PIANO
ABOUT
Pianists will have the opportunity to participate in daily master classes of solo, piano duet, concerto, and chamber music repertoire. All participants will be constructively critiqued and offered suggestions to improve their performances.
Practical guidance will be offered in interpretation, technique, and fingering. Problems of facility will be addressed: pedagogical issues will be examined, teaching issues for the private piano teacher will be discussed and guidance for pianists entering competitions will be offered.
Pianists wishing to explore the chamber music and accompanying fields will be paired with appropriate instrumentalists and singers. These pianists will receive coaching by both a piano faculty member and an appropriate additional faculty member.
Participants will also have the opportunity to perform in public recitals if they desire.
Assigned times will be given for independent practicing.
Auditors are welcome.
Please submit a recording of two contrasting pieces of your choice with the application for your audition.
FACULTY
Michael Baron
An award-winning concert pianist, Michael Baron performs over 40 concerts each year, including annual tours of Europe and engagements throughout the United States, Asia, and South America. Equally at home as a recitalist, a soloist with orchestra, and a chamber musician, Baron commands a diverse repertoire, ranging from Baroque compositions to world premieres of contemporary pieces. His virtuosity and musicianship regularly garner the highest critical acclaim. Baron received his doctorate in Piano Performance from The Ohio State University where he studied with the legendary American pianist, Earl Wild. He also worked extensively in Italy with the renowned pianist, Orazio Frugoni.
Dr. Baron serves as Professor of Music and Head of Keyboard Studies at the Bower School of Music at Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers, Florida. He is also Honorary Professor of Music at Yantai University and Hubei University in the People’s Republic of China. A distinguished educator, Baron has presented masterclasses and workshops at schools, festivals, and universities throughout the world. He regularly serves as a jurist on regional, national, and international piano competitions.
An acclaimed master teacher, Dr. Baron's students regularly win competitions throughout the United States and abroad. He is a popular teacher and presenter for teacher groups. Recent performances have taken him to Peru, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, South Korea, and Serbia, as well as throughout the United States.
Anikó Szokody
Anikó Szokody is a native of Hungary and holds a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance from Indiana University, having studied with György Sebők, a Piano Artist Degree from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest as well as a Teachers Diploma. She also earned an Artist Diploma from the Conservatorio Beethoven in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she studied with Pia Sebastiani.
As an active international soloist and chamber musician, she regularly appears on Hungarian Television and Radio and can be heard on WMHT and Vermont Public Radio. Hungarian Public Television has produced a documentary on her professional career, which has been aired in Hungary and throughout Europe.
Anikó has performed as soloist with the Budapest Strings, the Orchestra de Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Chautauqua Festival Wind Orchestra and has concertized in Italy, Poland, Austria, Germany, Argentina, and throughout the United States, China, Japan and Qatar. Ms. Szokody was Associate Instructor of Piano at Indiana University. During the summer, she is resident artist and Chair of the Piano Department at Luzerne Music Center, New York. Having moved to Hungary in the Fall of 2011, she joined the piano faculty of the University of Szeged. In 2012 was invited to join the faculty of the Conservatory and in 2015 accepted responsibilities as International Liaison for the Faculty of Music.
For more information, visit http://www.aniko-szokody.com
Priscila Navarro
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Peruvian pianist Priscila Navarro is the first prize winner of several international competitions, including the Liszt-Garritson International Competition in Baltimore, Maryland, Beethoven Sonata Competition in Tennessee, Chopin International Competition of Texas, Artist Series of Sarasota, Florida, Imola City Awards, Italy, and the Heida Hermanns International Music Competition in Connecticut. Priscila made her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut in 2013 as an international competition winner and returned there this 2022 for further concerts. She received a Special Bach prize at the International City of Vigo Competition in Spain, where she was one of five finalists from over 400 participating pianists, with a jury presided by Martha Argerich. Her performances in England in 2021 were streamed on BBC public radio as well as the Medici TV channel. More recently, in 2022, she received the Christa-Marshall Bach foundation prize at the Leipzig Bach competition.
Priscila is a champion and advocate of Latin American music, conducting research and creative activities to further the propagation of Latin American art. In her pursuit of representation and inclusion, she developed a piano method for children based on Peruvian folk tunes, the first of its kind. She presented a program of Latin American dances at the Bravo Piano Festival in Hilton Head Island. This 2022 she made her Kennedy Center debut with a program combining staple
repertoire by Chopin and works by Peruvian and Ecuadorean composers. She received a grant to perform a program of music by Peruvian composer Jimmy Lopez and Cuban American composer Tania Leon in 2023.
As a chamber musician, Priscila regularly performs with a wide variety of musicians. She did a tour of Peru with violist Jodi Levitz, professor of viola at the University of Miami. This past season, she presented a program of songs by American female composers alongside mezzo-soprano Sarah Barber. Priscila performs as piano duo team with Dr. Michael Baron. Their first album was released in December 2021 with the MSR Classics label, followed by a Carnegie Hall premiere concert in March 2022. They have received five-star reviews from the American Record Guide and Fanfare Magazine.
