Philippe Entremont
Philippe Entremont is one of the world's leading pianists and a well-known conductor. He is particularly well known as a pianist for his performances in the early twentieth century repertory and music of the Classical era.
His father was a conductor, who - when Philippe was a boy - was conductor at the Strasbourg Opera. Philippe's mother was a pianist, who gave him his first lessons. He studied with Marguerite Long, who was a favored interpreter of the music of Maurice Ravel.
In 1944 he went to study at the Paris Conservatory with Jean Doyen. At the age of 12 Entremont won the Harriet Cohen Piano Medal. At the Paris Conservatory he won the first prizes in solfège when he was 12, in chamber music when he was 15, and in piano when he was 16. He made his professional debut in 1951 in Barcelona. He began touring in Europe.
Philippe Entremont made his American debut on January 5, 1953, with the National Orchestral Association, with Jacques Barzun conducting. He became particularly well-known for his performances and recordings of music by such composers as Milhaud, Stravinsky, Jolivet, and Leonard Bernstein.
He has appeared as a pianist on five continents in practically every major musical center and with the great orchestras for the world, and at many major summer festivals.
He also appears frequently in chamber music presentations, including appearances with flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal.
In 1967 Philippe Entremont also took up conducting. In 1976 he was appointed principal conductor and lifetime musical director of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.
In 1980 he became music director of the New Orleans (Louisiana) Symphony Orchestra, remaining in that position until 1986. In 1985 he was appointed music director of the Denver (Colorado) Symphony Orchestra.
From 1988 to 1990 he was conductor of the Orchestre des Concerts Colonnes in Paris, and in 1993 became principal conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the Netherlands.
He also is active as a teacher, in addition to maintaining a very busy concert schedule.
He has been the president of the Ravel Academy in Paris and director of the American Conservatory of Fontainebleau. His recordings have won the Grand Prix du Disque and the Netherlands Edison Award.
Philippe Entremont has been the President of The International Certificate for Piano Artists, an international pedagogical program of the Fondation Bell’Arte during 15 years.
Eugen Indjic†
A French-American pianist of Russian origin, Eugen Indjic began his study of the piano with Alexander Borovsky and later with Arthur Rubinstein, who remained a mentor and friend. Rubinstein considered Indjic “ world-class pianist of rare musical and artistic perfection”.
He already performed on U.S national network television at age 11. “He plays Chopin as a pole, Debussy as a Frenchman and Prokoviev as a Russian master” an early critic wrote.
At age 12, he made his first recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations for RCA Victor on Rachmaninov’s own piano. Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Erich Leinsdorf invited him to play Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto in his senior year at the Phillips Andover Academy, making Indjic at age 18 the youngest pianist ever to have performed with that orchestra.
On his graduation from Harvard University, Indjic was called “an extraordinary pianist and musician” by conductor Leonard Bernstein. Russian pianist Emil Gilels called him “a unique and inspired artist”. Prize-winner of three international contests - Warsaw (1970), Leeds (1972), and Rubinstein (1974) - Indjic has performed with the leading orchestras of the United States, Europe and Asia, and under such conductors as Solti, Bernstein, Leinsdorf, Sinopoli, Gergiev, Fedoseiev, and Zinman, among others.
He has played a series of series of special concerts in “Homage to Arthur Rubinstein” throughout the United States and Europe, and regularly performs in world capitals and in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, La Scala, Musikverein, and Concertgebouw.
His discography includes works of Debussy and Stravinsky for Sony, of Chopin for Claves Records, as well as Chopin, Schumann, Debussy for the Andante Spianato and DUX Labels.
In addition to performing, Eugen Indjic gve numerous master classes in Europe, Japan and the Unites States, and was a frequent jury member of international competitions including the Chopin, Liszt Wroclaw, Rubinstein Tel Aviv, Prague Spring Festival, Lisbon Vianna Da Motta… “artist-in-residence” at the Prague Symphony Orchestra.
France Clidat†
It was Bernard Gavoty, famous critic of the Figaro, who, the first one, called France Clidat"Madame Liszt", after a memorable recital to the Theater of Champs-Élysées in Paris. Since, this title goes round the planet, and the privileged relation which maintained France Clidat with "her" Hungarian composer never contradicted itself.
Born in Nantes, France Clidat begun very early her brilliant career, from the numerous first prizes obtained to the Superior National Academy of Paris. But it is the Liszt prize carried off in the Competition of Budapest in 1956, that established her international fame. She gave more than 2700 concerts, played with the most prestigious orchestras, most famous conductors, and crossed the world, carried by an exceptional temperament.
