PianoSummer Festival/Institute announces its 2009 Summer Season

New Paltz, NY (June 17, 2009) –  Now in its fourteenth year, PianoSummer at New Paltz opens its door to the public July 11 with the Faculty Gala, featuring the extraordinary talents of Vladimir Feltsman, Phillip Kawin, Robert Hamilton, Alexander Korsantia, Paul Ostrovsky and Haesun Paik, guest faculty.  The annual three-week festival/institute brings together outstanding pianists and a rich tapestry of talented international students for a season of concerts, recitals, competitions, lectures and master classes – all open to the public through July 30th.

Artistic director and legendary pianist Vladimir Feltsman and a dream-team of artist/faculty have lined up an impressive schedule of concerts and events by musicians of electrifying talent and distinct musical personalities all held on the campus of SUNY New Paltz.

PianoSummer at New Paltz is an international summer festival and institute dedicated solely to piano music.  It features an integrated approach to learning and performance under the artistic direction of master pianist and teacher Vladimir Feltsman. 

Festival concerts include

PianoSummer Faculty Gala
Saturday, July 11 at 8 p. m.
McKenna Theatre
Program: Mendelssohn, Brahms, Copland, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy and Liszt.

Alexei Lubimov, Piano
Saturday July 18 at 8 p.m.
McKenna Theatre
Program: Mozart, Schubert, Scriabin, Silvestrov and Debussy.

Anthony Newman, Harpsichord
Saturday, July 25 at 8 p.m.
McKenna Theatre
Program: Handel, Newman, Bach, and Couperin.

Symphony Gala with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic
Friday, July 31 at 8 p.m.
McKenna Theatre
Program: Glinka, Brahms, and a piano concerto performed by the 2009 Jacob Flier Piano Competition winner.

A distinctive characteristic of PianoSummer is that all Institute events are open to the public.  The events include several recitals by the extraordinarily talented students of PianoSummer, master classes and lectures given by guest artists Haesun Paik, Robert Roux, Anthony Newman, Yong Hi Moon and Vladimir Feltsman, as well as the always exciting Jacob Flier Piano Competition.

Chronological List of Events

July 11:  PianoSummer Faculty Gala
July 16:  Master Class: Haesun Paik (guest faculty)
July 17:  PianoSummer Student Recital I at Mohonk Mountain House
July 18:  Concert: Alexei Lubimov, Piano
July 20:  Round One: Jacob Flier Piano Competition
July 21:  Master Class: Robert Roux, (guest faculty)
July 22:  Final Round: Jacob Flier Piano Competition
July 23:  PianoSummer Student Recital II
July 24:  Master Class: Anthony Newman (guest artist)
July 25:  Concert: Anthony Newman, Harpsichord
July 27:  Recital: Second and Third-Place Winners of the Jacob Flier Piano Competition
July 28:  Lecture: Vladimir Feltsman – “Bach: WTC”
July 29:  Master Class: Yong Hi Moon (guest faculty)
July 30:  Special Event: PianoSummer Student Recital III at Steinway Hall, NYC

For detailed information about PianoSummer Festival/Institute events or to buy tickets on line, go to www.newpaltz.edu/piano. Tickets for all PianoSummer events can also be purchased by calling the Box Office at 845-257-3880, Monday through Friday, from 11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Information: 845-257-3880.  

Bios

Vladimir Feltsman – Founder and Artistic Director of PianoSummer at New Paltz
After a long struggle with Soviet authorities, Vladimir Feltsman emigrated to the U.S. in 1987.  He has been recognized as one of the most imaginative and interesting musicians of our time.  Mr. Feltsman, an ardent proponent for music education, studied at the Moscow Conservatory under the tutelage of Jacob Flier. He has performed with virtually every major American orchestra, and has appeared in the most important recital series and music festivals in the USA and abroad.  Pianist, conductor and teacher, he is recognized as one of the most important musicians of his generation, and as an artist of immense range and insights, with a repertoire that encompasses music from Bach to the 20th century composers.  His extensive discography includes more than twenty recordings.  Mr. Feltsman is a distinguished professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He also teaches at Mannes College of Music.

Robert Hamilton is a prizewinner of the Busoni, Casella, Montevideo, and Rudolph Ganz competitions, and has performed in major concert halls throughout the world.  He has recorded for Phillips, Orion and Summit Records as well as for the BBC in London. He has given master classes worldwide, and was artistic director of the London Piano Festival during the 1990s.  Mr. Hamilton is featured in the book the Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the USA.  He currently teaches a studio of international students at the Arizona State University School of Music.

