Evgeny Cherepanov

Russian pianist Evegeny Cherepanov is a talented pianist with a distinctive sonority. He made his orchestra debut with Chamber Orchestra BACH under the baton of Misha Katz, performing the first Shostakovich piano concerto.
Mr. Cherepanov's talent has been recognized when he became the first prize- winner at the "Virtuosi per Musica di Pianoforte" International Piano Competition in the Czech Republic at the age of thirteen. He has also received the second prize at the Enescu International Competition in Bucharest in 2007 and the third prize at the Ennio Porrino International Piano Competition in Italy.
Mr. Cherepanov's performance venues include the Villa Betramka Recital Series in Prague, Salle Cortot in Paris, and in United States, the University of Florida, the Fabulous Concert Series at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Florida, the Yale University and the Hartt University in Connecticut.
Evgeny Cherepanov was born in Yekaterinburg in Russia. He has studied with Alexay Bukreev at the Professional Music School, where he graduated with the First-Class Honor Diploma. Since 2004, Mr. Cherepanov has been studying with Arie Vardi at the Hochschuele fuer Musik und Theater Hannover in Germany.

Christoph Declara

German pianist Christoph Declara made his orchestral debut at the age of fourteen performing the Beethoven's "Emperor" piano concerto. In 2005, he was awarded the first prize of the Hildegard-Maschmann-Foundation Competition in Germany.
Mr. Declara has been giving solo recitals and chamber concerts in Austria, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland.
He has participated in master classes with Andrzei Jasinski and Andrzej Pikul. Mr. Declara received the highest marks from University of Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria, where he currently studies with Pavel Gililov.

Martina Filjak

Martina Filjak is considered to be one of those young artists who have successfully made the path from a child prodigy to a mature musician. Her 'magnetic stage presence' and 'charismatic personality' regularly impress audiences and critics with a wide range of repertoire, which includes monumental pieces such as the "Hammerklavier" Sonata of Beethoven or the 2nd piano concerto of Bartok.
Since her debut in native Croatia at the age of 12 with the renowned "Zagreb Soloists" playing Mozart concerto KV 449, she has developed an extensive repertoire of piano concertos performing regularly in the most prominent concert cycles in her home country (with for example the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Zagreb Symphony Orchestra and the Croatian Chamber Orchestra) as well as with orchestras abroad. She was featured in numerous important solo engagements both at home and internationally (Concertgebouw , Amsterdam ; Hotel de Ville , Bruxelles ; Philharmonic Hall , Ljubljana ;Salle Cortot , Paris ; Palais des Congres , Strasbourg ; National Palace of Culture , Sofia; Boesendorfer Saal , Vienna ; Steinway Hall, New York ).
The season 2005-2006 brought her over 50 appearances worldwide where she performed as a soloist with orchestras of the Strasbourg Philharmonic , Croatian Symphony Orchestra ,The Morocco Philharmonic , The Belgrade Philharmonic , as well as toured with Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and Croatian chamber Orchestra , featuring concertos of Mozart and (KV 414 and KV 466) , Rachmaninov , Grieg and Schostakovitch. In the same season she held recital performances in France , Germany , Italy , Greece and Japan . Her interpretation of Beethoven's op.106 in Germany's 'Villa Musica' have earned her standing ovations and rave reviews.
In 2007 - 2008 she became a laureate of important international piano competitions: in the finals of the 'Busoni' piano competition in Bolzano she received the 5th prize , and n November 2007 she won 1st prize at the 58. International 'Viotti' Piano Competition between 122 contestants. In January 2008 she was awarded 5th Prize at the UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria and in May 2008 1st prize and Gold Medal at the 54 International Piano Competition 'Maria Canals' in Barcelona. She performed with the ensembles of Streicherakademie Bozen , Torino Philharmonic Orchestra , the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa as well as the Orquestra Simfonica del Valles.
Martina Filjak was twice awarded prizes that brought her the title of the most succesful young Croatian musician: 1993 the prize of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and 1998 the prize of the Jeunesses Musicales, Croatia. Since childhood she was a winner of a number of international prizes that include the prize of the Boesendorfer company in Vienna , a special prize at the Okiden Competition in Japan , 1st prizet at the International Competitions 'Johannes Brahms' in Austria , 'M. Masin' in Italy , 'International Keyboard Institute Competition' in New York, USA and 'Vincenzo Bellini' competition in Italy, the honorary prize on the 'Animato'competition in Paris , the 'Clara Haskil' scholarship of the Dutch foundation 'Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds' as well as the ''Alfred Toepfer'' scholarship .
Martina Filjak was born in Zagreb and raised in a family of pianists. She completed her musical education in the Music Academy of Zagreb, and the Vienna Conservatory. In 2001 her studies took her to the Netherlands and Germany (the cities of Rotterdam and Karlsruhe). In search for further artistic development she took part in masterclasses (Moscow, Salzburg , New York) and regularly maintains contact with renowned artists as Cyprien Katsaris, Stephen Kovacevich , Jean Bernard Pommier . Currently she is pursuing her studies at the Soloist Class of the Hochschule fuer Musik und Theater in Hannover with Prof. Mi Kyung Kim .
From October 2008 Martina Filjak will be a student at the renowned Lake Como Piano Academy. During the summer 2008 Martina will perform in Music festivals in Berlin , New York , Passau and Dubrovnik. Projects for 2009 include touring Spain and China , performances with Moscow State Symphony Orchestra,Zagreb Philharmonic , Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and the Torino Philharmonic Orchestra as well as a debut recording for the 'Naxos' label.

