Concert Pianist, Piano Faculty and Former President of Curtis Institute of Music
Gary Graffman has been a major figure in the music world since his debut with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of eighteen. For the next three decades, he toured almost continuously, playing the most demanding works in the piano literature.
His numerous recordings with the orchestras of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, and Chicago under such conductors as Bernstein, Ormandy, Szell, and Mehta include concertos by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Brahms, Chopin, and Beethoven; they are still regarded as touchstones. In 1979, however, an injury to his right hand limited Mr. Graffman’s concertizing to the small body of repertoire for left hand alone. Since then seven new works have been commissioned for him, and he continues to have an active performing career.
Mr. Graffman’s association with the Curtis Institute of Music began in 1936, when he was accepted, at the age of seven, to study with Isabelle Vengerova. He graduated in 1946. In 1980, following his performance-reducing injury, he joined the Curtis piano faculty.
From 1986 through May 2006, he served as director of Curtis, as well as president from 1995 to 2006.
*PYPA retains the right to replace a faculty who is unable to attend due to illness or unforeseen force of nature. In the event a faculty is unable to attend due to illness or unforeseen force of nature, PYPA will not refund tuition to any participant that wishes to withdraw.
Dang Thai Son
Dang Thai Son
Concert Pianist, Professor at Oberlin Conservatory of Music
An outstanding international musician of our time, Vietnamese – Canadian pianist Dang Thai Son was propelled to the forefront of the musical world in October 1980, when he was awarded the First Prize and Gold Medal at the Xth International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. It was also the first time that a top international competition was won by an Asian pianist.
Since winning the Chopin Competition, his international career has taken him to over forty countries, into such world-renowned halls as the Lincoln Center (New York), Barbican Center (London), Salle Pleyel (Paris), Herculessaal (Munich), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Opera House (Sydney), and Suntory Hall (Tokyo).
He has played with numerous world-class orchestras such as The Philharmonia Orchestra , BBC Philharmonic , City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, St-Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal , Czech Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic Oslo Philharmonic, Warsaw National Philharmonic, Prague Symphony, NHK Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Hungarian State Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Russian National Symphony, as well as Virtuosi of Moscow, Sinfonia Varsovia, Vienna Chamber, Zurich Chamber, Royal Swedish Chamber Orchestras, and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. Also, he has appeared under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Pinchas Zukerman, Mariss Jansons, Pavvo Jarvi, Ivan Fisher, Frans Brüggen, Vladimir Spivakov, Dimitri Kitaenko, Sakari Oramo, and John Nelson among others.
In the field of chamber music, he has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic Octet, the Smetana String Quartet, Barry Tuckwell, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Pinchas Zukerman, Boris Belkin, Joseph Suk, Alexander Rudin, and he has played duo-piano with Andrei Gavrilov.
Dang Thai Son is frequently invited to give master classes around the world – such as the special class in Berlin in October 1999, where he taught alongside Murray Perahia and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Since 2001, he teaches as Guest Professor at the Universite de Montreal (Canada.) He has sat on the juries of prestigious competitions such as the Warsaw International Chopin Piano Competition (2005, 2010, 2015), Cleveland (USA), Clara Haskil (Switzerland), Artur Rubinstein (Tel-Aviv), Hamamatsu, Sendai (Japan), Piano Masters of Monte Carlo, Sviatoslav Richter (Moscow), Prague Spring International, Montreal International Piano Competition, among others.
*PYPA retains the right to replace a faculty who is unable to attend due to illness or unforeseen force of nature. In the event a faculty is unable to attend due to illness or unforeseen force of nature, PYPA will not refund tuition to any participant that wishes to withdraw.
Ching-Yun Hu
Ching-Yun Hu
Artistic Director Concert Pianist, Artist in Residence and Faculty at Temple University
Declared a “first-class talent” and praised for her “poetic use of color and confidently expressive phrasing” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), the distinguished Taiwanese-American pianist CHING-YUN HU is recognized and acclaimed worldwide for her dazzling technique, deeply probing musicality, and directly communicative performance style.
Ching-Yun Hu’s concert career has flourished with a host of engagements on five continents after winning the top prize at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv, Israel, where she was also awarded the Audience Favorite Prize. Immediately after, she was engaged for a seven-city tour across Israel and a special invitation from the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 on only a week’s notice. A year later, she won the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City.
