2023 American Liszt Society Festival

S. Mark Aliapoulios, baritone is Professor of Voice, Associate Dean, and Coordinator of Vocal Studies in the College of the Arts at Palm Beach Atlantic University. From 2009-2021 he taught on the summer faculty of the New England Music Camp in Sydney, Maine. World Premieres include creating the roles of “Creon” in Medea (Ray Luke/Rockefeller Foundation Grant), “Cadmos” in The Bacchae (Theodore Antoniou/Athens Festival Greece), “The Father” in The Juniper Tree (Phillip Glass/American Repertory Theatre) and “Stumpy” in the musical The Luck of Roaring Camp (Lubben Brothers/PBAU Theatre). Faculty positions include: The University of Massachusetts, Boston University, New England Conservatory,  University of Miami, Florida Atlantic and Florida International Universities. Soloist with: Boston, Portland, and Pittsburg Symphonies,  Cleveland Orchestra, Shinsei Nippon Symphony (Tokyo), Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Mark Morris Dance Company, Boston Ballet Orchestra, Boston’s Opera Company and Lyric Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Miami Bach Society, Festival Miami. He conducted the FIU Concert Choir recording of Orlando Garcia’s Auschwitz (“nunca se olvidaràn”) receiving a Latin Grammy nomination (Toccata Classics label).

Ben Arnold, a musicology professor at the University of Kentucky, specializes in the music of Franz Liszt and the topic of music and war. In addition to writing for and editing The Liszt Companion (Greenwood Press), he is also the author of Music and War. His publications on Liszt appear in New Perspectives on Liszt and His Music, Liszt and His World, Liszt and the Birth of Modern Europe, and the Journal of the American Liszt Society. He assumed editorship of JALS in 2022.

As a pianist, Arnold also performs frequently as a collaborative artist with soprano Elizabeth Packard Arnold. They performed an all-Liszt song recital in Weimar, Germany, as part of the International Franz Liszt Congress’s 200 th -anniversary celebration of the composer’s birth in 2011 and at several American Liszt Society festivals. From 2003 to 2012, Arnold served as Director of the University of Kentucky School of Music.

Elizabeth Packard Arnold, soprano, has performed as a soloist in recitals and oratorios throughout the U.S. with emphasis on early music and the Lieder of Franz Liszt. Noted previous performances of Liszt’s songs include a recital in Weimar, Germany as part of the International Franz Liszt Congress for the 200th anniversary of his birth (2011) and at the American Liszt Festival in San Francisco in 2013 and 2019 in Arizona. For many years she performed frequently as a soloist with New Trinity Baroque Ensemble (NTB) in performances of Bach cantatas, solo cantatas of Handel, and Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. She collaborates with her colleague Dieter Hennings, lute/guitar in performances locally and nationally. Professor Arnold holds a DMA in performance from the University of Cincinnati. She is an Associate Professor of voice at the University of Kentucky and serves as an Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts.

Dr. Sonya G. Baker has served on the faculty and in administrative positions at James Madison University and Murray State University. Noted for her performances of American music, Dr.
Baker has been heard in concert both nationally and internationally, including a debut at Carnegie Hall with Michael Tilson Thomas and a tour to Spain with the American Spiritual Ensemble. Her debut recording, SHE SAYS, features art songs of American Women composers and her lecture recital on Marian Anderson has been presented nationwide. Baker’s leadership in the arts includes serving as board member for the Kentucky Arts Council and as Kentucky Governor for the National Association of Teachers of Singing. With a dedication to educating young people in the arts, Baker is a former faculty member of Governor’s School programs for high schoolers in Kentucky and Virginia. She holds degrees from Yale, Indiana and Florida State Universities and is currently Professor of Voice at James Madison University.

Charismatic and popular with audiences in recital and concerto settings, Huiping Cai is an engaging pianist renowned for her lyricism, musicality, and formidable technique. After winning First Prize, Best Concerto Award, and Best Recital Award at the 2017 Philadelphia International Piano Competition, she also won first prizes at the 2018 Miami Music Festival Piano Concerto Competition, the 2019 Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, CT, and the 2022 Los Angeles International Liszt Competition. Ms. Cai has performed as a soloist across the United States and worldwide including Mexico, Russia, Kazakhstan, and her home country China.

Huiping graduated from New England Conservatory where she studied with Dang Thai Son. She is currently pursuing her DMA in piano performance and literature at the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Alan Chow.

