Beethoven’s overtures hold an unusual place in the orchestral repertoire, one that is altogether different from those of, say, Mozart or Rossini.  Both of the latter were more closely associated with the operatic stage than was Beethoven.  Consequently, their overtures have double lives:  at the opera house as curtain raisers, and in the concert hall as one-movement symphonic masterpieces. 

Beethoven, however, completed only one opera:  Fidelio.  He did not write with the fluid ease of either Mozart or Rossini.  Beethoven’s constant revisions during the composing process reflect not only the exacting high standards he set for himself, but also the internal struggle that permeates much of his music.  Fidelio is an excellent example, for it has four overtures:  the three Leonore overtures, and the overture to the opera proper.

Beethoven’s other overtures make frequent appearances in the concert hall, but they vary widely in content and quality.  One way of dividing them is the occasional pieces of less dramatic import, and the magnificent middle-period masterpieces.  The former category includes King Stephen and The Consecration of the House; the latter group is dominated by the Fidelio/Leonore “gang of four,” Egmont, and Coriolan.  Such a division is admittedly arbitrary, but at least it encourages us to take a closer look at Beethoven’s considerable orchestral output beyond the nine symphonies and the seven concertos.

What they all have in common is a bond in staged drama.  Fidelio may be Beethoven’s sole completed opera, but he considered several other operatic projects.  Furthermore, he produced one of the most popular ballets of the early 18th-century — The Creatures of Prometheus — and also composed incidental music for several plays.  The common denominator for his overtures is thus the theatre.  Only one of Beethoven’s overtures, Namensfeier, was conceived independent of the stage.

The overture we hear this evening is a stepchild among Beethoven’s better-known works.  Coriolan (1807), is contemporary with the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the Mass in C, and the Choral Fantasia, all splendid works that are performed regularly.  Coriolan has taken a back seat to Egmont, although it is vintage “heroic” Beethoven.  Its music is explosive, seething, barely controlled, frequently verging on violence.  Such characteristics are the stuff that has contributed to the Fifth Symphony’s overwhelming popularity.  Coriolan shares that work’s stormy tonality of C minor.  Why then has it not achieved the same “pop” status?

The explanation may lie in Beethoven’s source, a drama by Heinrich von Collin based on the same legend as Shakespeare’s play. The story concerns a general of the Roman republic who is banished from the city because of his proud disdain for the plebeians.  He allies with the enemy Volscians, and schemes attack on his fellow Romans.  His wife and mother enter the enemy camp in order to plead with him.  In Collin’s drama, the tormented general commits suicide (a dénouement significantly different from Shakespeare, in which Coriolanus is killed by the Volscians).  Collin’s play was produced successfully in Vienna in 1802, but by 1807 its popularity had dwindled.

Beethoven’s musical evocation focuses on the hero’s moment of decision.  The overture is a succinct sonata form that the composer imbues with the conflicts and human drama inherent in Collin’s play.  Beethoven plunges us into the turmoil with agonized chords at the start.  Coriolanus’s indecision is apparent in the unstable, flexible rhythm of the principal theme, whose lurching accents and phrasing are out of synchronization with the movement’s theoretical `march’ meter of 4/4.  At the conclusion, the hero is destroyed.  No triumph emerges from this particular struggle.  Beethoven’s message is dark, focusing exclusively on the hero’s frustration.  Beethoven’s musical momentum is tied to Coriolanus’s emotional, one-track mind.  The result may be a tad depressing, but it is undeniably powerful in its finality.

Beethoven scored the Coriolan Overture for woodwinds, horns, and trumpets in pairs, timpani, and strings.

– Laurie Shulman © 2013

Piano Concerto No. 1 in F#-minor, Op. 1 - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff led a three-pronged career:  as pianist, conductor, and composer.  By the time he embarked on his first concert tour to the United States in 1918, his personal repertoire included three of his own piano concerti, as well as those of Liszt and Tchaikovsky.  Unfortunately the demands of travel and performance cut severely into the time he had available for writing new pieces.  On several occasions, he reworked an early composition in order to meet the need for a new performing vehicle.  The First Piano Concerto is such a work.

The seventeen-year-old Rachmaninoff began work on this piece in 1890 while enrolled at the Moscow Conservatory.  He completed the first version the following year, and appeared as soloist performing the first movement with the Conservatory Orchestra in spring 1892, with Vasily Safonov conducting.  Like most of Rachmaninoff’s early pieces, this first version of the concerto bore the stamp of Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.  He had not yet found the individual voice that makes his music so easily identifiable to our ears.

By the late 1890s, Rachmaninoff had dismissed his F#-minor concerto as a student work.  He considered revising it in 1908, but other projects diverted him.  Nine years later, in autumn 1917, he returned to this first concerto.  While the Bolsheviks wrought political cataclysm practically at his doorstep, Rachmaninoff remained virtually oblivious, as he overhauled the score.  In the early 1930s, he recalled to Oskar von Riesemann:

I sat at the writing table or the piano all day without troubling about the rattle of machine-guns and rifle shots.  I would have greeted any intruder with the answer that Archimedes gave the conquerors of Syracuse.

(When the Romans stormed Syracuse ca.212 B.C., an invading soldier burst into Archimedes’s quarters, demanding that he follow him elsewhere. Oblivious to the fracas, the Greek mathematician bade the Roman wait while he finished solving a problem. Enraged, the soldier stabbed Archimedes, who died.)

Rachmaninoff’s concentration and absorption in his work must have been remarkable.  By 1917, the original concerto was more than a quarter-century old.  His style had evolved and his command of orchestral writing had grown. Where the early version had been diffuse and unpolished, the revised concerto is economical, feisty, and exuberant.  One defining facet of the 1892 concerto survived virtually intact:  its splendid melodies.  We can clearly hear Rachmaninoff as master of the grand theme in this concerto. Those themes were there from the start.

The piano part in the revised version is more fluid, and consistent with what we have come to recognize as Rachmaninoff’s characteristic style.  The interaction of piano and orchestra is highly sophisticated.   The traditional structure represents considerable tightening over the 1892 version.  This metamorphosis took place in near record time.  The alterations were complete in November, 1917. By Christmas, Rachmaninoff had left Russia permanently.