Priscila holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the Frost School of Music, where she also completed Master and Artist Diploma degrees as a student of Santiago Rodriguez and Kevin Kenner. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Florida Gulf Coast University where she studied with Dr. Michael Baron. Priscila began her music studies at the age of 9 at the National Conservatory of Peru with Professor Lydia Hung.
Besides her busy performance career, Priscila is a passionate pedagogue and has been on the jury at several international competitions, including the Chopin International Competition for Latin American pianists, the Heida Hermanns International Competition, and the Parnassus International Competition. She is also the artistic director and founder of the Parnassus Music Society, an organization that focuses on providing high-quality musical events in Latin America, as well as promoting young Latin American pianists with opportunities for performance and education.
In 2023 Priscila became director of keyboard studies at Whitworth University. As a winner of the 2023 national audition, she also joined the roster of Astral Artists.
Satoko Hayami
A versatile and acclaimed chamber musician and collaborative pianist, Dr. Satoko Hayami is in constant demand for collaborations with today's leading musicians including Grammy winners and artists from prominent ensembles such as Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Decoda Ensemble of Carnegie Hall. Based in Madison, WI, Satoko frequently performs with the world-class faculty members of the Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also performs as a pianist for numerous chamber music festivals such as LunART Festival (WI), Madison New Music Festival, Caroga Lake Music Festival (NY), and Third Coast Chamber Collective Concerts (MN) among others.
Various collaborative projects brought her to perform and teach solo, duo, and chamber music worldwide, most notably in Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Canada, and concert halls throughout the United States, including Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (D.C.), Harris Concert Hall (CO), and Memorial Union Shannon Hall (WI). As an educator, Satoko has served on the piano faculties at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Beloit College.
Also a passionate performer of new music, Satoko co-founded Sound Out Loud Ensemble, a
contemporary chamber ensemble that received national acclaim in 2018, winning first prize in Chamber Music Performance of The American Prize. As an advocate of community engagement practices in the arts, Satoko has collaborated with diverse local organizations both in Japan and the United States, such as Arida City Welfare Council (Japan), Kimino Village Educational Committee (Japan), Goodman Community Center (USA), and Madison Japanese Language School (USA), co-creating unique and nurturing creative programs with and for community members. She teaches interdisciplinary courses such as “Arts and Community,” “Creating Sound Art,” and “Arts and Tourism” at Osaka University of Tourism in Japan, starting in April 2024.
Satoko received a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a recipient of the Paul Collins Wisconsin Distinguished Fellowship. She completed her coursework for her doctorate minor in Arts Administration at the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at Wisconsin Business School. She finished her Master of Music degrees in Collaborative Piano at Rice University and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Katherine Benson
A native of Tennessee, Katherine is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, adjudicator, and teacher, and has performed across the USA and abroad in Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand. Highlights from the 2023-2024 concert seasons include Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos with the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the University of Tennessee Symphony Orchestra, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Clara Schumann’s Concerto in A Minor with Spectrum Orchestra, as well as solo recitals in Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, Washington, and North Dakota.
Katherine has additionally garnered numerous triumphs in over a dozen international and national piano competitions, having won top prizes and recognitions in the Heida Hermanns, Seattle, Kerikeri, Walled City Music, Teresa Carreño, and Thousand Islands International Piano Competitions.
An avid chamber musician, Katherine is the Artistic Director and pianist for The Paramount Chamber Players (TPCP), one of the premier chamber music ensembles of the Appalachian Region and in its nineteenth concert season. Since taking her role with TPCP in 2020, Katherine
has organized and performed on nearly three dozen concerts with the ensemble, including a professionally recorded and entirely virtual 2020–2021 concert season.
Katherine is deeply passionate about arts leadership and interdisciplinary collaboration, and her innovative projects have been sponsored by multiple grants from the University of Tennessee and Rackham College at the University of Michigan. Together with her colleagues at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Katherine co-founded the Knoxville International Piano Festival and Competition, which attracted seventy-five young pianists and over two dozen guest artists in its inaugural year. In another recent project exploring the intersections of artistic media, Katherine commissioned seven new pieces of art from graduate and undergraduate visual art students, each new work created directly in response to a solo piano piece. Her work on interdisciplinary studies was featured in a lecture titled Painting Sound: A Case Study in Fostering Creativity and Collaboration Across the Arts presented at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.
In demand as a masterclass clinician and adjudicator, Katherine places great importance on encouraging and supporting the next generation of musicians. She recently presented masterclasses for the Blount County Keyboard Teachers Association, the Evelyn Miller Young Artist Series, and the Knoxville International Piano Festival, working with a diversity of age groups from elementary students up to collegiate artists Katherine has also served on the jury for multiple competitions, including the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Tennessee Music Teachers Association Piano Competitions, and the Alabama and Florida Music Teachers Association Piano Competitions.
Currently a Doctoral Candidate in Piano Performance at the University of Michigan, Katherine holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University. She serves on the faculty of the University of Tennessee Knoxville College of Music, where she maintains a studio of piano majors and teaches courses in piano pedagogy, piano literature, and chamber music.