Mark De Zwaan is a musician of wide versatility. He has been featured as a piano artist and clinician both overseas and in the United States, appearing at venues such as the Steinway Pacific Headquarters in Shanghai, China and the Mendelssohn Concert Hall in Luckenwalde, Germany. Recent appearances include the Silvermine Artist Series in Norwalk, CT and the 56th Annual Contemporary Music Festival in Terre Haute, IN. De Zwaan has presented lectures as an exponent of Franz Liszt to crowds across the globe. He brings this perspective to the music-history curriculum at Bradley University as Assistant Professor of Music History and Piano. At Bradley he has also instructed courses in music theory, aural skills, and music technology, in addition to applied lessons in both classical studies and jazz improvisation. De Zwaan is a graduate of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a student of the late Karen Shaw.

Gabriel Dobner has recorded for Ottavo, MDG and Hänssler Klassik.  His recording for MDG with Mezzo, Cornelia Kallisch, received high praise from BBC Music, referring to Dobner as a “master Lieder pianist”.  Mr. Dobner’s first recording with Met Tenor, Gerhard Siegel was released in the fall of 2015 (Strauss, Schoenberg and Kurt Hessenberg). They released a second recording in the fall of 2019, under the same label (Strauss and Wagner). Gabriel Dobner has also recorded extensively for radio (Saint Paul Sunday, the Bavarian Radio, Southwest Germany, Middle Germany, and the Chubo-Nippon Broadcasting Company in Japan).

Dobner has performed with such notable singers as Cornelia Kallisch, Gerhard Siegel, René Kollo, Rod Gilfry and Kevin McMillan. These musical collaborations led to performances in many major venues throughout Germany, Austria, Hungary as well as the United States and Asia.  Gabriel Dobner has been on faculty at James Madison University since 2001 and  AIMS in Graz, Austria since 2017. 

Robert Bryant Dundas is an Associate Professor of Voice &; Opera at Florida International University. He completed his graduate studies in Voice and Opera at the University of Iowa, before embarking on a professional singing career in Germany. He held engagements in Annaberg, Flensburg, Freiberg, and Saarbrücken in Germany and made guest appearances at theaters in Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland.

More recently, he has performed with the Florida Grand Opera. His opera roles include Almaviva, Tamino, Don Ottavio, Nemorino, Don Jose, the Duke of Mantua, and numerous operetta roles. At home as well on the concert and recital stage, he has performed with the Bel Canto Society of Cape Cod, Monomoy Chamber Music Series, Miami Master Chorale, Monadnock Chorus &; Orchestra, Imperial Symphony, Miami Bach Society, and the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic. In recent years, he has presented recitals in Italy, Austria, and throughout the state of Florida. 

Richard Fountain is Associate Dean and Professor of Piano in the School of Creative Arts at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, TX, where he chairs the Department of Music and teaches entrepreneurship, applied and collaborative piano, and piano pedagogy in both traditional and online formats. Fountain also serves as Principal Keyboard for Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra and the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. His major teachers and mentors include David Gerard, Leon Harshenin, Paul Barnes, Malcolm Bilson, and Luiz de Moura Castro. Fountain is one of very few pianists to perform the complete cycle of Franz Liszt’s monumental transcriptions of Beethoven’s nine symphonies. He is also devoted to American piano music from all eras, as well as the poetic and religious music of Liszt. Fountain is an enthusiastic traveler, having traveled to forty-four of the fifty United States and ten other countries. He possesses a strangely comprehensive knowledge of the U.S. Interstate Highway system.

Through some 200 works, composed for a range of performance genres many premiered at major international festivals by renowned performers, Orlando Jacinto Garcia has established himself as an important figure in the new music world. The distinctive character of his music has been described as “time suspended sonic explorations”; qualities developed from working with Morton Feldman among others. Born in Cuba, he came to the US in the 1960s where he has resided since. With works recorded on numerous albums released here and abroad, Garcia has received recognition from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, Knight, and Cintas Foundations, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and is the recipient of 5 Latin Grammy nominations. Founder of the New Music Miami Festival, the NODUS Ensemble and resident composer for the Miami Symphony, Garcia is a dedicated educator, Distinguished University Professor and Composer-in-Residence for the School of Music at Florida International University.

Dr. Lindsay Garritson has performed throughout the United States and abroad since the age of four. She has appeared on stages such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Place des Arts (Montreal). An award-winning performer, Lindsay as received top prizes at the Montreal International Piano Competition and USASU Bösendorfer International Piano Competition. Lindsay is a passionate advocate for new music, and her Carnegie Hall recital debut featured the world premiere of Carl Vine's Piano Sonata No. 4, a work written for her. An avid chamber musician, Lindsay has performed with artists such as Ani Kavafian, Elmar Oliveira, and Carter Brey. She is a member of the Bergonzi Piano Trio, and since 2018 she has been a collaborative pianist at the Ravinia Festival's Steans Institute. Lindsay holds degrees from Principia College (B.A. in Music), Yale School of Music (M.M. and Artist Diploma), and the University of Miami (D.M.A.).

