Cha, Helen

Diao, Hui

Fazakas,
Edit-Maria

Graybil, Matthew

Johnson, Christine

Katyukova, Natalia

Misha Meyer

Muller, Jean

Nemtsova,
Maria

Polgár, Éva

Westhuizen Duo
Grobler, Sophia
van der
Westhuizen,
Pierre

Concerto Competition:
Chopin – Concerto No.2 in F minor, Op.21

Chamber Music:
Brahms – Piano Trio in B major, Op.8

School: New England Conservatory
Teacher: Russell Sherman

Helen Cha is currently in her first year of the Master Degree at the Eastman School of Music ( University of Rochester ), majoring in Piano Performance and Literature under Dr. Nelita True.

Born in Shanghai in 1984, Helen was brought up in Hong Kong where she began her piano lessons at an early age. She entered the HKAPA as a junior student at the age of 10 and studied with Miss Poon Tak and Mr. Gabriel Kwok. She has received the fellowship diplomas of both the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (FRSM) and the Trinity College London (FTCL) by 2004.

She has won the first prize in the 12th Hong Kong ( Asia ) Piano Open Competition Open Class, and held her first joint-recital at City Hall Theatre in January 2004. She has given successful concerts, and performed Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with Takuo Yuasa and the Academy Orchestra in June 2004 as part of La Fête de la Musique (The Music Days) launched by the French Ministry for culture. In the last academic year, she performed the Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto with the Academy orchestra again under the conducting of Patrick Souillot as the winner of the school's concerto competition. She finished her degree with the highest GPA in the Academy's history and was awarded the first class honor.

Helen has also participated in summer courses at Mozarteum Salzburg and was offered a full scholarship for attending the Dartington International Music Summer Academy in August 2004. Last summer, she gave three successful concerts on the Yellow River Concerto with Dr. Yip Wai Hong and the Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra before leaving Hong Kong for her studies in the United States.

She has played in master classes by Gary Graffman, Stephen Kovacevich, Aldo Ciccolini, Tamas Ungar, Bernard Roberts, Vladmir Krainev, Jon Kimura Parker, Andrezj Jasinski, Boris Berman, Barry Synder, Monique Duphil, Antony di Bonaventura, Dan Zhao Yi and Wu Ying etc. Helen is the recipient of several scholarships, including the Jockey Club Scholarship for Bachelor Degree and the same scholarship for oversea studies.

She is also receiving a departmental graduate award on piano accompanying at the Eastman School of Music. Besides being a young musician, Helen also enjoys reading and cooking. She has also developed an interest in fashion design. She also appears frequently in student recitals organized by the Rochester Teachers' Association, sharing her music with children.

Ever since she started the study of piano, at the age of 6, Edit-Maria Fazakas was constantly remarked by musicians and press as an extremely gifted pianist of great maturity, with many things to say in music. Shortly after her debut in a recital at the age of 6, she started to win important prices in more than 25 national and international competitions. At only seven years old, she won her first international piano competition, Rovere d'Oro( Italy ), where she competed in a higher category than her own. After that, she was the laureate of many others, such as: Jeunesses Musicales(1994), Karl Filtsch(1997 and 2004), Pro Piano(2000), Ina Macarie(2001), The National Romanian Olympics(where she was the laureate for 7 consecutive years) and many others.

Edit Fazakas had her debut as a soloist with the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Orchestra, conducted by Ludovic Bacs, at the age of 11. Her numerous other performances include concerts and personal recitals in all of the major centers of Europe, such as: Austria (“Wiener Saal”- Salzburg ), Germany (including performances at the World Exhibition in Hannover in 2000), Italy , Belgium , France , United Kingdom etc . In 2003, she performed with big success in Japan . Her most impressive performances include recitals in 2 editions of the “George Enescu” International Music Festival in Bucharest .

Ms.Fazakas has many appearances in Radio and T.V. all over Europe and in Japan , as well as in many publications.She has also made special recordings for the Romanian Radio Broadcasting.

The young pianist attended many master-classes with renowned piano teachers, such as: Boris Bloch, Diane Andersen, Daniel Blumenthal, Nelson Delle Vigne, Clifford Benson.

She studied at the National Music University in Bucharest, with Prof. Vlad Dimulescu and, since the fall of 2005, she is the student of Mr. Peter Takacs at the Oberlin Conservatory, being the recepient of a full scholarship and of the Conservatory Dean' s Talent Award. Edit Fazakas already had a few performances in the short time since she came in the U.S.A. , including a performance in the Mozart Marathon at the Oberlin College and a Mozart conference with Mr.Takacs in Miami , Florida .