The newly-introduced concerto had a difficult time finding acceptance with critics and audiences, primarily because of the huge success that continued to greet the composer’s Second (1901) and Third (1909) Concertos.  He told his friend Alfred Swan:

I have rewritten my First Concerto; it is really good now.  All the youthful freshness is there, and yet it plays itself so much more easily.  And nobody pays any attention.  When I tell them in America that I will play the First Concerto, they do not protest, but I can see by their faces that they would prefer the Second or Third.

Although this piece will never surpass its successors in popularity, it has much to offer.  Rachmaninoff had a lifelong predilection for minor mode that is part of his musical signature, casting a shadow of melancholy on many works.  This First Concerto breaks from that pattern.  It is less mournful than some of the later compositions, displaying a more extrovert personality that asserts itself at the opening with the brass fanfare.

For those who delight in the fireworks of a keyboard virtuoso, this concerto will not disappoint.  Its first movement is ablaze with Lisztian acrobatics that will tax even the most athletic pianist.  Rachmaninoff’s lengthy cadenza gives the soloist superb additional opportunities to display both technique and musicianship.  The slow movement, a nocturne, is rich with the lyricism we treasure in Rachmaninoff, and the finale brisk and exciting, with metric and key changes that keep our ears alert while pleasing them.

The first performance took place on 17 March 1892 at the Moscow Conservatory Rachmaninoff was the soloist for the first movement only; Vasily Safonov conducted. The revised version was first performed on 18 January 1919 in New York.  Rachmaninoff was the pianist; Modest Altschuler conducted the Russian Symphony Orchestra.

The score calls for woodwinds in pairs, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, triangle, cymbals, piano solo, and strings.

– Laurie Shulman © 2013

Symphony No. 4 in E Minor - Johannes Brahms

When looking back at the lives of important figures, it is instructive to remember that most did not examine themselves through the grandiose wide-angle lens of history, considering the possible implications to their legacy of their each and every action. For the most part, they, like us, lived their lives in the moment, making decisions whose significance became clear only much later, often after their deaths. Such was not the case with Brahms. A student of history and a collector of original manuscripts penned by his greatest musical forebears, Brahms was constantly aware of where he fit in the musical tradition and the responsibility that therefore rested on his shoulders. He was anointed at a young age by the public and by critics as Beethoven’s awaited successor, and his work was mercilessly and microscopically dissected and compared against the greats. Early in his career, this sense of expectation and his fear of never being able to fulfill it paralyzed him, with the result that he bloomed late as a composer—Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Chopin all died at a younger age than Brahms was when he finally completed his First Symphony.

By the time he matured as a composer, however, Brahms turned this reverence for the past into his greatest strength, writing works that applied the forms, techniques, and wisdom of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven to the new Romantic idiom. Brahms’s critics derided this as uninspired conservatism. “The real Brahms is nothing more than a sentimental voluptuary,” said George Bernard Shaw. “He is the most wanton of composers … only his wantonness is not vicious; it is that of a great baby, rather tiresomely addicted to dressing himself up as Handel or Beethoven and making a prolonged and intolerable noise.” But this pretentious criticism widely misses the mark and reeks of the jealousy so common in critics enslaved to newness for newness’s sake. Brahms’s music teems with originality and genius, and though many of his contemporaries successfully blazed new paths to greatness, Brahms proved that there was still untapped potential in the “antiquated” forms of Classicism. History has certainly vindicated him. Even Schoenberg, perhaps the most revolutionary composer of all time, recognized Brahms’s achievements and gave a series of lectures in 1947 entitled “Brahms the Progressive.”

Written in the idyllic Austrian town of Mürzzuschlag during the summers of 1884 and 1885, Brahms’s Fourth (and final) Symphony is the composer’s ultimate fusion of past and present. At a time when Wagner and his acolytes were pushing tonal harmony to its breaking point, Brahms begins his symphony with a simple pattern based on intervals of a third—specifically, falling thirds echoed by their inversion, rising sixths—the fundamental building block of tonality. But this pattern, which becomes the basis for the entire movement, is treated so organically and is allowed to travel so far afield that its simplicity and conventionality become just the opposite. The structure, too, is deceptive. Though the movement is cast in sonata form—the backbone of the Classical symphony—it is defined by the ways it breaks that mold. After a repeat of the opening eight measures, seeming to indicate that we have started the standard repeat of the exposition, Brahms instead alters the harmony and whisks us away into the development section. Then, we hear a quiet variation of the opening theme (in the woodwinds and at half the original speed), which would suggest a gradual buildup to the movement’s climax. But without warning, the tempo launches forward and we are immediately thrust into the heart of the recapitulation.

In the Andante, too, we hear Brahms as historian and progressive. Ostensibly in E major, the movement is indeed based on a theme that centers around E. But it incorporates the pitches of the C-major scale (all white keys on a piano) to essentially transform the harmonic structure into that of the Phrygian mode, one of the standard pitch sets used in mediaeval and Renaissance music. This offers Brahms a host of chromatic and melodic possibilities, which the composer uses to make this one of his most harmonically modern-sounding movements. Brahms’s music-history treatises would also have explained that the melancholy Phrygian mode should resolve to the sunny Ionian mode (identical to C major). Sure enough, the Allegro giocoso is in C and—with its pounding timpani, tingling triangle, and marching rhythms—is a rousing, energetic interlude to what is otherwise quite a weighty and solemn work.

The Fourth Symphony’s finale distills Brahms’s genius to its purest form. Inspired by the composer’s Renaissance and Baroque idols, it is a chaconne—a form in which a melodic pattern and its harmonic foundation are repeated over and over but transformed by means of extensive variation limited only by the composer’s imagination. The movement begins with a severe and blustery statement of its fundamental eight-note theme and proceeds through a whirlwind of 30 exceptionally diverse and inventive variations that demonstrate Brahms’s mastery of the form. The theme finds its way through the entire orchestra, appearing everywhere from the low brass to the upper woodwinds and exploring seemingly every possible permutation of the pattern. Finally, the chaconne gives way, and a fittingly stentorian coda concludes the piece.

- Jay Goodwin © 2013

After applying to the competition and participating in a highly selective preliminary audition round, Mr. Chai was invited to travel to Dallas to participate in the final rounds of competition, which were held at Southern Methodist University in March. Mr. Chai advanced through three live rounds of competition, adjudicated by a panel of renowned concert pianists, to win First Prize and a solo engagement to perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor with the Dallas Chamber Symphony. A native of Xian, China, Mr. Chai is also a prize-winner of the Sorantin International Competition.