If she retained of her masters the rigour (Lazare Lévy), the meaning power (Emil Gilels), and the refusal of the ease (Lelia Gousseau), it was indeed to herself that she owed her supple and creative phrasing, her rare gestural sobriety in front of the instrument, and her tone of a matchless grandeur.
This great lady of the music possessed the fancy and the virtuosity of the great performers of past, but she iwas especially a tremendous ambassadress of the current French piano.
Her numerous recordings were awarded in France as abroad, to begin by first and famous complete Liszt in 26 disks, which received, among others, the prize of the Academy of the Hungarian disk. The 3rd concerto of Rachmaninov, the complete of Erik Satie's work, the concerto of Landowski, the concertos, the mazurkas and the Polonaises of Chopin, etc., show that it would be reducing to confine the talent of France Clidat in the only performance of Liszt’s works. Her repertoire covers all the periods and all the styles of the music, and we do not count any more the works which she created or which are dedicated to her.
In spite of her international commitments, France Clidat attached a quite particular attention to her teacher's activities. She taught at the École Normale de Musique de Paris and gave numerous masterclasses worldwide, in particular in Japan. She was also member of the jury of great international competitions (Liszt-Bartók in Budapest, Long-Thibaud in Paris)
France Clidat was Officer of the Legion of Honour, Officer of the National Order of the Merit, Medal of Vermeil of the City of Paris and Commander of the Arts and the Letters.
Lazar Berman†
Lazar Naumovich Berman was a Soviet Russian classical pianist. As a technician, Berman was extraordinary in terms of sheer evenness, control, and rhythmic panache, yet he always channeled his considerable craft toward musical ends.
Berman was appointed an Honoured Artist of the RSFSR in 1988. Berman was born to Jewish parents in Leningrad. He entered his first competition at the age of three, and recorded a Mozart fantasia and a mazurka that he had composed himself at the age of seven, before he could even read music. Emil Gilels described him as a "phenomenon of the musical world". When Lazar was nine, the family moved to Moscow so that he could study with Aleksandr Goldenweiser at the Conservatoire, as well as Sviatoslav Richter, Vladimir Sofronitsky and Maria Yudina.
The next year he made his formal debut playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25 with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1941, students, pupils and parents were evacuated to Kuibishev, a city on the Volga, because of World War II. Living conditions were so poor that his mother had to cut the fingers from a pair of gloves to allow him to continue to practise without freezing his hands.
At the age of 12 he played Franz Liszt's La campanella to a British audience over the radio; in 1956 he won a prize at the Queen Elisabeth Music
Competition in Belgium, with Vladimir Ashkenazy; and in 1958, he performed in London and recorded for Saga records. Although he was known to international music aficionados who had heard the occasional recording on the Russian Melodiya record label, as well as those who visited the Soviet Union, he was not generally well known outside Russia before his 1975 American tour, organised by the impresario Jacques Leiser.
His now legendary New York debut at the 92 Street Y, where he played Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, struck the music world like lightning. He became an overnight sensation. He was immediately in great demand, with Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, and CBS vying to record him. He recorded the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto with Herbert von Karajan, as well as broadcasting it on international television with Antal Doráti, to mark United Nations Day in 1976.
His recordings with Claudio Abbado conducting (particularly the works of Rachmaninoff) are still in high demand. Most of his British appearances came in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In December 1976, he performed music by Sergei Prokofiev and Franz Liszt at the Royal Festival Hall, in 1978 he played Liszt's A major concerto with Klaus Tennstedt and the London Symphony Orchestra, and in 1984 he played Tchaikovsky's first Piano Concerto with Sir John Pritchard at the Proms. The Soviet authorities even then intermittently restricted his international travels.
He finally left Russia for Italy in 1990, settling in Florence in 1995. Lazar Berman died in 2005, survived by his third wife, Valentina Sedova, also a pianist, whom he had married in 1968, and a son, the talented violinist and conductor Pavel Berman. His students included Sonya Bach, Italian pianists Maurizio Baglini, Enrico Elisi, and Enrico Pace, Vardan Mamikonian and Victor Chestopal. Recently, his memoirs were published in German and in Russian. The book is titled "The Years of Peregrination: Reveries of a Pianist."
François-René Duchâble
Born in Paris, France, the French pianist, François-René Duchâble, studied at the Paris Conservatory, and at the age of 13 won the institution's first prize in piano. Three years later he placed 11th at the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium competition in Brussels, and in 1973 he won the Prix de la Fondation Sacha Schneider.