The thing that Ms.Fazakas enjoys the most is traveling all over the world and experiencing different cultures. She is fluent in English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Matthew Graybil has been a prize winner in several national and international competitions, including the New York Piano Competition, the MTNA /Yamaha Piano Competition, the National Foundation for the A dvancement of the Arts and the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, in which he was the only American to reach the finals. He has made appearances in recital and as concerto soloist throughout the USA .

He is also an avid chamber musician, with over 70 chamber music performances to his credit. He has performed at several festivals, including the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival and Pianofest in the Hamptons , under the guidence of Martin Canin, Claude Frank, Pamela Frank, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Robert Levin, Antonio Pampa-Baldi, John Perry, Paul Schenly, Susan Starr and Arie Vardi, among others.

Born in May, 1987, Matthew began his piano studies at age 6. He was a pupil of Harvey Wedeen for 5 years and is currently enrolled at the Juilliard School , as a student of Jerome Lowenthal .

Christine Bethanne Johnson began playing the piano at the age of three and gave her début concert performance with orchestra at age eleven. Christine has since competed and performed throughout Europe and the United States , and she has received many prizes and awards. Most recently, Christine was awarded the prize for Best Solo Piano Performance at the 2006 Corpus Christi International Competition and she received the Judges' Special Recognition Award at the 2005 Wideman Piano Competition. She also won Grand Prix at the 2005 Catania International Rachmaninoff Concerto Competition in Sicily and performed with the Berlin RIAS Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Diasuke Soga.

Additionally, Christine won second prize at the 2005 Aaron Richmond Piano Competition in Boston and received Honorable Mention at the 2005 Kingsville International Isabel Scionti Solo Piano Competition. In 2004, she won first prize in the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra concerto competition and performed with the NFSO the following year. Other honors include winning first prize in the 2000 Baylor Concerto Competition, performing a concert for the United States Poet Laureate in 2002, and giving an interview and performance broadcast in 2002 and 2003 on National Public Radio affiliates.

This year, Christine is a part of the International Certificate for Piano Artists program where she studies in Brussels and Paris with teachers Philippe Entremont, Nelson Delle-Vigne Fabbri, Jerome Lowenthal, Boaz Sharon, and Robert Roux. Her previous teachers include Anthony di Bonaventura, Tong-il Han, and Krassimira Jordan.

NATALIA KATYUKOVA was born on October 4th 1979,in the city of Tschaikovsky Klin, Moscow region. After early piano studies in 1998 she entered the Moscow State Conservatory as a student of renowned Professor Lev Naumov. Under his guidance she received the great traditions of the Heinrich Neuhaus school of piano playing and in 2003 completed her studies with accolades from the piano faculty. From 2003 untill 2005 Natalia was a student of Conservatory of Bolzano, Italy, in the class of Professor Luca Schieppati.

Natalia is prize winner of the International Piano Competition “Dino Ciani” (Milan,Italy), of the International Piano Competition in Andorra; Grand-Prix Laureate of International Chamber Music Competition in Kiev; Third Prize winner of “Ettore Pozzoli” International Piano Competition (Seregno,Italy); second prize and recognition for best interpretation of the piece of Olivier Messiaen in the International Piano Competition “Premio Massaza” (Casale Monferrato,Italy). After stringent selection process, Natalia was selected to be one of the 23 participants of the final rounds of 2005 International Piano Competition ”F.Busoni”.In March 2006 she received Second Prize in the National American Finals of MTNA Piano Competition.

Ms. Katyukova has given concerts in various cities in Russia and also in Germany, Italy, Finland, Japan and other countries. Her solo concerts in House-Museum of Tschaikovsky has become a tradition. In 1993 she was given invited to perform a solo concert in the House-Museum of Liszt in Weimar,Germany. She has recorded numerous programs for All-Russian Radio. She also performed with The Large Symphony Orchestra of TV USSR cond ucted by Vladimir Fedoseev the unknown works of Tschaikovsky and the Piano Concerto No. 2, Op.18 of Sergei Rachmaninov.

Presently she is residing in Fort Worth, Texas where she is an Artist Diploma student of Dr. Tamás Ungár in the School of Music, TCU.:

Liu Yang,was born in Fuzhou,Fujian district,China on 1991.When she was six years old she satarted to study piano.

In 2002,her excellend examination results allowed her to enter the Middle School attached to The Central Conservatory of Music. There,she studied piano under Miss Chang Hua,Prof. Zhao Pingguo and Prof. Ling Yuan.

In 2004,she won the second prize in the National Piano Competition in China.

One of her favourite hobbies is listening to all kinds of classical music.