“Mr. Chai exhibited such extraordinary musicianship throughout the live competition rounds that we feel privileged to have this opportunity to share the stage with him.” says Richard McKay, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Dallas Chamber Symphony. “Audience members will be dazzled by this young pianist’s virtuosity, sensitivity and masterful command of the keyboard.”

Audience members will also have the opportunity to hear the top-of-the-line Yamaha CFX concert grand piano that now resides at the City Performance Hall. Mr. Chai’s will be the first orchestral concerto performance on the new instrument.

Rounding out the program will be Beethoven’s fiery Coriolan Overture and Brahms’ popular and romantic Symphony No. 4 in E Minor. Both pieces will be performed by the Dallas Chamber Symphony.

The event will be held on Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at City Performance Hall (2520 Flora Street, Dallas, Texas 75201). It will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Individual tickets are available for $21-$38 each, $12 for students. Patrons may enter the promo code “Beethoven25” when purchasing online for an extra 25% off. For event information or to purchase tickets, visit www.DallasChamberSymphony.org or call (214) 880-0202. Tickets may also be purchased in the City Performance Hall lobby the evening of the concert starting at 6 p.m.

ABOUT DALLAS CHAMBER SYMPHONY

Launched in September 2012, the Dallas Chamber Symphony is the newest professional performance ensemble in North Texas. Led by Artistic Director and Conductor Richard McKay, it is comprised of close to 40 musicians, all dedicated to building a chamber orchestra whose mission is to perform a balance of programs that include underrepresented and standard repertory, contemporary music, staged works, and pieces with extra-musical elements, such as film, actors, dancers, and narrators. The DCS performs at the state-of-the-art Dallas City Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District. The DCS also provides educational and community programming, including an International Piano Competition at SMU, a free mobile application in the App Store, and free pre-concert conversations. For more information, visit www.DallasChamberSymphony.org.

# # #

For More Information:
Elizabeth Peichel
214-336-8344
epeichel@dcsymphony.org

The String Quartet No. 2 in G major, op. 18, No. 2, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1798 and 1800 and published in 1801. This charming work is a comedy, rich with wit and humor and reminiscent of Haydn’s quartets. Beethoven’s first movement Allegro begins with a delightful exchange of phrases that has been said to describe eighteenth century manners. In German-speaking countries, the graceful curve of the first violin’s opening phrase has earned the work the nickname of Komplimentier-Quartett, which might be translated as “quartet of bows and curtseys”. There is a deeper moment in the pianissimo change to Eb in the development, with a mysterious fugato; but it is quickly dismissed, and the movement returns to its witty course. The C major Adagio cantabile is almost plain, and harmonically almost avoids expression. There is a nod to Haydn here with a quick scherzo-like section written into the movement. Then the adagio returns in full force to the end. The real scherzo is brilliantly unpredictable, thematically and harmonically. Beethoven’s early scherzos show amazing variety and resource. The quartet’s finale shows what he has learned from Haydn with witty inversions and diminutions of its first three notes. This humorous movement also shows what can be done by constant flexibility in contrasting textures and phrase-lengths in music.

Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) ”Psalom” and “Summa”

A short piece by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, “Psalom” (Psalm), is described by writer Paul Hillier as “tiny, almost evanescent, its nine varied statements of a single melodic idea . . . vanishing into silence as soon as they are brushed into being.” And, in an interview Pärt said, “Silence is the pause in me when I am near to God”. It seems that the sacredness of silence is a view characteristic of Pärt’s musical thought.

Pärt’s “Summa” – a summary of life’s experiences – was originally created in 1978 as a setting for four solo voices of the church’s most convincing declaration of its faith, as expressed in the Latin words of the Mass: Credo in unum Deum (“We believe in one God”). The work winds its gently flowing lines around the ancient text, sometimes placing pairs of voices against each other (a technique greatly favored in Renaissance sacred music), sometimes creating haunting modal harmonies from the weaving together of all the voices. The transcribing of “Summa” into the realm of the pure, wordless music of the string quartet only intensifies its air of wonder, mystery, and timelessness.

Pärt refers to his writing style as “tintinnabuli.” He explains the term this way: “Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers—in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity. What is it, this one thing, and how do I find my way to it? Traces of this perfect thing appear in many guises—and everything that is unimportant falls away. Tintinnabulation is like this. Here I am alone with silence. I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me.”

Robert Schumann (1810–1856): String Quartet in A major, Op. 41, No. 3 (1842)

Robert Schumann wrote all three of his string quartets in a burst of creative output in 1842, dedicating them to his friend Felix Mendelssohn. Such concentrated working periods were not unusual for Schumann. The third of the three quartets, in A major, is perhaps the best known. The opening movement begins with an introduction that establishes a signature motive: a falling perfect fifth like a sigh. The main exposition follows with a gentle calmness. Schumann chose the form of a theme and variations for the second movement, instead of the usual scherzo. The movement is marked agitato and most of the variations are energetic, except variation 4, the poco adagio, with the first violin and viola in canon. The third movement Adagio is the longest and most reflective movement of the quartet revealing Schumann’s typical lyricism and beauty. The finale movement sweeps away all that has gone before in a rush of dynamic energy, featuring syncopated, folk-like dance rhythms with a grand finish. Thus ends Schumann’s only set of string quartets, in essence the last word in the genre before Brahms.

Concert starts at 7:30pm at City Performance Hall. (Map It)

To purchase tickets, click here, or call (214) 880-0202.

Congcong Chai, who performed Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.1 in F-sharp Minor, will receive a cash prize of $1,500 and a concert engagement to perform his piano concerto with the Dallas Chamber Symphony on April 30th, 2013 at Dallas City Performance Hall.

Thomas Steigerwald claimed the Second Prize, and will receive a cash award of $1,000 for his performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor. Jeannette Fang took Third Prize, and will receive a cash award of $500 for her performance of Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major.

Finalists Alex McDonald and HanQing Zhou both received Honorable Mentions for their performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, respectively.

The DCS International Piano Competition was held in three rounds at Caruth Auditorium at Southern Methodist University’s Owen Arts Center March 14-16, 2013. The Dallas Chamber Symphony presents its annual International Piano Competition in community partnership with the SMU Meadows School of the Arts. Jurors Pamela Mia Paul, Andrey Ponochevny and Young-Hyun Cho adjudicated the competition.

