2015 PIANO COMPETITION JURY MEMBERS
Daniel Epstein
Pianist Daniel Epstein made his orchestral debut with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1973.
A graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied with Adele Marcus, he was presented in his Carnegie Hall debut recital by the Concert Artists Guild.
Winner of many awards and prizes including the Kosciusczko Chopin Award, the National Arts Club Prize, the Prix Alex de Vries in Paris, Epstein has appeared as guest soloist
with major symphony orchestras including those of Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, and Rochester.
He has given recitals at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y as well as in major cities throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia,
complemented by master classes and intensive seminars for pianists.
Recent performances include two tours to China for recitals and master classes; performances and teaching at Intituto Musicale Vaccaj in Tolentino, Italy; solo and duo concerts at the Festival of the Canary Islands; and performances of both Brahms piano concerti in New York.
As the pianist and founding member of the famed Raphael Trio since 1975, Daniel Epstein has performed virtually the entire piano trio repertoire. He has collaborated with renowned string quartets, including the Ying, American, Chiara, New Zealand, and Talich as well as with the members of the Juilliard, Guarneri, and many other distinguished chamber musicians and soloists.
Daniel Epstein is a member of the piano faculties of Manhattan School of Music as well as the Precollege Division and Rutgers University.
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Donn-Alexandre Feder
Donn-Alexandre Feder has performed throughout Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
He made his New York Town Hall debut as the recipient of a Martha Baird Rockefeller Award and earned Kosciuszko Foundation awards for his acclaimed Chopin-Szymanowski recital at Alice Tully Hall and his pioneer recording Szymanowski Piano Music for Protone Records.
Dr. Feder has also recorded for the BBC, Poland's Radio Polska, and with the Netherlands Philharmonic under Franz Allers and Willem van Otterloo.
During a two-year residency in Warsaw through a U.S.-Polish Government grant, Dr. Feder was the first American pianist to perform in the house of Chopin's birth at Zelazowa-Wola and was a finalist in the Seventh Chopin International Competition. He served for many years thereafter as an adjudicator for the Kosciuszko Foundation's Chopin Scholarship Competition in New York.
A member of the Manhattan School of Music piano faculty since 1969, Dr. Feder has presented master classes in Korea, Japan, and the Republic of China.
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Dmitry Rachmanov
Dr. Dmitry Rachmanov is Professor of Piano at California State University, Northridge, where he serves as Chair of Keyboard Studies.
Hailed as an "indisputable musician" by the Brussels' Le Soir and "suave and gifted pianist' by the New York Times, Rachmanov has been heard at venues such as New York's Carnegie Hall, Washington DC's Kennedy Center, London's Barbican and South Bank Centres, and Beijing Concert Hall, and his tours brought him to Mexico, Europe, Russia, Turkey and the Far East.
He has recorded for Naxos, Parma/Navona, Master Musicians and Vista Vera labels, and collaborated as a soloist with Manhattan Philharmonia, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Orlando Symphony, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Ukraine National Symphony and National Orchestra of Porto, Portugal.
A strong proponent of the Russian repertoire, he gave the US premiere of Boris Pasternak's Piano Sonata, broadcast nationwide by the NPR, and his recital "The Art of the 19th Century Russian Character Piece" was noted by the New York Times for "considerable color and focus" he brought to each work.
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2015 VIOLIN COMPETITION JURY MEMBERS
Gary Kosloski
Gary Kosloski, Canadian-born violinist and winner of the Governor General's Medal, has been highly praised for his outstanding qualities as soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster and teacher.
He has performed in Canada, Europe, and the United States, making a successful New York debut in 1985.
Mr. Kosloski has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards from the Canada Council of the Arts and from the Indiana University School of Music.
He holds a Doctor of Music degree in performance from Indiana University where his teacher was the renowned pedagogue, Josef Gingold.
Additional training in Canada, the United States and Europe includes studies with Howard Leyton-Brown, Max Rostal, Tadeusz Wronski and Franco Gulli.
Mr. Kosloski is a founding member of the Elysian Trio, acclaimed in the New York Times for its "musical vitality and intelligence."