Tian Lu is currently a senior piano performance major studying with Monique Duphil at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She began playing the piano at the age of three and continued her studies at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music .

Tian Lu is the winner of the 2004 Liberace Prize. In 2005 she was awarded the 2nd place in the Iowa International Piano Competition and in the same year she won first prize from the Concurse International Piano Competition in Maracaibo , Venezuela .

Tian has also performed with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra, the Maracaibo Symphony, and the Iowa Symphony String Quartet.

Master Class Repertoire:
Bach – Prelude, Courante, Gavotte I & II                                    
                               from English Suite No.3 in G minor, BWV 808
Mozart – Sonata in D major, KV311
Beethoven - Sonata No.13 in E-flat major, Op.27 No.1


Concerto Competition:
Saint-Saëns – Concerto No.4 in C minor, Op.44

School: University of Pretoria
Teacher: Joseph Stanford

Misha started piano lessons at the age of seven. Within six months she made her debut as a soloist with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra.

At the age of twelve she won the Sanlam National Music Competition in Cape Town . She then participated in the Virtuosi Per Musica di Pianoforte Competition in the Czech Republic where she won 3 rd price. She also was awarded the price for the best performance of a Czech composition at this event.

In 2003 and 2004 the University of South Africa awarded her the Hennie Joubert Merit price for outstanding achievements in the practical and theoretical exams. In 2004 she won second price at the Musicon National Piano Competition. Misha performed as a soloist with numerous Symphony Orchestras including the Randburg city Orchestra and the Hugo Lambrecht Symphony Orchestra in Cape Town .

Misha has received master classes from Tamás Ungár, Joseph Banowetz, Adam Wodnicki, Jan Kadlubiski, Jan Jiracek and Aviram Reichert.

Misha is now fifteen years old and a student of Professor Joseph Stanford of the University of Pretoria .  

Jean Muller is born in 1979. At the age of 6 years he attends his first piano lessons with Marie-José Hengesch at the Conservatory of Luxembourg. Only one year later he performs for the first time in public, creating a work of Alexander Muhlenbach. Aged 15, as the result of his excellent studies he is granted to study one semester at the Latvian state academy for music in Riga , with professor Teofils Bikis. In 1995 he is admitted to the class of Evgeny Moguilevsky at the royal conservatory of Brussels, Belgium . From 1999-2003 he studies with Gerhard Oppitz and Margarita Höhenrieder in Munich , and with Eugen Indjic in Paris . In 2003 he becomes a student in the "Meisterklasse" of professor Michael Schäfer at the university for music and performimg arts in Munich , Germany . He finishes his studies in 2005 with the "Meisterklassendiplom".

Jean Muller attends master classes of such distinguished artists as Anne Queffélec, Leon Fleischer, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Rudolf Kehrer, Emile Naoumoff, Fou Ts'ong and Arie Vardi.

Since 1994 Jean Muller has received a lot of awards at international piano competitions. In 2004 he is awarded the first prize of the international Poulenc competition in France.

Jean Muller performs extensively with orchestras such as the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, the Münchner Bach Kollegium, the Münchner Symphoniker, the Orchestra of the Slovak Radio (RSO), the Orchestre Philharmonique Du Luxembourg (OPL), the Solistes Européens Luxembourg (SEL), the Städtisches Orchester Trier, the State chamber orchestra of Latvija.

He plays under the conducting of leading chefs as for example Frédéric Chaslin, István Dénes, Jack-Martin Händler, Zubin Mehta, Robert Stankovsky and Bramwell Tovey. Recitals lead him throughout Europe and Asia . Several TV-, Radio- and CD-recordings show the variety of his repertoire.

Hando Nahkur was born in Estonia on July 7th, 1982. In 2001 Hando graduated from Tallinn Music High School as a pianist and percussionist. He studied at TMHS with Professor Y. Sisa, T. Nahkur E. Saar and K. Maeots (Percussion). For the next two years Hando continued studying at the Estonian Academy of Music as a pianist, conductor and arranger with Professor A. Juozapenaite-Eesmaa, A. Soot and O. Ehala. In September 2003, Hando Nahkur moved to United States of America and and has been studying at Yale University School of Music with Professor Boris Berman. He is pursuing a Master's degree from Yale University.

Hando Nahkur has been a prize winner of several national and international piano competitions including Special Prize, International “Tchaikovsky” Piano Competition for young musicians in Russia in 1997; First Prize, Estonian National Piano Competition in Estonia in 1998; chosen to represent Estonia in 9th Eurovision Competition for young interpreters in Vienna in1998; Fifth Prize, International Piano Competition “L.Knezkova-Hussey” in Canada in 2000; Second Prize, International Piano Competition “Kontzerteum 2000” in Greece and Third Prize, International Piano Competition “Citta di Treviso” in Italy in 2002.