Quarter-finalists of the competition took advantage of opportunities to work with the Meadows School’s piano faculty, including a public masterclass taught by Dr. Carol Leone, Co-Chair of the Keyboard Department and Associate Professor of Piano. Dr. David Karp and Alfred Mouledous also volunteered their time to offer private piano lessons to competition participants.

For more information about Congcong Chai’s concert debut with the Dallas Chamber Symphony, click here. Tickets to the 7:30pm concert at Dallas City Performance Hall on April 30, 2013 can be purchased atwww.DallasChamberSymphony.org, or by calling (214) 880-0202. Tickets start at $21 for regular admission and $12 for students.

1st Prize - Congcong Chai

S. Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor

2nd Prize - Thomas Steigerwald

S. Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor

3rd Prize – Jeannette Fang

F. Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major

Honorable Mention – Alex McDonald

Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major

Honorable Mention – HanQing Zhou

J. Brahms, Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor

Congcong Chai – First Prize

Jeannette Fang – Third Prize

For more information about competition events, click here.

Visit the DCS International Piano Competition website at: www.DCSPianoCompetition.org.

Round 3, Finals, Saturday, March 16, 2013

1:00pm-5:00pm

Caruth Auditorium, Owen Arts Center

Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University

Finalist #1 – Jeannette Fang

F. Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 1

Accompanist: Eduardo Rojas

Finalist #2 - Congcong Chai

S. Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto No. 1

Accompanist: Eduardo Rojas

Finalist #3 - Thomas Steigerwald

S. Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto No. 3

Accompanist: Peter Steigerwald

Finalist #4 – Alex McDonald

Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4

Accompanist: Jerry Stevens

Finalist #5 – Hanqing Zhou

J. Brahms, Piano Concerto No. 1

Accompanist: Eduardo Rojas

Finalists are listed here according to performance order, not by ranking.

A public announcement of the final results, and an Award Ceremony will be held at 8pm on Saturday, March 16th, 2013, at Caruth Auditorium. To learn more about competition events, click here. All competition events are free and open to the public.

The First Place winner will receive a $1,500 cash prize, the Second Place winner a $1,000 cash prize, and the Third Place winner a $500 prize. The First Place winner will also make his or her concerto debut with the Dallas Chamber Symphony on April 30, 2013 at City Performance Hall. For more information about the debut concert, visit the Dallas Chamber Symphony website by clicking here.

Jeannette Fang

For more information about competition events, click here.

Visit the DCS International Piano Competition website at: www.DCSPianoCompetition.org.

Piano Masterclass with Dr. Carol Leone

Friday, March 15, 2013, 3:00-5:00pm

Caruth Auditorium, Owen Arts Center

Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University

Karen Huber, pianist — F. Chopin, Nocturne in E Major, Op. 62, No. 2

Yoonsook Song, pianist — L. Liebermann, Gargoyles

Ruilong Fan, pianist — W.A. Mozart, Sonata in C Minor, K. 457

Kara Huber

American pianist Kara Huber has been acclaimed for her “mature vision” by the Washington Post. The Classical Voice of North Carolina wrote that she plays “technically difficult solo passages with uncanny accuracy.”
Ms. Huber has made several appearances at the Kennedy Center as well as the Eastern Illinois University Guest Artist Series and Rising Stars Piano Series in Southampton, NY. Ms. Huber has received numerous prizes and awards for her performances, including the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, The Stetcher and Horowitz Foundation’s New York Piano Competition, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Kara has attended summer festivals such as Tanglewood, Music Academy of the West, and Pianofest in the Hamptons.
First picking up melodies by ear at an early age, Ms. Huber began private lessons at the age of five. At sixteen, she was admitted to the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where she also made her orchestral debut with the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra. Past teachers have included Michael Coonrod, Frank Weintstock, Awadagin Pratt, Yoshi Nagai, Paul Schenly, and Jerome Lowenthal. Ms. Huber has received degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She is pursuing a career as a concert pianist as an artist at the Banff Centre creative music residency. www.karahuber.com

Yoonsook Song

Born in Suwon, Korea Yoonsook Song began to play the piano at the age of four. A recipient of the prestigious University Fellowship, she studied with professor Jaehee Hyun at Sejong University in Seoul, Korea where she graduated magna cum laude. During her tenure at Sejong University, Ms. Song performed recitals every year, and in particular was invited to perform at the “2008 Debut Concert” for the most talented pianists of the area in Seoul. Her successful performances reinforced her passions and interest in piano music, which led to an entrance to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she received a master’s degree in piano performance under the direction of renowned pianist, Professor John Steele Ritter. Ms. Song has received numerous other prizes and awards for her performances, including Kimpo College Competition, The Piano Society of Korea Competition, Ohio University Soloist Competition and Graves’ Competition. More recently, I performed with the Ohio University Symphony in 2012 as a winner of the Soloist Competition. Her masterclass experience includes performances for Ian Hobson, Peter Takacs and Aguilles delle Vigne, Gerald Fauth at the Leipzig Music Festival in Germany. Such experience has widened her horizons, enlarged her repertoire, and increased her concentration during performance. Currently, she is pursuing a master’s degree in piano pedagogy and performance at Ohio University School of Music under the direction of Youmee Kim for piano performance and Christopher Fisher and Gail Berenson for piano pedagogy. At Ohio University, she holds a graduate scholarship as a graduate teaching assistant and an accompanist for the Ohio University Singers and Ohio University Opera. Ms. Song also teaches at Athens Community Music School. Moreover, as a member of MTNA and as a vice president of the Ohio University Collegiate Chapter, and recently took part in various conferences and held a variety of events for young students, their parents and my OU Chapter.

Ruilong Fan

Ruilong Fan is currently a first-year Master’s degree student under the tutelage of Joanna Polk. As a pianist, she has performed in venues such as Shanghai Heluting Concert Hall, Shenzhen Concert Hall of Theater, Amoy Gulangyu Concert Hall, Hongkong Quanwan Concert Hall, and Concert Hall of Tianjin Conservatory of Music.
Ms. Fan began her piano studies at the age of nine with Yuan Xie. In 2001, she was accepted by the attached school of Tianjin Conservatory of Music and studied with Yibo Wang. In 2007, she continued her studies with Yuan Xie and was excused from an examination by Tianjin Conservatory of Music, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2011.In 2009-2010, Ms. Fan has studied in Shanghai Conservatory of Music as a temporary student under the instruction of Yingdi Sun.
Since she learning the piano, Ms. Fan awarded Fifth Prize in the First Prize in the First Kadanza of the National Youth Chinese Work Competition (Youth Group) in 2005; awarded First Prize in Tianjin “Hong Xing Mei Kai Long” Piano Competition (Adult Group) in 2006; awarded Honorable Mention in the Forth Gulangyu Island Piano Festival Competition (Youth Group) held by Chinese Musicians Association in 2008. Ms. Fan has participated in master classes with Guangren Zhou, Hongkuan Chen, Anton Kuerti, Yunlin Yang.