“Gekic rides the charismatic edge of genius”  R. Dyer, Boston Globe
“He is something like a general who has learned all the rules in the book and is therefore free to ignore them in the time of war” James Roos, Miami Herald
“His playing is transcendental as well as incandescent” John Ardoin, Dallas Morning News
Performing worldwide from vast repertoire, Kemal Gekic presents fascinating, ever-changing interpretations as a soloist and in collaboration with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, Warsaw Philharmonic and Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in halls such as Gewandhouse Leipzig, Suntory Hall Tokyo.
As a recording artist, Gekic has won accolades in Europe, America and Japan espousing insightful views of the music in 25 albums as well as a double Grammy Nomination for his recording of Fredrick Kaufman's Guernica Concerto.
He is Artist in Residence and Full Professor at the Florida International University in Miami.

Recognized for both his sensitivity and panache, pianist Matthew Gianforte enjoys an active career as a soloist, collaborator, and teacher, having performed across the United States and abroad. Highlights of past seasons include successful solo debut appearances in Zhejiang Province, China, Weill Hall, Sarada and Philia Halls (Japan), and at several American universities. He and his wife, Meeyoun Park, are highly sought-after performers of the duo-piano and four-hand literature, appearing regularly at festivals, conferences, and concert series across the country. Dr. Gianforte currently serves as Professor and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Murray State University in Kentucky. In addition to his collegiate teaching, he has taught at the Indiana University Piano Academy since 2004, and he regularly presents master classes and serves as an adjudicator in competitions. Matthew Gianforte is a graduate of Catholic University and Indiana University, where his primary teachers were Marilyn Neeley and Karen Shaw.

James Giles regularly performs in important musical centers in America, Europe, and Asia. He recently toured Denmark and performed recitals in Toronto, Paris, Naples, Budapest, and Manchester. He has premiered works by William Bolcom, Stephen Hough, Lowell Liebermann, Ned Rorem, Augusta Read Thomas, and Earl Wild. A native of North Carolina, Dr. Giles studied with Byron Janis at the Manhattan School of Music, Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School, and Lazar Berman in Italy as a Fulbright recipient. Dr. Giles is coordinator of the piano program and director of graduate studies at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and during the summers teaches at the Amalfi Coast Festival, the Gijon Piano Festival and the Obidos Master Classes. He has given master classes at Juilliard, Manhattan, Eastman, Oberlin, Indiana, and Yale. His classes internationally have occurred throughout China as well as at Seoul National University, the Sibelius Academy, the Chopin Academy, and the Royal College of Music.

Pianist Daniel Glover has performed throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. Critics have said: “Glover is an incisive, exciting, and apparently tireless player…a natural for hyper-virtuosic challenge.” “The elegance and civility of Glover’s approach was musically unimpeachable…a flawless sense of Lisztian style incorporating its emotional depth.” Mr. Glover trained with Eugene List, Abbey Simon, Jerome Lowenthal, Nancy Bachus and Thomas LaRatta. He holds a master’s degree from New York’s Juilliard School, where he was a scholarship student. He has served on the faculties of New York University, University of the Virgin Islands, University of San Francisco, and Notre Dame de Namur University. Mr. Glover has recorded ten CDs, and has been a published author and editor for Dover Publications, including editions of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, an album of orchestral pieces as transcribed by Liszt, and the complete piano music of Paul Dukas.

Pianist Gila Goldstein is known as a versatile musician and has captivated audiences around the world with her unique artistry and soulful interpretations. Ms. Goldstein has performed as a solo artist and collaborative pianist throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Korea, the Philippines, Europe and Israel. A sought-after pedagogue for nearly two decades and has given numerous master classes in the USA, China and Korea. She is currently a member of the piano faculty at Longy School of Music in Boston and at Brown University in Providence. Previous teaching positions included Boston University, BU Tanglewood Institute and New York University. A champion of the music of Israel's leading composer Paul Ben-Haim for over two decades as a performer and recording artist, Ms. Goldstein has recorded two volumes of his entire piano and chamber works on the Centaur label. She obtained her music degrees in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Prof. Nina Svetlanova and the Tel-Aviv University's School of Music where she studied with Prof. Victor Derevianko.

Please visit her web site, www.gilagoldstein.com.