Hando Nahkur has been a scholar and a student at the International Holland Music Sessions for three summers, 2000-2002. In August 2002 Nahkur gave his debut recital in Amsterdam Concertgebouw, where The International Holland Music Sessions presented him as a young artist of 2002. Following his debut in Amsterdam , Nahkur was invited to Switzerland for a month. As an “Artist in Residence 2002” Hando stayed in the hotel Laudinella, in St. Moritz and gave many performances and recitals in the South Switzerland. During the March 2005 Hando Nahkur made a Concert-Tour to USA and Europe. He gave 11 recitals in 18 days in 8 different places around the world. The Concert-Tour took him to USA ( San Francisco , Los Angeles , New Haven , Boston , New York City and Washington ), Estonia ( Tallinn ) and Italy ( Treviso ). During the summer 2005 he participated in the TCU/Cliburn Piano Institute in Fort Worth , Texas.

Hando Nahkur has given recitals and performances in Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Russia, Greece, Switzerland, Italy, Israel, Canada(Toronto, Vancouver etc.) and USA(San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, New Haven, Boston, Salt Lake City, Washington etc.).

Nahkur has been soloist with several orchestras including the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Estonian National Opera, Parnu City Symphony Orchestra, TMHS Symphony Orchestra, Bergslagen Symphoniker of Sweden , and St.Andrews Festival Orchestra in Canada .

Maria Olegovna Nemtsova was born March 28, 1984 in Moscow . In 1989-1992 she attended Children's Choral Studio “Joy” (Art Director – distinguished Zhdanova T.A.), the piano class under the supervision of Natalya Demenko. In 1992 Maria was accepted to the Myaskovsky Children's Music School #3, the piano class under the supervision of Galina Esman, and graduated from it in 1998.

During her studies, Maria took part in concerts of different sorts, and won several prizes, among which the most important are the scholarship of Moscow Central District Department of Culture and Entertainment, the prize in Open International Competition of Solo Musicians and Musical Ensembles in the festive activities of Moscow 850th Anniversary (1997), and TV competition “Young Musicians of Moscow” (1997). In 1998 Maria Nemtsova stood the competition to the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory Academic College, the piano class under the supervision of Professor Yuri Slessarev.

In 2000 Maria participated in the First Governor's International Pianists Competition in Saratov; in 2001 – in the Young Performing Musicians Competition in Richardson, Texas, USA. While studying in the College, Maria gave many performances in various concert halls in Moscow, Krasnodar, Prague, Vena. In 2002 she won the 1st prize in Serebryakov Young Pianists International Competition in Volgograd. After graduating from the College with distinction in 2002, Maria won the competition to the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. Currently she is a 4th-year student of the piano department there, the piano class under the supervision of Professor Yuri Slessarev.

Born and raised in the Boston area, Samuel Oram began to play the piano at the age of six. At age 11, he entered the Preparatory School at New England Conservatory, where he studied with Sergey Schepkin up to his high school graduation.

Oram is a prizewinner of several national and international competitions, including the Concours Musical de France of 2001 (top prize), the Harvard Musical Association in 2002 (Third Prize for High School Pianists), and the Kankakee Concerto Competition of 2004 (Second Prize). He was invited to compete in the 2001 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition for Young Artists and the 2002 New York Piano Competition, and he was a semifinalist in the 2006 Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

Oram has appeared as recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist throughout the United States , including performances in Boston , Pittsburgh , New York City, Santa Rosa , Calif. , and Washington, D.C.

He also attended the Las Vegas Summer Music Festival, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, and Pianofest in the Hamptons, where his coaches were Paul Schenly, Arie Vardi, James Giles, Menachem Pressler, and Antonio Pompa-Baldi, among others. Oram attended the academically rigorous high school, Boston University Academy , where he balanced his musical studies with a deep curiosity for the liberal arts. Having studied with Ursula Oppens for a year at Northwestern University , he is currently enrolled as a junior at Carnegie Mellon University , where he continues to study with Mr. Schepkin.

Oram's repertoire ranges from Bach to Ligeti, with Beethoven, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Schoenberg as his favorites. As one of the 22 participants of the inaugural New York Piano Competition, he is featured in the documentary “Speaking with Music,” which has been broadcast over nearly 100 PBS stations. Oram's hobbies include reading, taking long walks, playing frisbee, and exploring museums and art galleries.