Dr. Carol Leone

Carol Leone is Co-Chair of the Keyboard Department and Associate Professor of Piano and at SMU Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, Texas. She has performed and taught throughout the US, Europe and Asia. Winner of the 1989 National Beethoven Sonata Competition, she was also a prizewinner in the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition and the International Masters Competition. Her professional training included study at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she received a diploma and was a student of the legendary Polish pianist Mieczysław Horszowski. She was also a student of Guido Agosti in Rome at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, where she received the Honors Diploma. An active soloist and chamber musician, Dr. Leone can be heard in recordings produced by the Augusta Read Thomas Label, Gasparo Records, and Crystal Records. She performs regularly with the Grammy-nominated contemporary music ensemble, Voices of Change.

Dr. Leone has taught in international festivals in Italy, Russia, Austria, the Czech Republic, China and South Korea. She is a frequent invitee to give masterclasses and presentations at national and international conferences and is considered one of the world’s leading researchers and proponents of ergonomic piano keyboards to promote a pianist’s wellness. Among Dr. Leone’s many awards, she was named the 2005-2006 Texas Music Teachers Association’s Collegiate Teacher of the Year.

For more information about competition events, click here.

Visit the DCS International Piano Competition website at: www.DCSPianoCompetition.org.

To read the full article, click here.

Still in its first season, the Dallas Chamber Symphony is also passionate about music education, providing educational and community programming, including an International Piano Competition at SMU, a free Program Book App available for iOS devices on the App Store, and free Pre-Concert Conversations.

Competition events are held March 14-16, 2013, at Caruth Auditorium at Southern Methodist University’s Owen Arts Center. Events include three rounds of competition, a public masterclass, and winners’ recital. For complete details, click here. All competition events are free and open to the public.

Mikhail Berestnev

Mikhail Berestnev was born in the city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban (Krasnodar region) September 22, 1987 . He started to play on the piano at 5 years old. He studied in Moscow in Gnessins college of music and after that in Russian Academy of Music named by Gnessins. His teachers in Russia were Irina Grebenkina, Andrey Khitruk, Alexey Skavronsky and Vladimir Tropp. Now he is student of the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth (U.S.). He is studying with Dr. Tamas Ungar.

He is winner of the Stanislav Neugaus International competition (Russia, 2010) and gold medal of the International competition “Delphic Games” (Minsk, Belorussia, 2008). In 2010 he won the 2nd prize and special prize of “Yamaha” on the International competition “The Way to the Mastership” (Moscow). In March of 2012 he won the 4th prize on the 58th Maria Canals International Competition (Barcelona, Spain) and 3d prize on the National MTNA Young Artist Piano Competition (New York). In June of 2012 he got prestigious Judith Solomon Piano Award in chamber music. In July of 2012 he won the 4th prize and special prize for the best performance of Russian composers on the 10th International Sydney Piano Competition. In November of 2012 he won 1st prize of the 53d International Sorantin Competition for Piano and Strings (San Angelo, Texas). In December of 2012 he won 2nd prize and Special Prize of the best performance by Brazilian Composer Almeida Prado on 3d the BNDES International Piano Competition in Rio de Janeiro.

His chamber music partners were artists from the Chamber Ensemble “MoscowVirtuosi”(Russia), “MusicaViva”(Russia),“Seraphim-Trio” (Australia), San Paulo City String Quartet (Brazil). He performed as a soloist with Yaroslavl Philharmonic Orchestra (Russia) , Rostov on Don Philharmonic Orchestra (Russia), Texas Christian University Symphony Orchestra (Fort Worth, USA), Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Brazilian Symphony Orchestra . Recordings of Mikhail Berestnev were broadcast on the New York Classical Radio and on the ABC Classic FM.

Inge Buniardi

Inge has performed around the world and began her career since the age of seven.
She was one of the winners for the University of Kansas Concerto Competition 2011 and performed Rachmaninoff Concerto no. 2 with Kansas University Symphony Orchestra.

Last year she won the MTNA West Central Division competition in Young Artist Category.
She won the 1st prize of Ananda Sukarlan Award in Indonesia in 2008 and became one of the adjudicators in 2010.
She was one of the prize winners of the American Fine Arts Festival International Competition and performed in Carnegie Hall last October and got the opportunity to perform with Kostronov Orchestra in Russia.

At the age of 17, she recorded four-hand works by Mozart together with Iswargia Soedarno, her piano teacher then.
She started her piano lessons at age of four and currently pursuing her Doctor of Music degree in Kansas University in piano performing under Dr. Steven Spooner. She obtained her Bachelor and Master of Music at Conservatorium van Amsterdam, in piano performing under Prof. Mila Baslawskaja, while studying singing under Elise Galama, and composition under Daan Manneke as her minors.

Congcong Chai

As a prize winner in 53rd Sorantin International Competition, Chai has participated in piano masterclasses and private lessons conducted by Leslie Howard, Paul Badura-Skoda, Malcolm Bilson, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Matti Raekallio and Vladimir Krainev, to name just a few. He has performed in Lawrence, Fort Worth, Grand Junction, Hong Kong, Macau, Shang Hai, Shenzhen, and Zhu Hai. His performances have included varied repertoire for solo piano, two pianos, and piano concertos. He enjoys an association with the conductors Robert Ward and Yondani Butt, collaborating in performances of Beethoven 4th Piano Concerto, the Yellow River Piano Concerto and GriegPiano Concerto in A minor. The festivals he attended in 2012 summer including PianoTexas International Academy & Festival and Concerto Fest Vienna.

