2013 Bay State Contest Judges

Transcription

1 NEWTON CULTURAL CENTER 2013 Bay State Contest Judges Markus Placci, violin Italian violinist Markus Placci has perfomed solo concerts throughout Europe and the United States in renowned venues such as the Great Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg (Russia), the Teatro Monumental in Madrid, the Kursaal in Baden-Baden, the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan, the Kennedy Center in Washington, and the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton. Since his solo debut at age 13 with the Bologna Symphony, Mr. Placci has appeared in solo performances with major symphony orchestras like the Barcelona Symphony, the Radio-Television Orchestra of Spain (RTVE), the Baden-Baden Philarmonie, Milan's Pomeriggi Musicali Orchestra, Teatro San Carlo of Napoli Symphony and the St. Petersburg State Philharmonic (Russia), among others. He has been broadcast live on BBC Radio, Bartok Radio Hungary, RaiRadio, RTV Espana, and WGBH, and is the winner of the Brahms Preis in Germany and the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize at Tanglewood. Since 2008, Markus Placci is a Violin Professor at The Boston Conservatory. Carol Lieberman, violin Recognized as one of America's leading exponents of Baroque violin performance for the past 40 years, Ms. Lieberman is equally acclaimed for her command of the violin repertoire from the 19th to the 21st centuries. The scope of Ms. Lieberman versatility can be seen by her performances of the complete Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord of J. S. Bach in such cities as Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Boston and San Francisco, and her numerous recordings of works by contemporary composers. Ms. Lieberman's awards included fellowship from the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, and she has been invited to give master classes in Poland, Israel, France and England. Ms. Lieberman has been professor of music at the College of the Holy Cross since 1985, where she also serves as Director of the Holy Cross Chamber Players. CONLON 157 Ann Sears Ann Sears is Professor of music at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, where she teaches piano and courses in American music, and has held Wheaton's Mary Heuser Endowed Chair for the Arts. She holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of music, Arizona State University, and the Catholic University of America, where her doctoral dissertation was about American Art Song in turn-of-the-century Boston. She has presented papers and lecture-recitals at national meetings of the society for American Music, the College Music Society, and the American Matthay Association, and her writing appears in American Music, the Journal for Black Music Research, the International Dictionary of Black Composters, the Cambridge Companion to the musical, and a volume entitled Blackness in Opera released in March Her research interests are American Art song, the concert tradition in African American music, and American opera and musical theater. She appears as pianist on three compact discs of African-American song for Albany Records: Deep River: The Songs and Spirituals of Harry T. Burleigh, with bass Oral Moses; Fi-yer! A Century of African-American Song, with tenor William Brown; and, Swing Time: The Songs of Will Marion Cook, also with tenor William Brown. Jean Maxon (Carpenter) Jean Maxon has a BM degree in Music Education and Piano from the Crane School of Music, Potsdam,

2 NY, and an MM in Music Education and Voice from Shenandoah Conservatory (*summa cum laude). She is an adjudicator for National Piano Guild, as well as many festivals around New England and New York state. She is an adjunct instructor at University of Rhode Island, and maintains a large piano and voice studio in Rhode Island. CONLON 150 RECITAL HALL Mila Filatova Mila Filatova s musical quest began at age seven and she has been an award-winning pianist since the age of seventeen. Ms. Filatova graduated with highest honors from the Conservatory of Music in Russia. She studied with Prof. Albert Tarakanov, a pupil of the legendary Henryk Neuhaus. She has also participated in master classes with such respected artists as Maria Grinberg and Lev Naumov. In Russia, she was a distinguished teacher at the Saratov Central Music School. Ms. Filatova maintains a private piano and organ academy in Manchester, NH. In addition, she teaches piano at the St. Paul's School in Concord, NH. Her students have received numerous awards and distinctions at musical competitions in United States and Europe. Ms. Filatova is Vice President for Competitions of the New Hampshire Music Teachers Association and is an active competition adjudicator. She is frequently featured as a guest teacher/artist-in-residence for student summer music festivals in Europe. Gregory Slowik In Europe and the United States, Gregory Slowik is familiar to audiences as a piano soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. He has lectured in many European music capitals, including; Vienna, Prague and Salzburg, where he performed a solo piano recital at the Mozarteum. A much sought-after soloist and collaborator, he has lectured and performed at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, numerous times and received a standing ovation in the Koch Gallery of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Professor Slowik was invited to give the premiere of New England Sketches, a composition commissioned for the 110th anniversary season of the Chromatic Club of Boston. He was invited by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to present a lecture/performance concerning Mrs. Gardner and her role as a patron of music in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Boston. The presentation was part of the museum s lecture series celebrating the centenary of the creation of the Gardner Museum. Receiving a very enthusiastic response, the lecture was presented a second time at the Museum s request. His writings about music have been published in the Journal of the Haydn Society of Great Britain and Abafazi: a Journal of Women of African Descent. Research concerning Isabella Stewart Gardner as a patron of music continues and he is also exploring Joseph Haydn and the impact his female patrons in Vienna and London had upon his keyboard compositions during the 1780s and 1790s. Gregory Slowik received his Bachelor of Music degree from Mansfield University in Pennsylvania. His Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees are from Boston University. He has been on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Longy School of Music. He is currently a Professor of Music and Director of Musical Activities at Simmons College, Boston. ELLIS WHITE HALL - HAMMOND CENTER Sandra Rosenblum Sandra Rosenblum is the author of 'Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music: Their Principles and Applications. Selected a Choice Outstanding Academic Book in 1989, it was subsequently translated into Korean and Italian. Her articles and reviews have appeared in Proceedings of the Second International Chopin Congress, Warsaw, 1999; Fontes Artis Musicae, Journal of the Conductors'