Makiko Hirata

This talented pianist radiates "the happiness and the ecstasy of music!" – exclaimed critic H.Rzeso, in after her debut with Pecs Hungarian Orchestra. Pianist Sara Buechner describes her as "a rising young artist to watch – a pianist of equal parts, fire and delicacy, with technique to burn and compelling dramatic presence. She is one of those rarities, and individualists, whose every move is nonetheless determined by identification with the music at hand, and commitment to bringing it vicariously to life". Ms. Hirata's professional activities have extended throughout North and South America, her native Japan, and Europe. At the age of sixteen, she was described as "a performer with a unique talent capable of fusing her own imprint with that of the composer" (Elaine Strauss, West Essex Tribune). At the age of seventeen, she was selected to tour with the National Symphony Orchestra of Bolivia, performing the Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto. As a winner of their concerto competition, she performed the Barber Piano Concerto with the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonia. In December, '98, her official New York City debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was received with a standing ovation. She performed rarely performed concerti by Tovey, Lalo, Godard, and others as a regular guest soloist with the Jupiter Symphony Orchestra in New York City until its last season in 2000-2001. Her debut with the Jupiter Symphony (performing the Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra by Debussy) was praised by pianist Ruth Laredo; "Her performance was elegant, refined and beautiful. A revelation!" She has toured throughout United States and Europe as the featured soloist with Pecs Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Zsolt Hamar, and Phillpe de Chalendar, Polish Philharmonic Resovia with conductor Tadeusz Wojciechowski, and Arad State Philharmonia from Romania with conductor Dorin Frandes. . Ms. Hirata seeks many ways of sharing music besides solo performances. Also a sought-after chamber musician, she has collaborated with cellist Andre Emelianoff, clarinetist David Krakauer, pianist Sara Davis Buechner, and many others. She makes regular guest appearances in chamber music series such as Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and Concerts in the Heights, in New York City. She taught piano and music theory at New York University for two years. She has given Master Classes, lecture recitals, and young people's concerts throughout United States and Japan. She also wrote a regular column, "Listen to my Piano", in Apple Friends, a monthly insert in one of the biggest Japanese Newspaper, Asahi Shinbun for a year in 2003. She is currently pursuing her Artist Diploma under John Perry at Colburn School.