At that time François-René Duchâble caught the attention of the legendary Artur Rubinstein, who encouraged him to pursue a solo career and helped him secure his first important engagements. Since then, Duchable has enjoyed an uninterupted and highly succesful concert career in Europe, the USA, Canada, and Japan.
François-René Duchâble has been recognized for his performances of a wide swath of the standard repertory, including the concertos of L.v. Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Béla Bartók and Ravel, and solo piano works of Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, and Francis Poulenc. He has appeared at many prestigious music festivals, including those of Salzburg, Lucerne, Berlin, the London Proms, Lockenhaus, and the Flanders Festival, and has presented concerts at London's Royal Festival Hall, the Philharmonie in Berlin, and the Musikverein in Vienna. As an orchestral soloist, Duchable has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
Robert Roux
Pianist Robert Roux began his career at age 10 with a performance on the nationally televised Lawrence Welk Show.
Since that time, he has been 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. A Steinway Artist, Roux's performances include appearances at the White House, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Library of Congress in Washington, DC., Merkin Concert Hall in New York, Stude Concert Hall in Houston on the Horowitz Steinway, St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music, Villa Pignatelli in Naples and the Salle Cortot in Paris.
He has toured as recitalist and concerto soloist in sixteen countries; Nuremberg Nachrichten, Germany's third largest daily newspaper, deemed him "...a smart interpreter of Viennese classicism whom we should bear in mind." Clavier magazine, referring to a three-day American Liszt Society festival, deemed Roux's performance of the Liszt Sonata "...the most stunning playing during the festival...for which the audience offered a well-deserved standing ovation."
Dr. Roux's students have been frequent prizewinners and award recipients internationally. He has been chair of the keyboard department at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music since 1990. He has served on the faculty of the prestigious Van Cliburn Institute, PianoSummer at New Paltz, the Moscow International Piano Masterclasses, the Paris International Piano Sessions, the Association of German Music Schools, the Amalfi Coast festival, and the International Certificate Program for Piano Artists (Ecole Normale in Paris).
In 2005 he received the Julia Mile Chance Award for Excellence in Teaching, one of Rice University’s highest honors. As a founding member of the Prague International Piano Masterclasses, he was Associate Director of that festival from 1997 to 2007.
His list of teachers and coaches includes Lili Kraus, Adele Marcus, James Bastien, William Race, and Leonard Shure. He is listed in Who's Who in America (2003) and is also interviewed as one of the top teachers in Benjamin Saver's publication, The Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the USA.
Marlene Woodward Cooper†
Marlene Woodward-Cooper was Professor Emeritus of Music and served as Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University for 48 years. She holds the B.M. and M.M. degrees from Manhattan School of Music and completed additional studies at the Juilliard School of Music.
She joined the PBA faculty in 1970 having moved to Florida to pursue a career as a professional musician. She has performed and composed music since she was eight years old. Several of her teaching pieces for piano were published by Belwin and newer compositions, especially for four-hands, have been performed extensively and recorded.
She served as the staff accompanist for the Palm Beach Opera (1965-1987), the accompanist for the Choral Society, pianist/organist at Lakeside Presbyterian Church, a founding member of the Society Trio of the Chamber Society of the Palm Beaches, and a well-known solo pianist and accompanist in South Florida. She has appeared as soloist with the PBA Symphony on numerous occasions, and has frequently served as an adjudicator for various competitions. In 1992, she was voted PBA Professor of the Year and is listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.
Mrs. Woodward-Cooper still teaches piano, and taught accompanying, keyboard literature and pedagogy. An avid painter, she also serves as pianist at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Lake Worth. Her latest work is the encore piece for eight hands on one piano, entitled American Vignette, to be performed at the end of the final concert of the Festival by the pianists of the ICPA.
Jean-Michel Damase†
Born in 1928 in Bordeaux into a musical family, his mother being the renown harpist and musician Micheline Kahn, Jean-Michel Damase showed precocious musical talent. His studies began at an early age: when he was five he began to attend the Samuel-Rousseau courses in piano and solfège.
Damase began composing at the age of nine. After Colette, his mother's friend, heard song settings of her poems, she wrote three "poèmes d'animaux" especially for him. When he was twelve, he became a pupil of Cortot at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and in the next year he joined Armand Ferté’s piano classes at the Paris Conservatoire.