3 Guild, Early Music, Journal of Musicological Research, Performance Practice Review, NOTES and other journals. She has been the recipient of fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute and the American Council of Learned Societies, and of the Wilk Prize for writing on Polish music. Her essay, Improvisatory of Purposeful? Divergent Pedalings in Original French and German Editions of Chopin's Later Works, is currently in press for the Report of the International Chopin Congress, Warsaw, Jennifer Maxwell Jennifer A. Maxwell is currently finishing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Boston University, where she is in the studio of the acclaimed Anthony di Bonaventura. Maxwell received a Master of Music degree from the University of Louisville as a student of Artist-in-Residence Lee Luvisi, himself a student of Rudolf Serkin and Mieczysław Horszowski; and a Bachelor of Music degree with honors and highest distinction from the University of Iowa, studying with Daniel Shapiro, a Leon Fleisher student. She has also trained at the Brandywine Piano Institute and the Chautauqua Institute. Maxwell has held professional positions at the University of Chicago Department of Music, the Louisville Orchestra, the Kentucky Center for the Arts, and the University of Louisville School of Music, in addition to maintaining a private teaching studio of pianists of all ages and levels. An avid performer of solo and chamber repertoire, Maxwell has recently presented concerts at the University of Rhode Island, Music in the Loft, Steinway of Chicago, the Mostly Music Concert Series, and the PianoForte Great Pianists Series; performed concerti with the Southern Illinois Symphony and University of Chicago Symphony; and been featured on Live From WFMT, Chicago s Classical Radio. She is active as a clinician and adjudicator, presenting master classes at various universities and serving as a judge for Music Teachers National Association, the Society of American Musicians, and the National Federation of Musicians, among others. Maxwell is a member of the dynamic Belsky-Maxwell Piano Duo; the ensemble has recorded three CDs. CONDIKE LECTURE HALL 202 Rasa Vitkauskaite Rasa Vitkauskaite has won top prizes at numerous prestigious international piano competitions including First Prizes at the Rubinstein Piano Competition (Paris), Les Rencontres Internationales des Jeunes Pianistes (Belgium), the competition in Taurisano (Italy), and the Mendelssohn Cup (Italy). In 2007, Rasa won a Kathryn Wasserman Davis grant that supported her tour promoting peace in Israel. In her native country of Lithuania, Ms. Vitkauskaite has garnered the top prize at six national competitions. Her most recent concert engagements include performances at festivals in China, South Korea, Venezuela, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Japan and the United States. Kallin Johnson Kallin Johnson is the Director of Music at Notre Dame Academy and a member of the Clark University music faculty. He holds a Master of Music degree from New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Utah State University. Mr. Johnson is the recipient of many awards including the 1994 Worcester Telegram & Gazette s Vision 2000 Cultural Enrichment Award. He was the Founder/Executive Director of the Pakachoag Community Music School in Auburn, MA and Director of Music at the Performing Arts School of Worcester. Mr. Johnson is also a past president of ARTSWorcester and the Massachusetts Music Teachers Association. He is currently a member of the Board of the new Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Worcester.