Quentin Kim

Hailed as "the most charming…vivid, observant artist…with personality…wit, buoyancy and affection" (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland) whose playing "worked magic" and was "simply beautiful" (Goslarsche Zeitung, Germany), Korean pianist Quentin Kim performs extensively in the United States, Europe, and Asia, having been presented in many venues worldwide including Alice Tully Hall in New York City, Salle Cortot in Paris, Bishopsgate Hall in London, the Harold Washington Library in Chicago, and at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations. He has been invited to perform at the International Piano Festival of Gijón (Spain) and at such illustrious concert series as the Dame Myra Hess and the Jerome L. Greene Memorial Concerts Series of Chicago and New York City, respectively, as well as at New York City's Steinway Hall and Yamaha Piano Salon, University of Illinois at Chicago, the 19th Century Club of Oak Park, Illinois, MiraCosta College in Oceanside, California, and Tianjin Conservatory of Music in China. He also performed with numerous orchestras, having appeared with the Elgin Symphony, Kankakee Valley Symphony, Michigan Chamber Symphony, and Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra, among many others.
Quentin has been the First Prize winner of a number of national and international competitions, among them the prestigious Joong Ang Music Concours of Korea, the Grace Welsh International Prize for Piano, the Five Towns Music and Arts Competition (N. Y.), the Kalamazoo Bach Young Artists' Competition, and was a Concert Artists Guild International Competition finalist.
Equally active as a composer, Quentin's music has been heard to an acclaim in such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Salle Cortot, New York Society for Ethical Culture, Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School, and at the Concerts at the Crossroads series in Cleveland. His works include two piano sonatas, a piano trio, a string quartet, and an operatic scene, as well as many songs and shorter works for piano. All his music has been published by the Publishing Guild of New York.
Quentin's teachers have included Claude Frank, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Philip Lasser (composition), Jerome Lowenthal, Yong Hi Moon, and Soo-Jung Shin. He attended the European American Musical Alliance (Paris), the Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara, California), Goslar International Concert Workshop (Germany), Prague International Piano Masterclasses (Czech Republic), Salzburg Summer Academy (Austria), Pianofest (the Hamptons, N. Y.), and Shandelee Music Festival (the Catskill Mountains, N. Y.). Quentin was named a Bachelor of Music by Michigan State University, a Master of Music by The Juilliard School, and was awarded an Artist Diploma from Yale University. He returned to The Juilliard School as a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow in 2005.
Quentin has also been much involved as a chamber musician, having appeared in Alice Tully Hall as a member of Mersenne Trio, presented by The Juilliard School, and in Hoam Art Hall (Seoul), Leeum Museum of Art (Seoul), Samsung Experience (New York City) as a member of Uptown Camerades, presented by the International Sejong Soloists. He is also a frequent guest artist-lecturer at the Dead Pianists Society concert series, hosted by the Hudson Valley Piano Club (N. Y.). Quentin’s performances have been broadcasted on WCLV and WJFF.

Yoni Levyatov

Russian born,Israeli pianist and composer, Yoni Levyatov, is a gifted musician with a touch of the flamboyant. Mr. Levyatov made his New York concerto debut in 2005 as the winner of the Dora Zaslavsky Koch Competition performing the Schumann Piano Concerto under the baton of Philippe Entremont. He also performed the Schumann Piano Concerto in his Israeli debut with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra under conductor Marek Piarowski and was subsequently featured in a rare performance of the Rachmaninoff Concerto n.4 with the same orchestra under the baton of Leos Svarosvky. Recently Mr. Levyatov has been heard in the Bach Concerto in D minor with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra at the Yamaha Piano Salon, NY in the opening concert of its EPC series.
Mr. Levyatov received the Dorothy McKenzie Artist Recognition Award, NY in both 2001 and 2004 and the Harold Bauer Award, NY in 2005 and 2006. He was the silver medalist at the International Bosendorfer Piano Competition, 2008. Mr. Levyatov was awarded the Clairmont Prize, Tel Aviv in 2003 and has been a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship since 1990.
Recent appearances have included performances at Steinway Hall, Barge Music and United Nations in New York City; Menora Hall in Manchester, England; Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia; Spiegelsaal in Rheinsberg, Germany; Auditorium de Cajacanarias in Tenerife, Spain; Jerusalem Music Center; and the Tel Aviv Museum of Arts. In April 2006 Mr. Levyatov made his Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall. In reviewing this recital Allan Kozinn of The New York Times said "the performance as a whole had an appealing electricity."
He has also taken part in master classes with Earl Wild, Peter Frankl, Emmanuel Ax, Ruth Laredo, György Sandor, David Dubal, Menahem Pressler, Charles Rosen, and Alicia de Larrocha. Past teachers have included Harvey Wedeen, Jerome Rose, Constance Keene, Solomon Mikowsky, Alexander Volkov and Lili Dorfman. Hailing from a musical family, his mother a pianist and his father a choral director, Mr. Levyatov was born in St. Petersburg. He went on to pursue piano studies at the Manhattan School of Music where he graduated in 2005.