A prizewinner of numerous competitions, pianist Ji-Hyang Gwak made appearances across the US, in Czech, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Korea. Gwak has won top prizes at the Sicily International Piano Competition, Seattle International Piano Competition, Franz Liszt International Piano Competition – Ohio, The MFMC Rosamond P. Haeberle Memorial Piano Award, High Point Univ. Piano Competition, Michigan MTNA Young Artist Piano Competition, and the Eastman Concerto Competition. Her most recent achievement was in the 2021 Lyon International Music Competition in France, where she won third prize and received concert engagement from the Association Frédéric Chopin à Lyon. Gwak holds a BM in Piano Performance from Seoul National University and a MM in Piano Performance and Literature from Eastman School of Music. She recently completed her Specialist degree at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Prof. Christopher Harding, where she earned a DMA degree in piano performance in 2020. 

Jay Hershberger, president of the American Liszt Society, has played throughout the North American continent, Europe, and Asia. Highlights include the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Library of Congress, Yamaha Piano Salon in New York City and the Fryderyk Chopin Society of Connecticut. He has performed in Europe, including Finland, Scotland, the Amalfi Coast Music Festival and the South Bohemia Music Festival.  He has toured China, performing and giving piano masterclasses in Hong Kong, Zhouhai, Chong-Ching, Chengdu, and Beijing.  He is currently Professor of Piano at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.  Hershberger has judged for the Chicago International Piano Competition, the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, the Los Angeles International Young Musicians Piano Competition, the Franz Liszt International Piano Festival and Competition, the Phoenix Young Artist Competition, and the Music Teachers National Association state and regional performance competitions. His principal teachers were Robert Hamilton, Robert Roux, and Boaz Sharon.  He also coached with Luiz de Moura Castro and Natan Brand.

Pianist Daniel Paul Horn performs widely in recital, on radio, and with orchestra.  As a chamber musician, he collaborates with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, played in Beijing with the MasterWorks Ensemble, and has performed with the Ying Quartet.  He works with noted singers, and has premiered compositions of Jacob Bancks, Delvyn Case, Richard Danielpour, David M. Gordon, Daniel Kellogg, and Max Raimi.   He recorded the critically praised disc “Wanderings” on a Graf fortepiano, an all-Schumann recital, and discs with flutist Jennie Oh Brown, cellist Donald Moline, and soprano Carolyn Hart.

Horn studied at Peabody and earned a doctorate at Juilliard.  His principal teachers include Walter Hautzig, Martin Canin, and Menahem Pressler.  Currently Professor of Piano and Chair of Keyboard Studies at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, he has served as a faculty artist at numerous American summer festivals, and is treasurer of the American Liszt Society.

Jeffrey L. Jones is well versed in both stage and concert repertoire. Stage credits include: Papageno in Magic Flute, Escamillo in Carmen, Belcore in Elixir of Love, Father in Hansel and Gretel, Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors and Baron Douphol in La Traviata. Highlights of concert and oratorio solo credits: Passion According to St. John and B MinorMass (Bach), Requiem (Brahms), Requiem (Duruflé), Requiem (Fauré), Messiah (Handel), Elijah (Mendelssohn), Coronation Mass and Requiem (Mozart), Carmina Burana (Orff), Mass in G (Schubert) and Belshazzar’s Feast (Walton).  He has performed with Arizona Opera, Atlanta Opera, Carolina Master Chorale, Chattanooga Symphony, Long Bay Symphony, Music in the Mountains Festival, the Phoenix Chorale, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers. Jeffrey is a member of the music department faculty at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina.

David Kalhous has gained critical acclaim in the United States, Europe and Asia for his wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous programming spanning more than three centuries. He has appeared with Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, Prague Philharmonia, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic, and Chamber Philharmonia Pardubice. He performed at the Prague Spring, Gilmore, and Czech Philharmonic Chamber festivals, and recorded for Czech Radio and WFMT Chicago. In New York, he plays regularly at Bargemusic, Symphony Center, Spectrum and Czech Center NYC; and in Chicago at PianoForte and Constellation. He has performed new music with Fonema Consort in Chicago and Konvergence Ensemble in Prague, his recordings of sonatas by Scarlatti, Beethoven, Liszt and Janáček can be heard on Neos, ArcoDiva and Radioservis labels. David Kalhous’ principal teachers were Jaroslav Čermák, Paul Badura Skoda, Victor Derevianko, David Northington, Peter Frankl and Ursula Oppens. He is Associate Professor at Florida State University College of Music.

Italian-Egyptian pianist, organizer and researcher based in Brooklyn, NY. Recent spotlights include concerts with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Filarmonica Pozzoli, the Amadeus Orchestra and solo appearances at Steinway Hall New York City and Harbin Concert Hall (China).