He has also served as concertmaster and soloist with the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, the Cleveland Ballet Orchestra, and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony.
He has participated in the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, the St. Barth's Festival, the Sunflower Music Festival, and the Winter Harbor Music Festival.
Dr. Kosloski has taught on the faculties of Baldwin-Wallace College, the University of Oklahoma, and Florida State University as a professor of violin, and has coordinated the chamber music programs for the Music Academy of the West, the Lucca Festival, and the Oberlin-in-Italy program in Urbania.
He has had articles published in Strad Magazine and the American String Teachers' Journal, and has completed an English translation of Dominique Hoppenot's metaphysical look at violin playing, Le violon int?rieur (The Violin Within).
Gary Kosloski currently teaches privately in New York City and at the Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale, NY.
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Joyce Robbins
Joyce Robbins is a graduate of the Juilliard School and Columbia University.
She has studied with Ivan Galamian. Ms. Robbins worked 15 years in the New York City Center Ballet, and 10 years with the Metropolitan Opera.
She has freelanced a great deal in the New York Area, including performing with Pablo Casals.
Ms. Robbins has been one of the jury members for the Walter W. Naumburg Violin Competition among jurors Robert Mann and Toshiya Eto.
Currently, she is retired as Professor Emerita in Violin at the Stony Brook University.
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Daniel Phillips
Violinist Daniel Phillips enjoys a versatile career as a veteran chamber musician, solo artist and teacher.
He began violin studies at age four with his father Eugene Phillips, a composer and former violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony.
He graduated Juilliard. His major teachers are Ivan Galamian, Sally Thomas, Sandor Vegh and George Neikrug.
He won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1976. In 1985, he toured and recorded in a string quartet with Gidon Kremer, Kim Kashkashian, and Yo-Yo Ma.
Daniel Phillips is a founding member of the 28 year old Orion String Quartet, which has residencies at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and at Mannes.
Available on CD are the complete quartets of Beethoven and Leon Kirchner, and works written for them by Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea, John Harbison, and Marc Neikrug.
They did the Beethoven cycle in London to inaugurate the new Kings Place Concert Hall, and returned for a week long Brahms project.
This season they continue their touring projects with pianist Peter Serkin.
Check out www.orionquartet.com for more. He is professor of violin at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, CUNY and serves on the faculties of Juilliard, Mannes College of Music, and Bard College Conservatory.
Danny lives with his wife, flutist Tara O'Connor, on Manhattan's upper west side.
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2015 CELLO COMPETITION JURY MEMBERS
Chris Finckel
Born into a family of cellists, Chris Finckel began his studies with his father George Finckel and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Mischa Schneider and Orlando Cole.
Currently, Mr. Finckel is the cellist of the Manhattan String Quartet with whom he performs on major Chamber Music series throughout the United States and Europe. A frequent guest artist with such renowned ensembles as the Tokyo String Quartet and the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, Mr. Finckel has appeared at the Casals, Santa Fe, Ravinia, Saratoga, Norfolk, and Rockport Chamber Music festivals, and he has recorded for the Nonesuch, New World, CRI, Bridge, and Vanguard record labels. A dedicated performer of 20th century music, Chris Finckel has been involved in New York City's contemporary music scene for over 20 years.
Through his affiliations with such organizations as the New York New Music Ensemble, Parnassus, The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, and Speculum Musicae, he has participated in the premieres of the works of over 100 composers including pieces by Milton Babbitt, Jacob Druckman, Elliot Carter, Mario Davidovsky, Donald Martino, Steve Reich, and Charles Wuorinen.
Mr. Finckel is the co-founder and artistic director of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival.
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Katie Schlaikjer
Cellist Katie Schlaikjer is an accomplished chamber musician, having performed throughout the United States, Canada, England, Australia and Israel. A former member of the Colorado String Quartet (2009-2013), Katie joined the Penderecki String Quartet and the faculty of Wilfrid Laurier University in 2013.
Her tenure with the Colorado Quartet included performances at Symphony Space and The Kennedy Center and cycles of the complete Beethoven and Bartok Quartets. Her recent solo engagements include a premiere of J Mark Scearce's cello concerto "Aracana" and Haydn's D major cello concerto with the Wuhan Symphony Orchestra in China.