Ching-Yun Hu’s 2018–2019 season highlights include performances in Philadelphia, Amsterdam, Beijing and Bogotá. She gives the Asia premiere of Red Cliff, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by Yiu-kwong Chung and the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan, following the concerto’s world premiere with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and Dirk Brosse. She is heard in return engagements with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor. She returns to Colombia for a residence at the Festival Internacional de Piano en Ibaque, as well as an eight-city tour of China – “Ching-Yun Hu’s Silk Road Project”.
During 2017–2018 season, Ching-Yun Hu performed Rachmaninoff across the world, accompanied by the new release of her all-Rachmaninoff album. Recitals took her to Steinway Hall in NY, Miami Music Festival, Distinguished Artists in Santa Cruz, Taipei National Concert Hall, National University of Bogotá, and Altmark Festspiele in Germany. She performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra and Xieman Philharmonic Orchestra. Her performances were broadcasted by NBC News, CINE-TV, WRTI Radio, and news media in Taiwan and China.
Ching-Yun Hu made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999. She has appeared at prestigious concert halls across the globe, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Aspen Music Festival, Wigmore Hall and Southbank Centre, Salle Cortot, Concertgebouw, Herkulesaal Munich, Klavier-Ruhr Festival, Oper Frankfurt, Franz Liszt Academy of Music (Budapest), Duszniki International Chopin Piano Festival and Rubinstein Philharmonic Hall (Poland), Tel Aviv Opera House, Taipei National Concert Hall, and Japan’s Osaka Hall. Ms. Hu is also a frequent guest artist at distinguished music festivals throughout the world.
Ching-Yun Hu released her latest solo album, “Ching-Yun Hu: Rachmaninoff”, in Spring of 2018. A collaboration with Philadelphia’s WRTI radio, her album received critical acclaims. The Pianist Magazine gave it 5 stars and proclaimed it “essential listening for Rachmaninoff admirers.” An avid Chopin interpreter, her debut recording, an all-Chopin CD released in 2011 on the Taiwanese label ArchiMusic, won Taiwan’s 2012 Golden Melody Award for Best Classical Album of the Year. The fall of 2013 saw the release of her second CD – music of Granados, Mozart and Ravel – on CAG Records. She recorded for the BMop Sound with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project for Jeremy Gill’s work, released in the fall of 2017.
A native of Taipei, Ms. Hu made her concerto debut at the age of 13 on a tour in Japan and Taiwan. One year later, she moved to the United States to continue her musical studies at The Juilliard School, working with Herbert Stessin. She worked with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and received additional guidance from Karl-Heinz Kammerling in Germany.
In addition to performing, Ms. Hu is a keen advocate for the promotion of classical music. She founded the Yun-Hsiang International Music Festival in Taipei in 2012, and the Philadelphia Young Pianists’ Academy (PYPA) in 2013. Now onto it’s 7th year, PYPA has blossomed into one of the most highly-anticipated summer piano festivals on the East Coast encompassing intensive master classes and public concerts featuring internationally celebrated pianists. The accompanying guest lecture series led by music industry executives offers insight to students and the local community.
Ching-Yun Hu serves on the piano faculty of the Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance at Philadelphia’s Temple University. She is a visiting professor at the Shenzhen Arts School and an honorary artist of the Henan Cultural Center in China. Ching-Yun Hu is a Steinway Artist. www.chingyunhu.com
Yekwon Sunwoo
Yekwon Sunwoo
2017 Van Cliburn Gold Medalist
Gold medalist of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, 28-year-old pianist Yekwon Sunwoo has been hailed for “his total command over the instrument and its expressiveness” (San Francisco Examiner). A powerful and virtuosic performer, he also, in his own words, “strives to reach for the truth and pure beauty in music”, and hopes to convey those fundamental emotions to audiences.
Born in Anyang, South Korea, Mr. Sunwoo began learning piano at age 8. He gave both his recital and orchestra debuts in 2004 in Seoul before moving to the United States in 2005 to study with Seymour Lipkin at the Curtis Institute of Music. He earned his bachelor’s degree there, his master’s at The Juilliard School with Robert McDonald, and his artist diploma at the Mannes School of Music with Richard Goode. He currently studies under Bernd Goetzke in Hannover. Mr. Sunwoo credits each for their guidance in his artistic development and approach, and honored the late Mr. Lipkin by performing his cadenza during his Semifinal Round performance of the Mozart Piano Concerto in C Major, K. 467.