Éva Polgár started her piano studies in 1990 with Ildikó Gellai. Between 1996 and 2000 she studied under the guidance of Balázs Kecskés in the Béla Bartók Music Conservatory. In 2001 she studied at the Sibelius Academy and then in 2002 the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where her teachers are Hamsa Al-Wadi Juris and Jeno Jandó.

Éva Polgár's participation in several Hungarian and international piano competitions and master courses are very beneficial to her artistic improvement. Not only her professors, but also eminent pianists such as Orsolya Szabó, László Baranyay, Ferenc Rados, Gergely Bogányi (Hungary), Tamás Ungár (U.S.A.), Erik T.Tawaststjerna, Matti Raekallio (Finland) and Lívia Rév (France) have great impact on Ms. Polgár.

Éva won special award in the National Chamber Music Competition in Debrecen ( Hungary ) in March 2006 for performing the Chopin Sonata in G minor for cello and piano. In the same month she played successfully in the II. International Béla Bartók Piano Competition in Szeged ( Hungary ) and was awarded special price for her performance of Liszt.

Ms. Polgár has performed a number of concerts in the concert halls of Hungary , such as in Esztergom, Pécs, Kecskemét, Budapst (in the Old Music Academy , the minor hall of the Music Academy and the Nádor Hall). She has also performed in Paris and Helsinki.

Born in 1981 in Nysa (Poland). Started play the piano at age of 5. He studied at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz with Professor Ewa Poblocka and for 2 years studied harpsichord withProfessor Urszula Bartkiewicz.

He took part at master classes with Andrzej Jasinski, Eugeny Indic, Viera Nossina, Alexei Orlowiecki, Salvadore Spano and Jerzy Sulikowski.

In 2006 he won the Special Prize of the Sixth International Paderewski  Piano  Competition.

He gave concerts in Sweeden, Czech Republic, Germany, Serbia and Montenegro and Poland. He plays regularly a chamber music, especially with sister Katarzyna (violinist).  

Master Class Repertoire:
Mozart – Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, KV448
Schubert – Fantasy in F minor, D.940 ( Piano four hands)
Ravel – La Valse

Concerto Competition:
Mozart – Concerto for Two Pianos in E-flat major, K.365

School: College-Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati
Teachers: Frank Weinstock, Elizabeth & Eugene Pridonoff

Yan Liang,born in February 1989.She is a high school 1st grade student of ShenZhen Arts School . Yan Liang's parents, who love music, influenced her to study music. She began to learn piano at her age of 6, and four years later she became a student of Prof. Xiao Mei, who is a teacher of Shenzhen Arts School . Displaying special musical talent enabled Yan Liang to enroll in the Shenzhen Arts School at the age 11 and from 2004 has been studying with Prof. Dan Zhaoyi.

Yan Liang has taken part in National Piano Competitions and received many prizes including the First Prize in Hong Kong Mozart Piano Competition, Youth Class, 2003; the Second Prize in the 9th “Xinghai Cup” National Piano Contest for Children, Professional Class, 2002; the Second Prize in the 11th Hong Kong-ASIA Open Piano Contest, Chopin - Class B & Youth Class B, 2001. In 2002, she was selected to participate the 3rd SEILER International Piano Competition in Germany through a national selection and was awarded the Finalist Prize. In 2005, she received the Second Prize in the First ASEAN International Concerto Competition.

Yan Liang has participated in master classes with many distinguished musicans including Zhou Guangren, Huang Yilun, Guo Jiate, Tamás Ungár, Mikhail Voskresensky, Ilja Scheps and Klaus Bassler.

In addition to the time she devotes to the piano , Yan Liang also enjoys reading,sining,traveling, and spend time with her family and friends.

Zhang Cheng was born in December 25, 1989, in Hunan, China. He loves music from his childhood, and showed his talent in music. At age of 8, he started piano lessons with his teacher Chen Mo. From there, he achieved many prizes. In September 2001, he entered the Shenzhen Arts School, learning piano with Professor Lu Mei, during this period of time, he studied hard and improved greatly not only in technical trainings and also in musical area. He won the 1st prize in the 11th HK-ASIA Piano Open Bechstein Youth Class B, and 1st prize in 4 hands class. From July 2003, he stated learning piano with Professor Li Jian, and won 4th prize in the 12th HK-ASIA Piano Open Bechsrein Youth Class A, 5th prize in the HK Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. September 2005, renowned piano educator Professor Dan Zhaoyi accepted him into his class, since than his musical interpretation becoming more passionate. Zhang Cheng currently is second grade of high school student at Shenzhen Arts School.