Klara Min, Artistic Director

Klara Min has been a prize winner at the World Piano Competition, the Viotti-Valsesia Competition, IBLA Grand Prize International Competition and the New York's Artists International Competition. She has been featured and sponsored by the Leschetizky Association, Korean Concert Society, Korean Embassies, SBS Broadcast Channel Network, the American Landmark Festival, Shandelee Music Festival, Trinity Wall Street Concert Series, Fingerlakes Times, Korean Daily News, The World daily News, Cincinnati Enquirer and Yamaha Artists Services, Inc..
New York Concert Review described her glowingly as "…genuine expressiveness, excellent technique, exuberance, vitality….she brought out the work's dreamy, romantic atmosphere without becoming sentimental…." Klara Min has been performing in North America, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, and her native South Korea. She has appeared as a soloist with Seoul Symphony Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, New York Sinfonietta, Jupiter Symphony, American Chamber Orchestra, and Manhattan Chamber Orchestra. Her performances have been broadcast nationwide on SBS Channel Network in Korea.
Klara Min is a recipient of Samsung scholarship.
Since her New York Debut at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, for which she premiered works by living composers, she has collaborated with American composers Henry Martin, John Corigliano and Robert Sirota, and Korean composer Unsuk Chin, who is active in Berlin, Germany.
Both as soloist and producer, Ms. Min has presented "Brahms and Schumann", "Mozart's Twenty-five Piano Concerti" and "Evenings of Piano Concerti" Concert Series in New York City. Ms. Min also has been a piano professor at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and an assistant teacher at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music at University of Cincinnati.
She gives concerts in North America, Europe, and Asia on a yearly basis.
Klara Min is a Yamaha Artist.

Alexandre Moutouzkine

Alexandre Moutouzkine burst onto the U.S. concert scene at the age of nineteen, after garnering the Special Award for Artistic Potential at the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where the critic of The Dallas Morning News wrote: "...Moutouzkine played Brahms' Op. 117 Intermezzi more beautifully, more movingly, than I've ever heard them. At once sad, tender and noble, this was playing of heart-stopping intimacy and elegance…" His success was soon followed by several solo recitals as well as appearances with major orchestras.
Winner of the St. Petersburg International Piano Competition at the age of 14, Alexandre is the laureate of numerous international competitions. He claimed top prizes at the Tilvoli International Piano Competition (Denmark), the Andorra International Piano Competition, the Jose Iturbi Competition (Valencia), the New Orleans International Piano Competition, Maria Canals (Barcelona), the 2nd Shanghai International (China), the 10th Citta di Sulmona (Italy), the Calabria International (Italy), the Guerrero Foundation (Madrid), the Ignacio Cervantes (Havana), the Pilar Bayona (Zaragoza), and the Panama International Piano Competition. Most recently, Alexandre won the Third Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition as well as the Beethoven Prize and was chosen as the Junior Jury's First Prize winner.
Born in Yoshkar-Ola, Russia to a family of professional musicians, Alexandre began piano lessons with his mother Ludmila Philippova and continued his formal training with Natalia Fish in the Nizhniy-Novgorod College of Music. At the age of 16, he received top prizes at international competitions in the Ukraine as well as Argentina; his performance of a selection of Chopin Etudes at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory was recorded live and released on the Classical Music Archives label in Moscow. During this period, Moutouzkine became a student of Vladimir Krainev at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Hanover, Germany. Consequently, he was featured alongside Krainev and renowned Korean pianist, Kun-Woo Paik, in an all-Prokofiev program with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and the Kiev National Philharmonic Orchestra. His performance of Prokofiev's First Concerto was described in the Russian and Ukrainian press as "…sprightly and at the same time astonishingly inspired…Moutouzkine performed not only with mastery, but also with the magnificent brilliance and energy…"
An avid chamber musician, he has been mentored by David Geber and Isidore Coin of the Manhattan School of Music performing to much critical acclaim with various ensembles in both Europe and the U.S. including the Fort Worth Chamber Society and Chamber Music International.
To date, Mr. Moutouzkine has toured throughout Germany, France, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Italy as well as countries throughout North and South America. He has appeared as soloist with the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra, Radio Television Orchestra of Spain, Cleveland Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Valencia Philharmonic, Gran Canary Symphony and Tenerife Symphony in the Canary Islands, the National Symphonic Orchestra of Panama, the National Symphonic Orchestra of Cuba, and the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra of the Czech Republic among others. Recent performances included a tour across the United States, concerts throughout Europe including Rome, Madrid and London. Alexandre's performance at London's Wigmore Hall was reviewed in the January 2007 issue of the International Piano magazine as "grandly organic, with many personal and pertinent insights, offering a thoughtful balance between rhetoric and fantasy…technically dazzling."
Alexandre completed his Master of Music degree in piano performance in 2003, his Professional Studies Program in 2005 and his Artist Diploma Music Program under the tutelage of Dr. Solomon Mikowsky in May of 2006 at the Manhattan School of Music.