Khalifa's mentors are pianists German Diez and Ena Bronstein-Barton, both longtime pupils of Claudio Arrau. Her research on Diez shaped the documentary Piano Lessons, a movie officially endorsed by the American Liszt Society, selected for several film festivals, and now released on Amazon Video and Tubi Tv.

Khalifa’s project on Latin classical music, Legado, was recipient of the New York City Artist Corps Grant 2021, and has led her to a collaboration with SOLA for the critical edition of music by Alfredo Diez Nieto. The artist’s first album, Elevation, which includes the premiere of Diez Nieto’s Tocata, received a silver medal at the Global Music Awards 2022 for outstanding music achievements

American pianist Joseph Kingma enjoys an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. In his New York solo debut at the Yamaha Artist Salon, the New York Concert Review wrote that he: “coaxed the listener into the music’s poetry from the very first notes…though his technique emerged through the program as one which is capable of anything, it was always used in the service of the music itself.”  He won first prize in the American Liszt Society's first Franz Liszt International Piano Competition and third prize in the 2022 American Prize Competition.  He has also won awards several other international contests. Several of his performances have been featured on Chicago’s classical music radio station, 98.7 WFMT. Joseph’s website is www.josephkingma.com.

He describes as his special interest, music that lives in undeserved obscurity. The NY Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Berlin’s Die Welt, and Baltimore Sun have lauded both his programming and performances. He has been selected by composers of note to perform premieres of compositions. i.e. Robert Starer, John Downey, Peter Schickele,William Ferris, Robert Cucinotta, Paul Alan Levi, Giles Malkine, and Tim Mukherjee. Justin has performed as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, NW Indiana Symphony, Hamburg Phiharmonic, and the Amernet String Quartet.  He is a recipient of: the Distinguished Alumni Award from DePaul University, and the Legion of Merit from the US Army. He serves as Executive Secretary of the American Liszt Society’s Board of Directors and as Chairman Emeritus of the Phoenicia, Int’l Festival of the Voice. Justin is self-agented and may be contacted by visiting justinkolb.com.

The only pianist currently performing Liszt's 24 Etudes as a single program and one of few to tout a concerto list that features over 60 works, Asiya Korepanova is a pianistic powerhouse, who is also highly recognized as a transcriber, composer, visual artist, and poet.

Asiya’s solo piano transcriptions of Richard Strauss’ 'Ein Heldenleben', Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata, Mussorgsky's 'Songs and Dances of Death' and Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony have given her a place among today’s formidable transcribers.

Having studied composition with Albert Leman, the composition chair of Moscow Conservatory and a student of Dmitry Shostakovich, she is faithful to classical forms in writing her own music.  

Additionally, Asiya creates multimedia projects featuring her original poetry and artworks for piano music by Liszt, Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Mussorgsky.

In 2023, Asiya celebrates Rachmaninoff’s 150th anniversary performing his complete solo piano works in 6 recital programs throughout the United States.
More information: www.asiyakorepanova.com

Jeffrey LaDeur is known for his rare blend of insight, spontaneity, and approachable, communicative stage presence. Clic Musique Magazine (France) lauded “…an irreproachable legato, a beautiful palette of nuances, and an always well-balanced sound.”  Having inherited a rich tradition of pianism and interpretation from Annie Sherter, student of Vlado Perlemuter and Alfred Cortot, LaDeur has established himself as a compelling exponent of classic and new repertoire. In March of 2018, LaDeur made his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall on the centennial of Claude Debussy’s death. He appears regularly with orchestra and maintains a repertoire of over 40 concerti. LaDeur is the founder and artistic director of the San Francisco International Piano Festival and president of the American Liszt Society, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. 

José López is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Keyboard Studies Program at Florida International University in Miami;  President of the South Florida Chapter of the American Liszt Society and Secretary of the London-based Alkan Society.  A versatile pianist and enthusiastic performer of chamber music, he has recorded for SNE, Albany, Innova and Toccata Classics record labels.  His Toccata Classics discography includes the complete piano works of Italian dodecaphonic composer Riccardo Malipiero; Alkan’s complete Mozart transcriptions; and an ongoing series dedicated to forgotten Cuban/Spanish composers (Comellas, Espadero). His latest 2019 CD release of selected works by Nicolás Ruiz Espadero (1832-1890) complements López’s 2021 publication of Espadero’s unpublished Transcendental Studies in the Cuban Musical Patrimony series.  López received his BM, MM and DMA degrees from the University of Miami School of Music, where he studied with Rosalina Guerrero Sackstein, a former pupil of Rafael de Silva and Claudio Arrau.