As a recipient of numerous scholarships, Chai has been awarded the Lee Shuk-chee Memorial Scholarship, The Society of APA Non-Local Scholarship, Tom Lee Music Scholarship, CE Scholarship, Baring Private Equity Asia Scholarship, HKAPA Piano Alumni Scholarship, Capps Rogers Scholarship and David & Gunda Hiebert Piano Scholarship.

Born in Xian, China, Chai Congcong started learning piano with his mother at a young age. He studied at the DongFang XingZhi Piano School with Prof. Zheng Shu Xing, and ShenZhen Art School with Dan Zhao Yi and Miao Xiao Yan. After graduating from high school, he was admitted to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts to study with Prof. Eleanor Wong for his Diploma, Bachelor, and Master degrees. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant of University of Kansas, he is currently in his second year of the DMA programme at KU with Dr. Jack Winerock.

Ruilong Fan

Ruilong Fan is currently a first-year Master’s degree student under the tutelage of Joanna Polk. As a pianist, she has performed in venues such as Shanghai Heluting Concert Hall, Shenzhen Concert Hall of Theater, Amoy Gulangyu Concert Hall, Hongkong Quanwan Concert Hall, and Concert Hall of Tianjin Conservatory of Music.
Ms. Fan began her piano studies at the age of nine with Yuan Xie. In 2001, she was accepted by the attached school of Tianjin Conservatory of Music and studied with Yibo Wang. In 2007, she continued her studies with Yuan Xie and was excused from an examination by Tianjin Conservatory of Music, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2011.In 2009-2010, Ms. Fan has studied in Shanghai Conservatory of Music as a temporary student under the instruction of Yingdi Sun.

Since she learning the piano, Ms. Fan awarded Fifth Prize in the First Prize in the First Kadanza of the National Youth Chinese Work Competition (Youth Group) in 2005; awarded First Prize in Tianjin “Hong Xing Mei Kai Long” Piano Competition (Adult Group) in 2006; awarded Honorable Mention in the Forth Gulangyu Island Piano Festival Competition (Youth Group) held by Chinese Musicians Association in 2008. Ms. Fan has participated in master classes with Guangren Zhou, Hongkuan Chen, Anton Kuerti, Yunlin Yang.

Jeannette Fang

Jeannette Fang is an imaginative and expressive pianist whose dynamic performances have attracted the attention of both professionals as well as the concert going public. She most recently was the 2nd place Young Artist Performance National winner of the MTNA Young Artist Competition. From an early age her creative pianism was recognized through many awards such as first prize in the 20th International Young Artists’ Piano Competition in Washington, D.C., second prize in the 2003 Oberlin International Piano Competition, top honors in various MTNA competitions, awards from the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts and the National Alliance for the Arts, and first prize in the 2000 Steinway Society Scholarship competition. She is the recipient of the Elizabeth J. Parisot award from Yale School of Music, the winner of the Karlfried Nordman Scholarship Piano Competition at Juilliard, and was named a National Presidential Scholar in the Arts in 2003.

An active presence on the concert stage, Ms. Fang performs regularly in such settings as Alice Tully Hall, John F. Kennedy Center, Zankel Hall, Bargemusic, Peter J. Sharp Theater, Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall, Sprague Recital Hall, and many others. She has been a featured performer on the McGraw-Hill Young Artist’s Showcase on WQXR-New York, and on NPR’s “From the Top” broadcast from the Disney Institute in California. She has soloed with numerous orchestras including the New Jersey Philharmonic, Battleground Symphony, and St. Mary’s Chamber Orchestra, and has won concerto competitions resulting in orchestra performances at both Juilliard Pre-College and Manhattan School of Music. She has served as Artist-In-Residence for two years at St. Mary’s Church Concert Series in South Amboy, NJ, and has performed as a guest artist at Boston Conservatory, Jacob’s Pillow Festival, the Watchung Arts Center, as well as others.

In addition to her long-standing commitment to solo piano performance, Ms. Fang is a passionate and experienced chamber musician. She was a young artist at the Taos Music Festival in the summer of 2012, and has spent three summers at the prestigious YellowBarn Festival in Vermont. She has performed with faculty and various new music groups in such venues as Zankel Hall, Bargemusic, Chamberfest at Juiliiard, and Le Poisson Rouge.

She enjoys working in the world of contemporary music through active and ongoing collaborations with prominent composers such as David Lang, Shulamit Ran, Aaron Jay Kernis, Philippe Hersant, and Stephan Cox.

Ms. Fang holds degrees from the Juilliard School, Yale School of Music, and is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Michigan. Her principal teachers have included Peter Frankl, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Robert McDonald, Julian Martin, and Logan Skelton. Her first piano teacher was her mother, Dr. Julia Lam.

Martina Frezzotti

Martina Frezzotti, 1986, began piano studies at the age of six. She was one of Lazar Berman’s last pupils at Imola Piano Academy. In June 2012, she completed the Ph.D. program at the Moscow Conservatory with Professor Elisso Virsaladze with a dissertation about Performance and stage fright. She gave many successful recitals in Europe, Russia and USA (Carnegie Hall, Kiev Philarmonia, Svyatoslav Richter’s House, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Società dei Concerti of Milan).

She widely performed in Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Spain, France, Slovenia, Croatia, Belgium, Republique of Malta, in the major cities. Martina has taken part in National and International Competitions receiving a lot of first prizes and obtaining various scholarships. She recorded a CD of Schumann music. She attended masterclasses with famous professors as V. Gornostaeva, W. G. Naborè, S. Perticaroli, V. Kraynev, B. Berman, J. Swann, L. Margarius. For the new season she has been invited to take part in Beijing Piano Festival and to perform again in the US for MidAmerica Productions of NY.

Ekaterina Gumenyuk

Ekaterina Gumenyuk was born in 1989 in Volgodonsk, Russia. She began her piano studies at the D. Shostakovich Music School and furthered her studies at the Saint-Petersburg Conservatory under Professor A. Sandler, where she graduated with top honors. In 2010, she received the Certificate of Merit from the Accademia Chigiana in Sienna, Italy.

She is the First Prize winner of the “Premio Franco Alfano” International Competition (Italy), Third Prize winner of the Chopin International Competition (Estonia), Fifth Prize winner of the Prokofiev International Competition (Kazakhstan), Third Prize winner of the “Citta di Cantu” International Competition (Italy), Second Prize winner of the Paul Badura-Skoda International Piano Competition (Spain).