Daniele Rinaldo

Born in Padova, Italiy, pianist Daniele Rinaldo made his debut as soloist in 2002 with the Cesare Pollini Orchestra performing Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto at Padova's Teatro Verdi. He also performed with Orchestra Sinfonica Nacional de I'Ecuador under the baton of Howard Shelley, Ovidiu Balan and Gareth Hudson.
Mr. Rinaldo received the first prize from the "Maria Giubilei" Competition in S.Sepolcro, the "Vito Frazzi" Piano Competition in Florence and the "Mozart's Piano Concertos" Competition in Padova, the second prize from the A.Gi.Mus International Piano competition and the "Ennio Porrino" International Piano Competition in Cagliari, and the fourth- prize from the "Premio Venezia" Competition. Mr. RInaldo is a recipient of the FIDAPA scholarship and Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo Trusts Fund in Italy. Both as soloist and collaborative pianist, he has performed with Petit Concert Trio and Labarthe Quartet in Salzburg focusing on composers, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Messiaen, Sciarrino, Fedele, Rzewski and Nono.
Recordings include concertos by Bach, Beethoven and Ravel for the National Arts Prize label and the album "Americanizada" for Velut Luna label, with works for two pianos by Barber, Bennett, Copland, Piazzolla and Milhaud.
Recent appearances include performances at the Nazionale S.Cecilia, Amici della Fenice, Parco della Musica Hall in Rome, Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Yamaha Hall in Paris, Wiener Saal in Salzburg, Williams Hall and Jordan Hall in Boston, Hamamatsu Concert Hall and Okabe Concert Hall in Japan, and William Walton International Piano Festival in Ischia and Dino Ciani Festival in Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy.
He has taken parts in master classes with Gerlinde Otto, Giampaolo Nuti, Klaus Hellwig and Howard Shelley. Past teachers have included Alberto Boischio, Sergej Schepkin and A. Ramon Rivera at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Ines Scarlino at the "C.Pollini" State Conservatory in Padova, and Giovanni Bonato (composition). In 2006, He has graduated from the Accademia Nazionale S.Cecilia in Rome with top grades. Currently he is studying with Prof. Perticaroli in Rome, Claudio Martìnez Mehner in Madrid and Federico Gianello in Verona.