In 1943, he was unanimously awarded the Premier Prix in piano at the Conservatoire. Two years later he entered Busser's composition classes and began to study harmony and counterpoint with Dupré. At nineteen, he won the first prize in composition with his Quintet and his cantata Et la Belle se réveilla (And Beauty Awakened) won him the Prix de Rome. In the meantime, his career as a pianist was flourishing; he appeared as soloist in the Colonne and Conservatoire concerts and with the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion et Télévision Française (l'ORTF).
Damase's youthful compositional maturity helped to foster a considerable technical facility and he has produced a great deal of music in a style that is attractive and elegant, remaining close to the traditions of the Conservatoire. All his works show deep knowledge of the possibilities of instruments, and his orchestration is rich, full and varied; evidenced most notably in the chamber and concertante works.
Damase has a great admiration for Fauré and Ravel and has recorded some of their works. He is also great lover of ballet and a close friend of several leading choreographers. His first ballet score was La Croqueuse de diamants (The Diamond Cruncher) written for Roland Petit and first produced at the Marigny Theatre in Paris.
After touring the world as a piano soloist and winning the Grand Prix du Disque for his recordings, Jean-Michel Damase has devoted his activities to composition and teaching. Currently he is on the faculty at the École Normal de Musique de Paris, serves on the boards of numerous international musical organisations and societies and conducts master classes in Europe, the United States and Japan. He was awarded the Grand Prix Musical de la SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques) and the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris.
Jean-Philippe Collard
Although pianist Jean-Philippe Collard's name is as French as his birthplace, Mareuil-sur-Ay, Champagne, his repertoire knows no geographical boundaries.
In addition to his complete mastery of French concerto literature, his interpretations of works by Bartok, Liszt, Haydn, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Gershwin, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Strauss and Mozart have met with great acclaim.
Mr. Collard was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris at an exceptionally young age. At sixteen he was unanimously awarded the Conservatory's First Prize, and subsequently he has won many others, including the Grand Prix du Concours National des Artistes Soloistes, Prix Albert Roussel, Prix Gabriel Faure, Prix du Concours International Marguerite Long/Jacques Thibaud, and Grand-Prix du Concours International Cziffra. Mr. Collard was named Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur in January, 2003.
In addition to recitals throughout Europe, North and South America, Russia and the Far East, Mr. Collard has appeared as soloist with the world's greatest orchestras. He has also performed at the London Proms Concerts, and the Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Bad Kissingen, Salzburg, Bath, Caramoor, Newport, and Saratoga Festivals.
Bruno Rigutto
Bruno Rigutto studied the piano in CNSM of Paris in the class of Lucette Descaves, chamber music with Jean Hubeau, composition and direction of orchestra. He also had the chance to be, during ten years, one of the rare adherents of Samson François. Laureate of Competitions Margaret Long in Paris and Tchaikowsky in Moscow, Bruno Rigutto started very early his international career, invited by most big Chiefs: C.M. Giulini, L. Maazel, G. Prêtre, S. Skrowaczewski, K. Masur, S. Macal, S. Baudo, etc.
He is also the soloist of prestigious orchestras such as Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the Orchestra of Cleveland, the Orchestra of Paris, Royal Liverpool Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK of Tokyo, orchestra of the Santa Caecilia of Rome, orchestras of Barcelona, Madrid, Leningrad, Monte Carlo, the Orchestra of Foundation Gulbenkian, etc.
Bruno Rigutto dedicates himself, moreover, to the chamber music, through which he scoops out the substance of his researches.
His partners are Isaac Stern, Jean-Pierre Wallez, Pierre Amoyal, Raphaël Oleg, Patrice Fontanarosa, Brigitte Engerer, Olivier Charlier, Barbara Hendricks, Michel Portal, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Arto Noras, Yo Yo Ma, etc. His discography is important. He recorded for Decca, EMI, Forlane, Denon, Lyrinx, and got several Grand Prizes of the Disc.
Conductor since 1984, Bruno Rigutto composed several musics of stages and of films. He teaches in CNSM of Paris where he succeeded Aldo Ciccolini. He also teaches in the Ecole Normale of Paris, and offen in masterclasses in Japan an Korea.
Chin-Chuan Chang
Dr. Chin-Chuan Chang, is currently chairman of the music department at the National Taipei University of Education. He was the First Prize winner of the "Franz Liszt" International Piano Competition in Los Angeles in the Category C, age 17-32, and the Best Etude Prize. During his studies in Europe, he was a prize winner in the "Ciudad de Manresa" International Competition in Barcelona, Spain; the "Le Muse" International Competition in Salerno, Italy, and the "Ataurfo Argenta" Competition in Santander, Spain.