Katie has taught cello at the University of Connecticut (2010-2013), the Hartt Music School, Bard Conservatory's Preparatory music program and coached chamber music at New England Conservatory's Extension Division, Stony Brook University's pre-college program, and at the Colorado Quartet's intensive summer quartet institute, Soundfest. Ms Schlaikjer received her Doctoral and Master's degrees from Stony Brook University and her Bachelor's degree from the New England Conservatory where her teachers included Timothy Eddy and Laurence Lesser.
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Jonathan Spitz
Jonathan Spitz has established himself as one of the leading cellists in the New York area with his performances as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral principal.
He has been Principal Cello of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 1991 and tours internationally as a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, where he also serves as Co-Artistic Director.
He performs as Principal Cellist of the American Ballet Theater Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra at the Bard Music Festival.
Spitz has appeared as a soloist with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra on numerous occasions, including performances of the cello concertos of Schumann, Dvorák, Haydn, Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations, as well as Brahms' Double Concerto with NJSO Concertmaster Eric Wyrick.
He has also performed frequently as a soloist with Orpheus, the Riverside Sinfonia, and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic.
An active chamber musician, Spitz was a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival and has performed with legendary artists such as Rudolf Serkin, Benita Valente, Felix Galimir, and Oscar Shumsky.
Mr. Spitz is in great demand as a teacher and serves on the Artist Faculties of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and the Brevard Music Center. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, he was a student of David Soyer. Spitz has recorded for Deutsche Grammaphon, EMI, Decca, Nonesuch and Blue Note, among others.
He performs on a cello by Grubaugh and Seifert from 2012.
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2015 VOICE COMPETITION JURY MEMBERS
Joo-Young Jung
A native of Seoul, Korea, soprano Joo-Young Jung A native of Seoul, Korea, soprano Joo-Young Jung made her singing debut at the Art Center Opera House in Seoul as Musetta in Puccini's La Boheme.
She has sung leading roles on opera stages throughout North America and Korea.
Her roles have included Violetta in La Traviata, Gilda in Rigoletto, the title role in Soeur Angelica, Suzel in L'Amico Fritz, and Sophie in Werther.
She has sung in concerts with orchestras under the batons of Maestro Peter Eros, Roberto Giarola, Ji Hwan Kim, and Ro-Sang Kum.
She also performed numerous times in Japan.
There she toured with such famous K-Pop Stars as Rain, Jin-Young Park, Ji-Won Eun, and JK Kim Dong Wook in concerts which were also broadcast via NHK television in Japan in 2003 - 2004.
In recital she gave international performances under Ario Japan Sozo International and was guest soloist at St. Mark's Cathedral Compline broadcast live on King FM Seattle, WA.
Ms. Jung has received several prestigious awards including third prize in the Marcella Sembrich Vocal Competition and finalist in the Julliard Opera Center Audition.
Her education includes a Bachelor's Degree in Voice from Chug-An University in 1997.
She studied under Cynthia Hoffmann at the Manhattan School of Music where she received the Master of Music in 2000 and Professional Studies Certificate in 2002.
In 2010 she was awarded the DMA from the School of Music at University of Washington where she studied with opera stars Vinson Cole and Jane Eaglen.
Her dissertation focused on the challenge of providing the proper repertoire choices for the voice of the young singer.
Ms. Jung has a passion for teaching and maintains a private, bilingual voice studio (English/Korean) teaching students of different ages and ethnicities.
She is currently on the staff of the voice faculty at Chung-An University Seoul, Korea and a member of the Korean Opera Theater.
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Past Jurors:
Zenon Fishbein (Piano), Dmitry Rachmanov (Piano), Daniel Epstein (Piano),
Donn-Alexandre Feder (Piano), Joey Corpus (Violin), Patricia Davis (Violin)
Joyce Robbins (Violin), Wendy Y. Chen (Violin), Daniel Phillips (Violin)
Chris Finckel (Cello), Katie Schlaikjer (Cello), Jonathan Spitz (Cello)
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