Antonio Pompa-Baldi
President of the Jury
USA / Italy |
First Prize winner at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, and top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition, Antonio Pompa-Baldi also won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, as well as the Award for the Best Performance of a New Work. Mr. Pompa-Baldi has toured extensively in four continents, bringing his assured touch on the keyboard to some of the world's major concert venues including Cleveland's Severance Hall, Milan's Sala Verdi, Naples' Teatro Diana, New York's Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, and Paris' Salle Cortot, Salle Gaveau, Salle Pleyel, Theatre des Champs-Elysees and Théâtre du Châtelet. Mr. Pompa-Baldi's most recent engagements included highly acclaimed orchestral and solo debuts at Carnegie Hall, respectively in Isaac Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall. He also performed over 70 recitals in cities such as Seoul, Chicago, Ravinia, Houston, Portland, Sacramento, Fort Worth, and Salt Lake City. Mr. Pompa-Baldi's recordings include an all-Brahms disc (Azica), a live and unedited recital from his award-winning Cliburn Competition performances (Harmonia Mundi), and the Rheinberger piano sonatas for Centaur Records. In 2003 he was appointed Distinguished Professor of Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music. |
Sharon Brook
USA |
Sharon Brook, a native of New Jersey, received her B.A. from Cornell University where she studied with Malcolm Bilson and her M.F.A. in Piano Performance from Pennsylvania State University where she studied with Steven Smith. She is Senior Staff Accompanist at San Jose State University as well as a Lecturer in Music, teaching introductory music, applied piano and piano proficiency. She also directs the Collaborative Piano Program.
Ms. Brook performs extensively with chamber musicians, vocalists and ensembles throughout the Bay Area. She has collaborated in recitals with faculty at SJSU in addition to numerous guest artists. She has premiered works by many Bay Area composers. She has frequently played with the Santa Cruz Chamber Players and the Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra. From 1998 - 2006, she co-produced a television interview series, "Crescendo," on Cable Channels 27 and 73 in Santa Cruz County.
In 2009, she participated in the Second International Keyboard Music Festival (held at SJSU) as both faculty and perfomer on historic keyboards - harpsichord and an Erard. She also participated in a comedic Opera Gala to benefit the SJSU Opera Workshop.
In February of 2010, Ms. Brook performed in a benefit concert for the victims of the Haitian earthquake. |
Pascal Nemirovski
France / UK |
Pascal Nemirovski was born in France in 1962. In 1981, he was admitted to The Juilliard School on full scholarship (Steinway & Freundlich Fund) and studied with Nadia Reisenberg, pupil of Joseph Hoffman and Adele Marcus, pupil of Joseph Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel, heirs of the Teodor Leszetycki school. Pascal Nemirovski settled in Paris in 1984 and pursued further studies with France Clidat and Alexis Weissenberg.
He has devoted himself to his students, amongst them Lise de la Salle. A number of his pupils from France, China, Korea, the United States, Japan and Russia have won prizes in piano competitions. He enjoys an international reputation as a teacher, presenting masterclasses throughout the world and is often a jury member at international piano competitions.
In 2004, he released his first recording “Entre Ciel et Terre” devoted to Chopin, Prokofiev and Scriabin which was unanimously acclaimed by the press. In 2006, he was appointed Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Since 2007, he gives Masterclasses at the beginning of July at The Evian International Academy. Currently, he is writing books about piano technique and pedagogy.
Pascal Nemirovski's full bio can be seen at http://www.nemirovski.com |
Dmitry Rachmanov
USA / Russia |
Dmitry Rachmanov has appeared at New York's Carnegie Hall, Washington DC's Kennedy Center, London's Barbican and South Bank Centres, and Beijing Concert Hall. He has performed with the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Ukraine National Symphony, National Orchestra of Porto, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Brooklyn Philharmonic. Hailed as an "indisputable musician" by the Brussels' Le Soir and "suave and gifted pianist" by the New York Times, Rachmanov has explored a wide range of repertoire on modern as well as period pianos, and has recorded for Naxos, Master Musicians and Vista Vera labels.
Dr. Rachmanov serves as chair of Keyboard Studies at California State University, Northridge. He has been on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music, Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, and he was a guest artist at schools such as Royal Northern College of Music, UCLA, University of Chicago, Indiana University, Shanghai Conservatory and Beijing Central Music School.
Rachmanov is a graduate of The Juilliard School and he holds the DMA from Manhattan School of Music. He won prizes at the Kapell, Senigallia and Awerbuch competitions, received the ArtsLink grant and held a fellowship from the American Pianists Association. |
Namik Sultanov
USA / Azerbaijan |
Namik Sultanov has been known as a distinguished pianist and outstanding pedagogue with his exceptional lyrical gifts and distinctive performance style. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan (Former USSR), he showed an extraordinary talent for music at a very early age. He played several instruments such as the violin and flute and studied composition. At the age of twelve, after being deeply impressed by the performance of Van Cliburn, winner of the First Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, he started to study Tchaikovsky`s First Piano Concerto by himself. In a short period of time, he prepared and played all three movements with the Azerbaijan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. After this big success he became the student of Prof. Lev Naumov at the Moscow State Conervatory. After graduation he was appointed an associate professor with the added title "Honored Artist of the Azerbaijan Republic." His intense musicality, brilliant virtuosity and electrifying personality consistently thrill audiences at the prestigious concert halls of Moscow, Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Mexico City, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Minsk, Alma – Ata, Tallinn, San Francisco, and Baku.
In 1991 Dr. Sultanov was invited to join the piano department at Bilkent University in Turkey, where he was the Chairman of the Piano Department, and Dean of the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts. Dr. Sultanov nurtured many students who have become winners in different piano competitions and has been invited as a jury member to numerous national and international piano competitions.
Recently Dr. Sultanov was appointed to the teaching faculty of the San Jose State University School of Music and Dance. |
|
|