Phillip Kawin has been a member of the piano faculty at the Manhattan School of Music since 1989, where he has worked with a select studio of advanced, prize-winning pupils from around the world.  Mr. Kawin has given master classes throughout the USA, Russia, Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, and was a guest professor at the Moscow Conservatory International Summer School, the Cliburn Piano Institute and the London Piano Festival.  He has performed in Italy, Russia, and Australia.

Alexander Korsantia of Tiblisi, Georgia, has won great critical acclaim for his versatility, power and the unique sincerity of his playing.  He performs across the world in the major concert halls, collaborating with renowned soloists and conductors.  Among his teachers are his mother Svetlana Korsantia, Tengiz Amiredjibi and Alexander Toradze.  He won first prize and a gold medal at the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition, and first prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition.  In 2003, Georgian National television released a full-length documentary about him.  Currently he teaches at the New England Conservatory in Boston.

Alexei Lubimov, born in Moscow, has a wide repertoire that makes him a most welcome exception and addition in today’s music scene.  Studying with Heinrich Neuhaus, Mr. Lubimov established an early passion for Baroque music, particularly when performed on traditional instruments.  Over the years, he premiered works by 20th-century composers such as Schönberg, Webern, Stocknausen, Boulez, Ives, Ligeti, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Silvestrov and Pärt in the Soviet Union.  Mr. Lubimos founded the “Alternativa” festival and a quartet dedicated to Baroque music.

Yong Hi Moon was among the top prize winners at the Vercelli International Piano Competition in Italy, the Vianna da Motta in Portugal and the Geneve International Competition. She has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia as a recitalist, concerto soloist and as a part of the Moon & Lee Piano Duo. She has performed the complete solo piano works of Schubert in Korea and at Michigan State. She makes regular appearances at numerous summer festivals such as The Bowdoin Summer Festival, Aria International Festival, Shandelee Summer Piano Festival and Prague Piano Master Classes. Her CD of Czech four-hand piano music made with her husband Dai Uk Lee was acclaimed internationally.  This season, she will be joined by her husband again in performing Messiaen’s Visions de l’amen in Seoul and at the Peabody Conservatory of Music as a part of its Adalman Artist Series. Yong Hi Moon is currently a member of the piano faculty at Peabody Conservatory of Music. Prior to coming to Peabody, she taught at Michigan State University for 15 years.

Anthony Newman is without question America’s foremost Baroque interpreter. Described by Wynton Marsalis as “The High Priest of Bach”, and by Time Magazine as “The High Priest of the Harpsichord,” Newman has maintained a 40 year career as America’s leading organist, harpsichordist and Bach specialist. His prodigious recording output include more than 170 cds on such labels as CBS, SONY, Deutsche Grammaphon, and Vox Masterworks. In 1989 Stereo Review voted his original instrument recording of Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto as “Record of the Year.” His collaboration with Wynton Marsalis on Sony’s “In Gabriel’s Garden” was the best selling classical CD for 1997. As keyboard artists he has performed more than 60 times at Lincoln Center in NYC, and has collaborated with many of the ‘greats’ of music: Kathleen Battle, Itzhak Perlman, Eugenia Zukerman, John Nelson, Jean-Pierre Rampal, James Levine, Lorin Mazel, and Leonard Bernstein.

Paul Ostrovsky, a former student of Jacob Flier, is widely recognized as a pianist of extraordinary sensitivity with a special gift for chamber music.  He has appeared on the world’s great concert stages such as Carnegie Hall, the Philharmonie in Berlin, and the Musikverein in Vienna.  Festivals include Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, spen, and the Salzburg Festival, among others.  Mr. Ostrovsky is currently a professor at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, State University of New York.

Haesun Paik, who studied with Russell Sherman and Wha Kyung Byrun at the New England Conservatory, has performed throughout the world, following triumphs at major international piano competitions.  Ms. Paik was appointed as the youngest music professor at Seoul National University in Korea where she taught for ten years.  She is the artistic director of the Busan Music Festival.

Robert Roux is a winner of several piano competitions in the United States, including the United States Information Agency’s Artistic Ambassador Competition and the International Piano Recording Competition.  He is listed in Who’s Who in America, and is also acknowledged as one of the top teachers in The Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the USA.  Dr. Roux has been chair of the keyboard department at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music since 1990.

Susan Starr has performed more than fifty concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra since her debut at age six.  She has also been heard with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, National Symphony and Moscow Symphony.  Ms. Starr has performed with such eminent conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Charles Dutoit, Sir Neville Mariner, Eugene Ormandy, Robert Shaw, and Maxim Shostakovich.  Currently, Ms. Starr is a Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University.