Kevin McMillan is one of the most respected lyric baritones and vocal pedagogues of his generation. Critics have praised his “elegant voice” and “singularly remarkable interpretive skills” in appearances with almost every major North American orchestra under conductors such as Norrington, Blomstedt, Davis, Järvi, Dutoit, Rilling and the late Robert Shaw, Kurt Masur, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Pierre Boulez, and Frühbeck de Burgos. His Carmina burana recording with Herbert Blomstedt and the San Francisco Symphony received a GRAMMY award. After schooling in Canada at the University of Guelph and Western University, he attained a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School. He is a Professor of Voice in the School of Music at James Madison University, where he teaches a full studio of undergraduate and graduate voice students, Undergraduate and Graduate Vocal Pedagogy, coaches the JMU Bach Aria Group, and serves as the Voice Area Auditions & Admissions Coordinator.

Pianist Ksenia Nosikova, praised as “First rate” (Fono Forum), “Full of dramatic intensity” (International Piano), “Phenomenal instrumentalist; absorbing, dramatic, compelling, and riveting” (Fanfare Magazine), and “Impressive musicianship, musically very poetic” (Boston Globe), has performed across the globe. Her extensive repertoire of masterworks and lesser-known compositions includes over thirty piano concertos. Among her twelve critically acclaimed CD recordings are complete Années de Pèlerinage by Franz Liszt and Aus Meinem Tagebuch, Op. 82 by Max Reger. A graduate of Moscow Conservatory and University of Colorado, Dr. Ksenia Nosikova is a professor and co-chair of piano department at the University of Iowa School of Music, where she teaches a vibrant international studio of accomplished young pianists. She presented over two hundred master classes and is an artist faculty member of Wiener MusikSeminar International Master Classes (Austria). Ksenia Nosikova is a Steinway Artist and 2021 Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame inductee.

Hailed as “spine-tingling” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) and “breathtaking” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), American pianist Kyle Orth possesses unusual virtuosity and artistic sensitivity. Since his orchestral debut at the age of fifteen, Orth has appeared as a soloist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Oaxaca (Mexico), Orquesta Sinfónica de Arequipa (Peru), and Springfield Symphony Orchestra, performing under the batons of Jaap van Zweden, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Hugh Wolff, and others. He recently performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra on their subscription series, a performance the Star Tribune described as being “thrillingly visceral.” As a chamber musician, Orth has studied and performed in festivals such as the Perlman Music Program and Ravinia Steans Music Institute. Mr. Orth holds performance degrees from Texas Christian University and New England Conservatory, having studied with John Owings and Wha Kyung Byun. He is currently a doctoral candidate at New England Conservatory and a faculty member at Wheaton College Conservatory of Music.

Meeyoun Park has performed to critical acclaim throughout the United States and abroad as both a soloist and collaborator, having played in significant venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center. A highly sought-after collaborative pianist, her artistic versatility has led to collaboration with many renowned singers, instrumentalists, and opera companies throughout the world. Equally at home as an artist-teacher, Dr. Park is currently Professor of Music at Murray State University, having previously served as a staff accompanist at the Oberlin Conservatory and DePauw University. Since 2017, Dr. Park has been on the faculty of the Indiana University Summer Piano Academy, and she regularly serves as a masterclass clinician and guest adjudicator in competitions. A native of Seoul, Korea, Dr. Park graduated from Yonsei University and Indiana University. Her primary teachers include Karen Shaw, Bong-Ae Shin, Sung Yup Hwang, and Yunghae Chun.

Italian pianist Alvise Pascucci has been defined by music critics as an outstanding young pianist who possesses a virtuoso technique as well as the musicianship of the highest order. To date, he has been awarded over 60 prizes in National and International competitions.

Alvise has performed in various venues, including Steinway Hall in London, UK, Military Circle Hall in Ploieşti, Romania, Teatro degli Industri of Grosseto, Italy, Dar Sebastien in Hammamet, Tunisia, and the Gnessin Academy of Music concert hall in Moscow, Russia. He has played as a soloist with several orchestras. His 2019 commitments included concerts in New York at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, Taiwan, and Italy.

Demonstrating his musical versatility, in addition to the piano, Alvise started to learn the violin at the age of nine. He is currently working towards his DMA in Piano at UC Santa Barbara with Paul Berkowitz, where he has been awarded the prestigious Chancellor’s Fellowship.