Jeffrey Swann

Jeffrey Swann enjoys an international performing career which has taken him throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America and the Orient. He won first prize in the Dino Ciani Competition sponsored by La Scala in Milan, a gold medal at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, and top honors at the Warsaw Chopin, Van Cliburn, Vianna da Motta and Montreal Competitions, as well as the Young Concert Artists auditions in New York City. His large and varied repertoire includes more than 50 concertos as well as solo works ranging from Bach to Boulez.
Mr. Swann has performed with the symphonies of Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Indiana, Dallas, Saint Louis, Houston, Baltimore and Minneapolis; and in Europe with the orchestras of Rotterdam, The Hague, Belgian National and Radio, Santa Cecilia, RAI Turin and Rome, and the London Philharmonia, among many others. The conductors with whom he has performed include Zdenek Macal, David Robertson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Marek Janowski, Kazimirz Kord, Myung-Whun Chung, Roberto Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti and Leonard Slatkin. In addition, he has lectured for three consective years at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany, and taught courses and master classes in Italy and the United States. Recent appearances include orchestral appearances in San Francisco, Phoenix, Lexington, Stamford , Toronto and Milan; lecture/recital series on Beethoven, Liszt, and Chopin in Italy and New York; the world premiere of the Marco Di Bari Piano Concerto with the RAI Torino Orchestra (which he will also play this season in Florence); and lectures on Richard Wagner in Washington DC, Venice, Italy, and at the Bayreuth Festival. Recent highlights include a lecture/recital at La Scala (Milan), a performance with the Czech Philharmonic (Prague) and a recital tour of the Hawaiian Islands.
A native of Northern Arizona, Jeffrey Swann studied with Alexander Uninsky at Southern Methodist University and with Beveridge Webster and Adele Marcus at The Juilliard School, where he received his B.M., M.M. and D.M.A. Degrees.
Mr. Swann can be heard on Ars Polona, Deutsche-Gramophon, RCA-Italy, Replica, Fonit-Cetra, Music & Arts, and Agorá recordings. His CD, "The Virtuoso Liszt" (Music & Arts) won the Liszt Society's Grand Prix, and his first volume of the Complete Beethoven Sonatas (Agorá) was chosen one of the Best of the Year by Fanfare magazine. His most recent release features works for piano and orchestra by Chopin with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano.
Since 2007 Jeffrey Swann has been Music Director of the Dino Ciani Festival & Academy in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

James Tocco, Honorary Board

Italian-American virtuoso James Tocco enjoys international renown as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. Beyond his vast repertoire of virtually the entire standard piano literature, he is widely regarded as among the foremost interpreters of American masterworks, including Bernstein's Age of Anxiety, which he recently recorded with Leonard Slatkin and the BBC London Symphony and performed with Marin Alsop and the New World Symphony; and the Corigliano Piano Concerto, of which he is acknowledged the definitive interpreter by the Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer. He has performed this spectacular work to great acclaim with the Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, San Diego, Kansas City and Phoenix Symphonies and with the Louisville Orchestra – with which he recorded the work – as well as with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center. The pianist's recent seasons included his Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra debut, performing the MacDowell Concerto and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, both conducted by Leonard Slatkin, and his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev. An especially accomplished recitalist, Mr. Tocco has been widely praised for his interpretations of Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt, as well as 20th-century composers, and he among the very few pianists to regularly program the keyboard works of Handel.
Born of Italian parents in Detroit, Mr. Tocco's love of music – especially opera – began in early childhood. At six he started studying piano and at twelve he made his orchestral debut, performing Beethoven's Second Concerto. Among the countless awards that followed were a scholarship to the Salzburg Mozarteum and a French government grant to study with Magda Tagliaferro in Paris. His musical education was completed with Claudio Arrau in New York. International prominence came with his First Prize victory in the International ARD Competition in Munich, followed by a major triumph as a last-minute replacement for Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli as guest soloist for the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto at the Vienna Festival. In the years since then he has performed literally around the world: throughout North and South America, Europe, the former Soviet Union, Japan, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East. His orchestral engagements include the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras; Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Munich Philharmonics; London, Houston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, New World, National, and NHK (Japan) Symphonies. Conductors with whom he has collaborated include Marin Alsop, David Atherton, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Andrew Litton, Yoav Talmi, Robert Shaw, Yoel Levi, Zdenek Macal, Gerard Schwarz, Raymond Leppard, David Zinman, Lukas Foss, Georges Prêtre, Neeme Järvi, James DePreist, Hugh Wolff, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leonard Slatkin, John Nelson, Christoph Eschenbach and Christoph von Dohnányi. Festival invitations include Salzburg, Vienna, Lockenhaus, Holland, Schleswig-Holstein, Dubrovnik, Wolf Trap, the Hollywood Bowl, Blossom, Ravinia, New York's "Mostly Mozart," Spoleto (USA) and Santa Fe.
Mr. Tocco's voluminous discography reflects his varied tastes and astonishing versatility: the world-premiere recording of Bernstein's complete solo piano music, an all-Copland disc including the first recording of the solo piano version of the Suite from Rodeo; the complete Chopin Préludes, the complete piano music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes; Erwin Schulhof's Cinq Etudes de Jazz; Bach-Liszt Organ Transcriptions; and the four piano sonatas of Edward MacDowell. Recently issued to unanimous acclaim is Mr. Tocco’s recording of Corigliano’s Etude-Fantasy on Sony Classical. And his newest releases are a Gasparo disc called American Piano - premiere performances of works by American composers Lukas Foss, Joel Hoffman, Bernhard Heiden and John Downey - and several disks of chamber works by the 19th-Century German romantic composer Eduard Franck.
In addition to his rigorous international performing itinerary, Mr. Tocco is Eminent Scholar/Artist-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and Professor of Piano at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Mr. Tocco is also the founder and Artistic Director of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Eduard Zilberkant