Dr. Chang studied later with Professor Fr. Wu in Taiwan. As a child, he was selected for the "Gifted child" program of the Minister of Education to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid in Spain with Fernando Puchol and graduated with the highest honor. In 1990, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he studied with Prof. Solomon Mikowsky and Prof. Donn-Alexandre Feder. During his stay in New York, he won the First Prize at the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition, as well as several other concertos competitions, including the Manhattanville Symphony Concerto Competition and the Bergen Philharmonic Concerto Competition. After he obtained his Master of Music degree in 1993 at Manhattan School of Music, he was awarded an assistantship and full scholarship at the College-Conservatory of Music in the University of Cincinnati, where he studied with Professor William Black.
In 2000, he obtained the degree of Doctor of Music Arts, and returned to Taiwan. He has performed as soloist with several orchestras, and performs extensively throughout Taiwan, China, other Asian countries and Europe; he also conducts master classes all over the world, such as "The Paris International Summer Sessions" organised by The Fondation Bell'Arte in France, 2010 "Forum Internacional de Musica de Orihuela" in Spain and 2010 "Forum Internacional de Musica de Torrelodones" in Spain. Currently, not only he is a professor at the National Taipei University of Education; he is also artist-in-resident with the Fortune Art Enterprise Agency. He has been interviewed several times by the Taipei Philharmonic Radio Station and recorded various Public Broadcast TV programs.
Roberta Rust
Hailed for her recordings on the Centaur and Protone labels, Rust has appeared with the Lark, Ying, Serafin and Amernet String Quartets and at Miami's Mainly Mozart Festival, the Philippines Opusfest, the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival, Festival Miami, Long Island's Beethoven Festival, and France's La Gesse. Her concerto appearances have included engagements with the Houston Symphony, Philippine Philharmonic, New Philharmonic, Redlands Symphony, Boca Raton Symphonia, Knox-Galesburg Symphony, New World Symphony, and orchestras in Latin America. She served as Artistic Ambassador for the United States, was awarded a major National Endowment for the Arts grant, and also received recognition and prizes from the Organization of American States, National Society of Arts & Letters, and International Concours de Fortepiano (Paris).
Dr. Rust serves as Artist Faculty-Piano/Professor and head of the piano department at the Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida. In 2016 she received the "Deanne and Gerald Gitner and Family Excellence in Teaching Award." She has given master classes throughout Asia and the Americas and at the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, the Manila International Piano Masterclasses Festival, the University of Florida International Piano Festival and the Fondation Bell'Arte's International Certificate for Piano Artists program. Rust has served as a competition adjudicator for the New World Symphony, the Chautauqua and Brevard Festivals, and the Colburn School's Music Academy. She studied at the Peabody Conservatory, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin, and earned performer's certificates in piano and German Lieder from the Mozarteum in Salzburg. A student of Ivan Davis, Arthur Balsam, John Perry, and Phillip Evans, she received a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a doctorate from the University of Miami. Master class studies were with Gary Graffman, Leon Fleisher, Carlo Zecchi, and Erik Werba.
Einar Steen-Nokleberg
Einar Steen-Nøkleberg is a leading Norwegian pianist, having made continuous international appearances and has released more than 50 recordings. He studied with Nicolai Dirdal and Hans Leygraf. Among other prizes and distinctions, some of the most important are the Norwegian Critics' Prize for Best Performance in 1975 (for the interpretation in Grieg's Piano Concerto at the Bergen Festival), the Lindeman Prize ("Performer of the Year") 1984, the Grieg Prize in 1985 (Bergen) and 1992 (Oslo). He is a Knight of the St. Olav Order, appointed by the King of Norway for his activities for Norwegian music in general.
From 1975 to 1981 Einar Steen-Nøkleberg was Professor of Piano at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Hannover, Germany, an appointment which made him Germany's youngest professor. His international career, that has already lasted over five decades, include repeated solo recitals in London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Moscow, Mexico City, New York, Hamburg and Copenhagen.
Concerto appearances include the London Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Royal Chapel, China Philharmonic in Beijing, and the NHK in Tokyo. His recording of the Grieg concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra was chosen by the BBC Saturday Review as the best version of this much-recorded concerto.
In the 90’s, his monumental recording of all Grieg's piano music, a 14 CD set, for Naxos Records is recieving international acclaim. In 2001 he published Halfdan Kjerulf piano works (3 CD's) on Simax, and Harald Sæverud piano works (5 CD's) on Naxos.