaeva, and currently serves as an Associate Professor.
Sergei Glavatskikh gives regular masterclasses in Taiwan, Germany, the United States, and throughout Russia and the CIS. He is frequently invited as a jury member of national and international competitions and performs widely in recital, chamber, and orchestral settings. Since 2008 he has been a member of the “New Trio” with violinist Dmitry German and cellist Oleg Bugaev.
ASSAFF WEISMAN
The Juilliard School Extension Program
ARTIST FACULTY
AMS Piano Camp: August 9-15, 2026
BM: The Juilliard School
MM: The Juilliard School
Pianist Assaff Weisman has earned an international reputation for performances at leading venues across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Rudolfinum in Prague, Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Philips Hall in The Hague, and Lincoln Center in New York.
A first prize winner of the Iowa International Piano Competition, he has appeared as soloist with the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), Sioux City Symphony, the American Chamber Orchestra, the Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Peru. An avid and sought-after chamber musician, Mr. Weisman has collaborated with Tabea Zimmermann, Isidore Cohen, Peter Wiley, Michael Tree, and Antje Weithaas among others, and has taken part in the Aspen Music Festival, Campos do Jordão (Brazil), Lima Chamber Music Festival (Peru), The Music Festival of the Hamptons, and Verbier (Switzerland). He is a founding member, and the Executive Director of the award-winning Israeli Chamber Project, with which he has toured since 2008.
Mr. Weisman is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as a student of Herbert Stessin, and where he is a member of the Extension Division piano faculty. Prior to his studies in New York, he studied with Professor Victor Derevianko in Israel where he was a winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarships. Mr. Weisman is a Yamaha Artist.
ARTIST FACULTY
AMS Piano Camp: August 9-15, 2026
BM: The Juilliard School
MM: The Juilliard School
Pianist Assaff Weisman has earned an international reputation for performances at leading venues across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Rudolfinum in Prague, Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Philips Hall in The Hague, and Lincoln Center in New York.
A first prize winner of the Iowa International Piano Competition, he has appeared as soloist with the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), Sioux City Symphony, the American Chamber Orchestra, the Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Peru. An avid and sought-after chamber musician, Mr. Weisman has collaborated with Tabea Zimmermann, Isidore Cohen, Peter Wiley, Michael Tree, and Antje Weithaas among others, and has taken part in the Aspen Music Festival, Campos do Jordão (Brazil), Lima Chamber Music Festival (Peru), The Music Festival of the Hamptons, and Verbier (Switzerland). He is a founding member, and the Executive Director of the award-winning Israeli Chamber Project, with which he has toured since 2008.
Mr. Weisman is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as a student of Herbert Stessin, and where he is a member of the Extension Division piano faculty. Prior to his studies in New York, he studied with Professor Victor Derevianko in Israel where he was a winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarships. Mr. Weisman is a Yamaha Artist.
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