4 WESTON AUDITORIUM Sang Woo Kang Dr. Kang made his orchestral debut with the Colorado Pueblo Symphony Orchestra at the age of 9, and accolades soon followed. He won top prizes at the Los Angeles Scholarship Competition, CSMTA competition, MTNA competition, and the Mozart Festival Young Artist International Competition, to mention a few. In 1999, Dr. Kang was awarded the Eastman Professional Fellowship, and as a result, was chosen to perform at the Moulin d Ande Music Festival in France. He later made his solo recital debut in St. Petersburg, Russia. A devoted teacher and educator, Dr. Kang has taught at Eastman School of Music, Juilliard School, SUNY Fredonia, University of Rochester, Hochstein School of Music in Rochester, NY, New England Music Camp, and Hartwick Summer Music Festival. In 2005, as a result of his teaching accomplishments in undergraduate piano instruction, Eastman School of Music awarded him with the prize excellence in teaching. In , along with his concerts, Dr. Kang will be presenting master classes and workshops in Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Singapore. He is founder and director of the summer piano institute and seminar at the Atlantic Music Festival, an intensive four week event dedicated to exploring all aspects of piano performance and pedagogy, as well as helping to promote and perform new works by American composers. David Westfall Pianist David Westfall maintains an active career as concert pianist, collaborative artist, and teacher. He has concertized and given masterclasses throughout the United States, Canada, Spain, Brazil, Germany, South Korea, China and Serbia. He is an avid chamber musician, and has performed with internationally acclaimed string quartets such as the Jupiter, Chiara, Colorado and American. He frequently performs and lectures for music conferences throughout the United States. He has been a judge for numerous international competitions, including the Ricardo Viñes International Piano Festival in Spain, the Isidor Bajic International Piano Competition in Novi Sad, and served for a number of years on the National Fulbright Screening Committee. He has lectured and taught masterclasses for the World Piano Pedagogy Conference (USA) and for the Music Teachers National Association - Canadian Music Teachers National Association Collaborative Conference in Toronto as well as the World Piano Conference in Novi Sad. He has also given classes at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, the Royal College of Music in London, Mannheim University of Music and the Performing Arts and the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas. He has toured South Korea for the past two years where he taught and performed at major music schools, including Sejong University, Sook Myung Women s University, Seoul National University, Sungshin Women s University, and Seoul Arts High School. He recently recorded Eight Pieces for Violin, Viola and Piano by Max Bruch with violinist Anton Miller and violist Rita Porfiris, and will be in residence again this summer for the Three Bridges International Chamber Music Festival in Duluth, Minnesota. David Westfall is a graduate of Indiana University, and holds Masters Degrees from Texas Christian University and the Juilliard School of Music. He received his Doctorate in Musical Arts from the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford. He has studied with renowned concert pianists Abbey Simon, Gyorgy Sebok, and Luiz de Moura Castro. He is Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the Hartt School of Music, where he is currently Co-chair of the Keyboard Department and Chair of Accompanying. MILLER HALL OVAL ROOM Sylvia Parker Sylvia is Senior lecturer of Music at the University of Vermont where she teaches music, theory and piano. She performs frequently as piano soloist and ensemble player in Vermont, nationally and

5 internationally. She enjoys traditional repertory and holds a special interest in music of the 20th century and beyond. Her CD of solo piano music by Bartok, Griffes, Mozart and Scarlatti, is published by Centaur Records. Her recent journal publications include "A Riverton Retreat: Royal charter to State Forest documenting Bela Bartok's stay in Vermont in Vermont history, Bela Bartok's Arab Music Research and Composition in Studio Musicologica, Understanding Sonata Form through model Composition in Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy and Bartok at the Crossroads: A Classical Sonatina from Five Rumanian Folk Dances in College Music Symposium. Carmen Rodriguez-Peralta Carmen Rodriguez-Peralta, pianist, has appeared as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Peru and Mexico. As a winner of Artists International Young Musicians Auditions, she was presented in two solo recitals at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. Of her debut, The New York Times review called her "a thoughtful musician; her playing was full of intelligence and poetry.a pianist well worth hearing." Ms. Rosriguez-Peralta holds a Bachelor of Music from Temple University, a Master of Music from The Catholic University of the Americas, and a Post-Graduate Diploma from The Juilliard School, where she was a student of Beveridge Webster and the assistant to American composer Vincent Persichetti. She is currently the Chair of the Music Department of Middlesex Community College in Bedford, MA and Director of A World of Music Concert Series.