The first Korean to win Cliburn gold, Mr. Sunwoo launched his debut season in 2017–2018 with invitations to the Aspen, Grand Teton, and Duszniki International Music Festivals. Recitals will take him to Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Vancouver, and he undertakes a nine-city tour of the United States with the National Orchestra of Cuba in the spring. In Europe, Mr. Sunwoo makes his United Kingdom concerto debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Cristian Macelaru, appears in the first full season at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and performs in Brussels, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Madrid, Helsingborg, and across Germany. His appearances in Asia include those in Beirut, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and across South Korea.
Record label Decca Gold released Cliburn Gold 2017 two weeks after his Cliburn win, which includes his award-winning performances of Ravel’s La valse and Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Sonata.
In previous seasons, Mr. Sunwoo has performed as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, The Juilliard Orchestra with Itzhak Perlman at Avery Fisher Hall, Houston Symphony Orchestra with James Feddeck, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Slatkin and Nicholas McGegan, National Orchestra of Belgium, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, and others. He has appeared in recital in Hamarikyu Asahi Hall in Tokyo, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, Radio France and Salle Cortot in Paris, Kumho Art Hall in Seoul, and throughout South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Prague, and Morocco.
An avid chamber musician, his partners have included the Jerusalem and Brentano String Quartets, violinists Benjamin Beilman and Ida Kafavian, cellists Edgar Moreau, Gary Hoffman, and Peter Wiley, and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott. He has toured Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Panama with the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation, performed for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Inside Chamber Music Lectures, and been invited to the Summit Music, Bowdowin International, and Toronto Summer Music Festivals.
In addition to the Cliburn gold medal, Mr. Sunwoo has won first prizes at the 2015 International German Piano Award in Frankfurt, the 2014 Vendome Prize held at the Verbier Festival, the 2013 Sendai International Music Competition, and the 2012 William Kapell International Piano Competition.
A self-proclaimed foodie, Mr. Sunwoo enjoys finding pho in each city he visits and takes pride in his own homemade Korean soups.
Lydia Artymiw
Lydia Artymiw
Distinguished McKnight Professor of Piano at University of Minnesota
The recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Prize, Philadelphia-born Lydia Artymiw has performed with over one hundred orchestras worldwide including the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Seattle Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Solo recital tours have taken her to all major American cities and to important European music centers, and throughout the Far East. She has performed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Ukraine, Estonia, Finland, and Poland, as well as in China, Singapore, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea.
Critics have acclaimed her seven solo recordings for the Chandos label, and she has also recorded for Bridge, Centaur, and Naxos. Her debut Chandos “Variations” CD won Gramophone Magazine’s “Best of the Year” award, and her Tchaikovsky Seasons CDsold over 25,000 copies. Her festival appearances include Aspen, Bantry (Ireland), Bay Chamber, Bravo! Vail Valley, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, Chautauqua, Grand Canyon, Hollywood Bowl, Marlboro, Montreal, Mostly Mozart, Seattle, and Tucson. Her newest CD of the “Complete Cello and Piano Music by Felix Mendelssohn” with cellist Marcy Rosen was released on the Bridge label in April 2018 and has been nominated for a “Grammy” award.
An acclaimed chamber musician, Artymiw has collaborated with such celebrated artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Stoltzman, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, Kim Kashkashian, Marcy Rosen, John Aler, Benita Valente, and the Guarneri, Tokyo, American, Alexander, Borromeo, Daedalus, Miami, Orion, and Shanghai Quartets, and has toured nationally with Music from Marlboro groups. A recipient of top prizes in the 1976 Leventritt and the 1978 Leeds International Competitions, she graduated from Philadelphia’s University of the Arts and studied with distinguished concert pianist and former Director of the Curtis Institute of Music, Gary Graffman, for twelve years. In May 2019, Artymiw will be on the jury for the First China International Piano Competition in Beijing. Artymiw was a juror for the 2017 Lang Lang Futian International Piano Competition in Shenzhen, China and in 2015, she was a juror for the first Van Cliburn Junior International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, TX, as well as on the juries for fifteen piano concerto competitions at the Juilliard and Manhattan Schools in New York. She has been a frequent guest piano teacher at Juilliard since 2015 and presented master classes at both Juilliard and the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia in 2016.