Since 2001she has been an active participant of the “SOS Talents” Foundation in Switzerland. She has performed in prestigious venues such as the Philharmonic Hall, Capella, Yusupovsky Palace, Sheremetevsky Palace in Saint-Petersburg, Moscow Conservatory Hall, Salle Gaveau, Salle Cortot, Hotel Marcel Dassault on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, Château de Canisy (Normandy, France), Montreux Palace, Château de Prangins, Château de Coppet in Switzerland, Villa Schindler (Telfs) and Ambras Castle (Innsbruck) in Austria, King’s Hotel in Casablanca, Szczecin Philharmonia in Poland, as well as recitals in Italy (Sicily), Estonia, USA and Japan.

In 2011 Ekaterina Gumenyuk became a graduate student at the Southern Methodist University Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, Texas, under Professor Joaquín Achúcarro.

Kara Huber

American pianist Kara Huber has been acclaimed for her “mature vision” by the Washington Post. The Classical Voice of North Carolina wrote that she plays “technically difficult solo passages with uncanny accuracy.”

Ms. Huber has made several appearances at the Kennedy Center as well as the Eastern Illinois University Guest Artist Series and Rising Stars Piano Series in Southampton, NY. Ms. Huber has received numerous prizes and awards for her performances, including the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, The Stetcher and Horowitz Foundation’s New York Piano Competition, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Kara has attended summer festivals such as Tanglewood, Music Academy of the West, and Pianofest in the Hamptons.

First picking up melodies by ear at an early age, Ms. Huber began private lessons at the age of five. At sixteen, she was admitted to the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where she also made her orchestral debut with the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra. Past teachers have included Michael Coonrod, Frank Weintstock, Awadagin Pratt, Yoshi Nagai, Paul Schenly, and Jerome Lowenthal. Ms. Huber has received degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She is pursuing a career as a concert pianist as an artist at the Banff Centre creative music residency. www.karahuber.com

Jim James

Dr. Jim James is a pianist of unique breadth and depth, with a wide range of experience in solo, chamber, and collaborative playing. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Lawrence University in Appleton , Wisconsin as well as a Master of Music degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and his Doctorate in Piano Performance at the University of Texas-Austin. He also spent a semester studying at the École Normale de Musique in Paris , France . In 2002 Jim took first prize in the Badger Piano Competition of the Wisconisin Music Teachers Association, and received the Margaret Daniels and Jane Shephard Keyboard Awards at Lawrence University.

During his time at UMKC he was a part of the New Music ensemble Musica Nova and later played John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music as soloist with the UT Wind Ensemble in a performance featured on NPR’s Performance Today. His principal piano instructors are Joan Smalley, Michael Kim, Catherine Kautsky , Robert Weirich , and Gregory Allen. He has played in masterclasses for Richard Goode and Ruth Laredo. Since finishing his degrees, Dr. James teaches a large studio of private students and continues performing solo and collaborative music in the Austin area, including frequent performances with the Austin Chamber Music Society.

Hee Sung Jang

Pianist Hee-Sung Jang, born in Korea, received her bachelor’s and master’s degree in piano performance from Seoul National University, where she studied with Soo-Jung Shin. She obtained her degrees with an ‘Award of Honor’ by presenting a thesis ‘A Study on the Literary Effects of E. T. A. Hoffmann in Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Op.16’. She furthered her studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor working with Arthur Greene, earning a master’s degree with high distinction.

As a soloist and chamber musician she has performed at prestigious venues in her native country, such as the Seoul National University’s Mozart Concert Hall, as well as the Ewon Cultural Center and Chugye University of Arts. International performances include the Wiener Summer Music Festival in Austria, the Worthing Theatre in the United Kingdom, the Puigcerda Summer Music Festival in Spain, Steinway Hall in Texas, and the Good Shepherd Church in New York. Additionally she has performed in master classes given by renowned artists such as John Perry, Oxana Yablonskaya, Hae-Sun Paik and Barry Snyder.

Hee-Sung Jang won the first prize at the Seattle International Piano Competition as well as prizes in the 5 Towns Piano Competition in New York, the American Protégé Competition as well as the Bradshaw and Buono Piano Competition. Recently, she performed the Mozart Concerto No. 20 in D Minor with the New York Concert Artists Symphony Orchestra as part of their “Evenings of Piano Concerti” season as a winner of their concerto competition. Highlights next season include recitals in Seattle and at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York.

She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree as a student of Anton Nel at the University of Texas at Austin, where she recently received an ‘Outside-Achievement Student Award’.

Eunhye Lee

Ms. Eunhye Lee began studying piano at the age of five. She received her Bachelor’s of Music in Piano Performance at Sook-Myung Women’s University in South Korea and her Master’s at University of Cincinnati as a student of Awadagin Pratt. Currently, she is pursuing a Performance Diploma under the tutelage of Dr. Carol Leone at Southern Methodist University.
During her undergraduate study, Ms. Lee won the Mozart Concerto Competition at Sook-Myung Women’s University and performed with their resident orchestra. She recently won 2nd prize in the CCM Concerto Competition with her performance of the Beethoven Choral Fantasie. Ms. Lee has performed and taken master classes with Michael Rezek, Aguilles delle Vigne, Jura Margulis , Yoshikazu Nagai, Mike Block, Alessio Bax, Domenico Codispoti, Rebecca Penney, Tamás Ungár and Markus Groh. She has also participated in The International Center of Piano Studies in
Rome, The Art of the Piano at CCM and the International Piano Festival Master Class in Houston
Ms. Lee continues to build her collaborative skills as a chamber musician and accompanist for vocalists and instrumentalists. At both CCM and SMU, she regularly appeared in chamber recitals as the collaborative pianist for many soloist recitals.

Alex McDonald

Since his orchestral debut at age 11, pianist Alex McDonald has soloed with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de Mexico, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has performed across the United States as well as in Israel, Canada, Japan, and South Korea; additionally, he has been a featured performer on PBS, WRR, NPR, and WQXR. Awards and fellowships include second prize at the 2007 New Orleans International Piano Competition and second prize at the 2001 Gina Bachauer International Young Artist Piano Competition. In 2008, he was named a Harvey Fellow by the Mustard Seed Foundation.