Lauded in the New York Times for her “admirable fluidity,” Amy Petrongelli’s diverse performance career embraces both traditional and contemporary vocal repertoire. She has been a featured performer for organizations such as the Five Boroughs Music Festival, the Casement Fund Recital Series, and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and has collaborated with members of Eighth Blackbird, Bent Frequency, Alarm Will Sound, Metropolis Ensemble, and Latitude 49. Amy is the vocalist and a founding member of Khemia Ensemble, an ensemble dedicated to reflecting diverse perspectives in contemporary classical chamber music. She is also the director of the Vocal Academy at the Collaborative Piano Institute, held each summer in Baton Rouge, LA. Amy is currently an Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of Georgia, having previously taught at Baylor University, Penn State University, and Eastern Michigan University. 

Pianist Éva Polgár has been featured at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in Germany, and at the Vigadó Concert Hall in Budapest, among other notable venues. Recently she toured the US as Hungary Foundation’s Cultural Ambassador of the Year. Her album Liszt: Harmonies patriotiques et religieuses was released under Hunnia Records. In the realm of cross-disciplinary endeavors, she collaborates with visual artist Sándor Vály. Their experimental music albums inspired by literature and visual arts are released under Ektro Records. Besides teaching at Azusa Pacific University, she is a co-director of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition and a member of Board of Directors at the Southern California Chapter and the national organization of the American Liszt Society. A graduate of the Franz Liszt University in Budapest and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Polgár earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of North Texas. 

Dr. Philip M. Powell is a Professor of Music and has been a faculty member at Coastal Carolina University since 1988, teaching piano, piano pedagogy and music history. Dr. Powell has maintained an active performing schedule performing concerti ranging from Mozart to Gershwin. As a collaborative pianist, Powell has appeared with artists such as Kennedy Center Honors recipient Martina Arroyo, soprano; Ignat Solzhenitsyn, piano; Sungwon Yang, cello; David Jolley, French horn; and Grammy nominated composer and performer, Valerie Coleman. In 2021, Dr. Powell was inducted into the Steinway “Teacher Hall of Fame,” which serves as a tribute to the many outstanding teachers and mentors with whom Dr. Powell had the privilege to work.

Dmitry Rachmanov is the Chair of Keyboard at CSU Northridge. He has served on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music, Roosevelt University, and has appeared as a guest artist/lecturer at The Juilliard and Colburn Schools, New England Conservatory, Beijing Central and Shanghai Conservatories. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, London's Barbican and South Bank Centres, in major halls of China, and was soloist with Ukraine National Symphony, National Orchestra of Porto and Vidin Sinfonietta, among others.  He has recorded for Naxos, Parma, Master Musicians and Vista Vera labels. Rachmanov is a founding member and president of the Scriabin Society of America; he also serves as the president of the American Liszt Society’s Southern California Chapter. A co-founder of the CSUN ChamberFest and faculty at Montecito and InterHarmony festivals, Dr. Rachmanov is a recipient of numerous awards, and he was named the 2018-19 Research Fellow at CSUN’s Mike Curb College.

Jay Rosenblatt has done extensive research on the life and music of Franz Liszt and is responsible for uncovering a new Liszt piano concerto, given its world premiere in 1990 and later published by Editio Musica Budapest. Among his publications are articles in the Journal of the American Liszt Society, the Pendragon Review, and the Liszt-Jahrbuch, and he contributed two chapters to The Liszt Companion (Greenwood Press). His editions of Liszt’s Concerto in E-flat Major, op. posth., and De Profundis: Psaume Instrumental have been performed and recorded by several notable pianists, including Leslie Howard, Louis Lortie, Jerome Lowenthal, and Steven Mayer. He is currently Professor of Music History at the University of Arizona.

Roberta Rust has concertized to critical acclaim around the globe and has been hailed for her recordings on the Navona, Centaur, and Protone labels. She appeared with the Lark, Ying, Serafin, Amernet and Fine Arts String Quartets, performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony and the New World Symphony, served as Artistic Ambassador for the United States, and was awarded a major National Endowment for the Arts grant. Dr. Rust serves as head of the piano department at the Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida and has given master classes throughout Asia and the Americas. During the summers she teaches at the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival and the Adamant Music School in Vermont. She has been a competition adjudicator for the Bösendorfer -Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition, MTNA competitions, the New World Symphony, the Chautauqua and Brevard Festivals, and the Colburn School's Music Academy.

For more information please visit www.robertarust.com.