*PYPA retains the right to replace a faculty who is unable to attend due to illness or unforeseen force of nature. In the event a faculty is unable to attend due to illness or unforeseen force of nature, PYPA will not refund tuition to any participant that wishes to withdraw.
Alon Goldstein
Alon Goldstein
Concert Pianist, Director of The Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Series
Alon Goldstein is one of the most original and sensitive artists of his generation, admired for his musical intelligence and dynamic personality. Alon’s artistic vision and innovative programming have made him a favorite with audiences and critics alike throughout the United States, Europe, and Israel. He made his orchestral debut at the age of 18 with the Israel Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta and returned a few seasons ago with Maestro Herbert Blomstedt in Beethoven Concerto No. 1. In recent seasons, Mr. Goldstein has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Philadelphia Orchestra; the San Francisco, Baltimore, St. Louis, Houston, Vancouver, Kansas City, Indianapolis, and North Carolina Symphonies; and orchestras on tour in Paris, Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria.
The past few seasons included the release of Mr. Goldstein’s acclaimed Centaur recording of Mendelssohn Concerto Nos. 1 and 2 with the Israel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Yoav Talmi, which was preceded by an enthusiastically received 17-concert Latin American tour with the Israel Chamber Orchestra. Other highlights included an appearance as soloist with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia in the Mozart Double Concerto, K.365 with Katherine Jacobson Fleisher as well as in the Triple Concerto, K.242 with Leon Fleisher and Ms. Jacobson Fleisher. A few months earlier, he appeared at the prestigious Ruhr Piano Festival in Germany performing the Britten Diversions and the Poulenc Double Concerto with Mr. Fleisher, his former teacher, conducting.
Among many memorable recent experiences was the premiere Lost Souls with the Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern written for him by the noted young Israel composer Avner Dorman; his successful debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski playing Mendelssohn Concerto No. 1, a return to the IRIS Orchestra for Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 2 with Michael Stern, performances of Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1 with Jaime Laredo and the Vermont Symphony and Concerto No. 2 with the Toronto Symphony. He was also heard in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France with Leon Fleisher conducting. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in the Mozart Triple Concerto with Joseph Kalichstein and Shai Wosner, as well giving the world premiere of a concerto by Mark Kopytman with Avner Biron and the Jerusalem Camerata Orchestra.
Mr. Goldstein has appeared at the Gilmore, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Marlboro, Seattle, and Steamboat festivals in the United States as well as Prussia Cove the Verbier Festival and Klavier Festival in Rühr. He performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Millennium Park in Chicago with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. Over the past several years he has also taught and played at the “Tel Hai” international piano master classes held in Israel.
Mr. Goldstein serves as the Artistic Director for The Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Series in Santa Cruz, CA and was recently named the Artistic Director for the Mt. Angel Abbey Bach Festival in Oregon, starting in 2019. He also recently created the Emerald Coast Music Alliance, whose annual festival in Florida is devoted to sharing the beauty of classical music to under-served communities, free of charge.
He is the winner of numerous competitions, among them the Arianne Katcz Piano Competition in Tel Aviv, Nena Wideman Competition in the US and the Francois Shapira competition in Israel. He is also the recipient of the 2004 Salon di Virtuosi Career Grant and the America Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarships. The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC chose a live recording of one of Mr. Goldstein’s recitals there for its first CD release. Other recordings include solo recital programs through the Jerusalem Music Center “Mishkenot Sha’ananim” and the Israeli Music Institute featuring works by Israeli composers. Mr. Goldstein graduated from the Peabody Conservatory where he studied with Leon Fleisher and served as his assistant – a position assigned only to his most exceptional students.
*PYPA retains the right to replace a faculty who is unable to attend due to illness or unforeseen force of nature. In the event a faculty is unable to attend due to illness or unforeseen force of nature, PYPA will not refund tuition to any participant that wishes to withdraw.