President's Professor and Yamaha Artist Eduard Zilberkant, recognized as one of today's most gifted artists, is enjoying an active career as pianist and conductor. The Russian born Zilberkant has been received enthusiastically by audiences and press alike throughout Europe, Canada and the United States, performing in such halls as The Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Curtis Hall at the Curtis Institute of Music, Artur Rubinstein Hall and Warsaw Philharmonic Hall in Poland, Teatro Sangiorgi in Catania, Sicily, Volgograd Opera House in Russia and Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in Anchorage. He is a returning guest artist at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City, and has been a guest artist at the Corfu Festival Ionian Concert Series in Greece, the Assisi International Piano Festival and Orazio Frugoni Music Institute in Italy, International Summer Music Festival in Switzerland, the Bellingham Music Festival in Washington, and the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival.
His solo CD, Zilberkant Plays Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky, was internationally released on the ACA label and was met with high critical praise. American Record Guide stated, "Zilberkant's artistic approach emphasizes a strongly colored rhetoric, supported by passionate and sensitive temperament…Zilberkant's pianistic and musical qualities are found not only in his speed, but also in his ability to distill the slow tempos by drawing them out to the extreme." Radio France, Polish Radio and Television and PBS Radio and Television in the United States have also broadcast his performances. Music critics have asserted that he "possesses a remarkable keyboard mastery; plays in the style of the old romantic masters; he knows how to extract quite a palette of colors from the piano; his playing is subtle and passionate at the same time; he has the equipment that makes for pianist greatness."
For the past seven years, Maestro Zilberkant has been the music director and conductor of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and the Arctic Chamber Orchestra. With these two orchestras, Maestro Zilberkant has toured throughout Alaska and Canada. In 2004, the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra recorded the Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 on the AMICME Classical label of Greece for the Universal Company with pianist, Lambis Vassiliadis and Maestro Zilberkant conducting. In the summer of 2008 the Fairbanks Symphony has been invited to tour Greece with concerts in Corfu and Samos.
Maestro Zilberkant is a sought after guest conductor. He has conducted the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague and on tour to Germany. Recently, he conducted the orchestra of Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano in Italy, the Martinu Chamber Orchestra in the Czech Republic and Germany, and the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Sicily. This past December (2007), Maestro Zilberkant conducted the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra in New York City, and in the summer of 2008 he will conduct the Prague Philharmonic on their tour to the Ravello Festival in Italy.
The Badische Zeitung wrote of his performance of the Dvorak's "New World Symphony", "[Maestro Zilberkant] made an impression for feeling the nuances of tempo, pauses, and accents… he brought out new colors and romantic feeling with full balance of the sound from the orchestra." After his performance of the Mozart's Symphony No. 41 with the Arctic Chamber Orchestra in Anchorage, Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News wrote: "[Maestro Zilberkant] brought admirable intelligence to his reading of the piece…and sculpting the individual lines into a monumental and heroic structure; his weaving of the finale's awesome counterpoint show him to be a musician of significance whom we hope to hear again."
A Fulbright Scholar in Germany, Eduard Zilberkant received a Solisten Diploma from the Freiburg Musik Hochschule. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Temple University in Philadelphia. In 2006, Maestro Zilberkant received the prestigious "President's Professor Award" at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he presently is Chair of the Music Department, Professor of Piano and Head of Keyboard Studies and Music Director and Conductor of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and the Arctic Chamber Orchestra.