Currently associate professor and piano area chair at the University of Georgia, Liza Stepanova previously taught at Smith College and The Juilliard School. In the summer of 2023, she is joining the faculty at Brevard and returning to the Bowdoin and Songfest festivals. 2022-23 season highlights include a premiere of a chamber work by Lowell Liebermann at Chamber Music Athens, a festival Stepanova created, an invited headliner recital at the TMTA State Conference in Tennessee, and tours with the Concert Artists Guild-winning Lysander Piano Trio at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, New York City, Arizona, Florida, Wyoming, and in Canada. Stepanova’s second solo CD "E Pluribus Unum" (Navona, 2020) earned her a “New Artist of the Month” distinction by Musical America Worldwide and received acclaim in International Piano, Keyboard Magazine, BBC Music Magazine, and Gramophone. Stepanova holds a DMA from Juilliard and previously studied and lived in Berlin, Germ

Described in The WholeNote as “an innovative musician and aggressive thinker with a gift for keyboard brilliance,” pianist Nicholas Susi enjoys a multifaceted career as performer, clinician, adjudicator, and lecturer. His artistry has been recognized through top prizes in such competitions as the NFMC Young Artist Award, while his research has been awarded prestigious grants from the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst amongst others. Noteworthy appearances include his semifinalist recital during the 2014 International Franz Liszt Piano Competition (Utrecht, The Netherlands) and concerto solos with several orchestras across the United States and Europe.

His debut recording, Scarlatti Now, has received critical acclaim and international radio airplay. Dr. Susi is Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of South Carolina. He received his doctorate from the University of Michigan, with previous studies at the University of Kansas and Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.

For more information, please visit www.nicholas-susi.com.

Hungarian pianist Péter Tóth has performed in over twenty countries all over the globe, including Japan, South Korea, Russia, France, Germany, and the United States. As a competitor, Dr. Tóth has won top prizes at numerous piano competitions, such as the American Paderewski Piano Competition (2013), the Franz Liszt International Piano and Voice Competition in Los Angeles (2010), and the Franz Liszt International Piano Competitions in Budapest (2001) and Weimar (2000). In 2006, his first released CD recording (Liszt: Late Piano Works) won the Grand Prize of the Hungarian Liszt Society. Dr. Tóth is a regular guest artist at various music festivals, such as the American Liszt Festival and the Festival Musique en Vallée du Tarn in France. In 2017, he joined the music faculty at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He also taught piano at the Mason Gross School of the Arts Extension Division at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey between 2016 and 2019.

Taige Wang is a 12-year-old pianist and composer. He began piano lessons at the age of four, won his first competition at age 5 and performed live on China Central Television; then he gave his first full recital by invitation of Steinway & Sons in Dalian, China, aged seven. He now has nearly 40 competition wins to his credit across Asia, Europe, and North America, and performance highlights include appearances at Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium, the Nixon Presidential Library, and Ognisko Polskie, London, in the presence of HRH The Duke of Kent. 

Taige is also a prize-winning composer. This year, he was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to write a piano trio; he’ll perform its debut at Alice Tully Hall in April. He currently attends The Juilliard School Pre-College and is a From the Top fellow. Outside of piano, Taige is enthusiastic about serving the community, and received the President’s Volunteer Gold Service Award in 2022. He loves solving Rubik’s Cubes.

American Pianist Heidi Louise Williams has concertized across North America and abroad and has worked with many distinguished composers. Praised by New York critic Harris Goldsmith for her ‘impeccable soloistic authority’ and ‘dazzling performances,’ her playing has been described as ‘veritably operatic,’ ‘bold yet thoughtful,’ ‘provocative and stimulating’ (Fanfare), possessing ‘muscularity and poetic power’ (American Record Guide). Her solo, collaborative and concerto recordings on the Naxos, Albany, Centaur and Neos labels have received noteworthy acclaim. Currently Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Florida State University, Williams holds three degrees from Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Ann Schein and chamber music with Earl Carlyss, Samuel Sanders, Stephen Kates, and Robert McDonald. Williams is the 2020 recipient of the FSU Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award and FSU Undergraduate Teaching Award. Her students have won regional, national, and international recognition, earning many professional placements.

For more information, visit www.heidilouisewilliams.com.

Grigorios Zamparas, is a concert pianist, and performs both as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles. He is an active clinician for piano competitions and has given master classes around the world.  Newport Daily News called him “sensational,” American Record Guide commented on his “formidable technique,” and Fanfare called him “straightforward, crisp, and fluent.” Dr. Zamparas holds a DMA degree from the University of Miami and degrees from Indiana University (MM), University of Indianapolis (BM), and the Aristotle University of Thessalonica, Greece. He is a Professor of Music and the head of the piano program at The University of Tampa, in Tampa, Florida. He has recorded seven albums for Centaur Records, including the complete piano concertos of Anton Rubinstein and Richard Strauss’ Burlesque. Upcoming recording releases will include works by Rachmaninoff and Schumann. Grigorios Zamparas is a Yamaha Artist.