Dr. McDonald currently teaches piano at Texas Women’s University, having previously taught as adjunct faculty at Richland College as well as at the Juilliard School, where he also was a Teaching Fellow for both the Literature and Materials and Piano Minor departments. Additionally, his private piano students have been admitted to Juilliard and Eastman, as well as the pre-college division of the Manhattan School of Music. Deeply concerned about a healthy integration of life with music, he has actively pursued community formation both as an R.A. in the Juilliard residence hall and as president of Juilliard Christian Fellowship.

Dr. McDonald received his pre-college training under Lois Nielson, his bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory with Academic Honors and Distinction in Performance under Russell Sherman, and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Juilliard under Yoheved Kaplinsky and Julian Martin. His doctoral document, a source study on manuscripts and editions for Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor, has been cited in the most recent edition of the sonata by Alfred Publishers, edited by Nancy Bricard.

Yoonsook Song

Born in Suwon, Korea Yoonsook Song began to play the piano at the age of four. A recipient of the prestigious University Fellowship, she studied with professor Jaehee Hyun at Sejong University in Seoul, Korea where she graduated magna cum laude.

During her tenure at Sejong University, Ms. Song performed recitals every year, and in particular was invited to perform at the “2008 Debut Concert” for the most talented pianists of the area in Seoul. Her successful performances reinforced her passions and interest in piano music, which led to an entrance to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she received a master’s degree in piano performance under the direction of renowned pianist, Professor John Steele Ritter.

Ms. Song has received numerous other prizes and awards for her performances, including Kimpo College Competition, The Piano Society of Korea Competition, Ohio University Soloist Competition and Graves’ Competition. More recently, I performed with the Ohio University Symphony in 2012 as a winner of the Soloist Competition. Her masterclass experience includes performances for Ian Hobson, Peter Takacs and Aguilles delle Vigne, Gerald Fauth at the Leipzig Music Festival in Germany. Such experience has widened her horizons, enlarged her repertoire, and increased her concentration during performance.

Currently, I am pursuing a master’s degree in piano pedagogy and performance at Ohio University School of Music under the direction of Youmee Kim for piano performance and Christopher Fisher and Gail Berenson for piano pedagogy. At Ohio University, I hold graduate scholarship as a graduate teaching assistant and an accompanist for the Ohio University Singers and Ohio University Opera. I also teach at Athens Community Music School. Moreover, as a member of MTNA and as a vice president of the Ohio University Collegiate Chapter, I recently took part in various conferences and held a variety of events for young students, their parents and my OU Chapter.

Thomas Steigerwald

Thomas Steigerwald recently captured the Silver Medal at the 62nd Wideman International Piano Competition with a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. As the only American pianist chosen for the 2012 Round Top Festival Summer Institute, his performances included Balakirev’s Islamey and Roussel’s Joueurs de Flute with flutist Ransom Wilson His appearances with the Round Top Texas Festival Orchestra included a performance of Griffes’ The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan under the baton of Micheal Stern.

As Winner of the 2011 Future Stars Competition, he made his orchestral debut with the San Antonio Symphony performing Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 3. At the 2012 Dakota Sky International Piano Festival, Mr. Steigerwald performances included Brahm’s Cello Sonata No. 2 with Maxim Kozlov, and Ravel’s Piano Trio with the Delphi Trio. He studied in Italy at the 2011 Schlern Music Festival where he performed the Brahms Piano Trio No.1 in B Major and was a Finalist in the Schlern International Music Festival Piano Competition. He has also studied at the Aspen Music Festival, where his performances included Ravel’s La valse (poème choréographique) for two pianos, and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor.

He has performed numerous solo recitals including performances at the Tuesday Musical Club of San Antonio, the Musical Arts Center of San Antonio, and the Uvalde Grand Opera House.

He has had coaching and masterclasses with Eteri Andjaparidze, Rita Sloan, James Dick, Anton Nel, Petronel Malan, Adam Golka, Gregory DeTurck, Tamas Ungar, Nancy Weems, Carolyn True, Timothy Hester, Kasandra Keeling, Alessio Bax, and Lucille Chung.
Mr. Steigerwald is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, studying with Douglas Humpherys. He is the recipient of the Howard Hanson, the Liliian Miller Loos, and the Texas Music Teachers Assn. Whitlock Memorial Scholarships.

Lucy Tan

Lucy Tan has performed at Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center. She made her live national radio debut at age 11 on the Boston area radio station WGBH with the late Robert Lurtzema on “Morning Pro Musica.” Ms. Tan was also broadcast on NPR for a performance on “From the Top.” Outside of the U.S., Ms. Tan’s performances have taken her to the Far East as well as Europe. In the past, Ms. Tan presented a full-­‐house solo recital at the Hunan University of Arts and Sciences Concert Hall in China. She also was invited to various music festivals such as Bowdoin International Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and Music Academy of the West.

A laureate of several competitions, Ms. Tan has won prizes at the XXVIII Incontro Internatiozionale Giovani Pianisti (Senigallia, Italy), the Chiang Wen Yeh International Piano Competition for Young Artists (Washington D.C.), and the Young Virtuosos Competition by the Russian-­‐American Music Association. Other awards include the New England Conservatory Piano Concerto Competition, for which she was engaged to perform Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques as part of the Messiaen Centennial Celebration at NEC. In 2007 and 2011, she was a winner of the Honors Piano Competition at NEC, receiving brilliant accolades for her interpretations. Most recently, she was a finalist in the Ekstrand Competition, and received a development grant to further her goals in music.

Ms. Tan’s former teachers include Hui-­‐Ying Chang, Tatyana Dudochkin, Bruce Brubaker, and Veronica Jochum. In her youth, she was a student of the NEC Preparatory School and the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Ms. Tan received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the New England Conservatory. She is now pursuing her doctorate at the University of Colorado at Boulder with David Korevaar.

Edith Widayani

Edith started her piano education when she was three years old, back in her hometown of Jakarta, Indonesia. She was admitted to Yayasan Pendidikan Musik School of Music when she was 7, and graduated when she was 15, awarded the Yayasan Pendidikan Musik Gold Medal and also the Yayasan Pendidikan Musik Artist Award.

After her graduation, she then continues her study with Dr. Johannes S. Nugroho, former Dean of the Universitas Pelita Harapan Conservatory of Music, for a year before decided to pursue music. Edith then transferred to Music School attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China, and studied under the guidance of Prof. Ling Yuan and graduated in 2008. Edith is a recipient of full-tuition scholarship from Texas Christian University School of Music, including the Langdon Music Scholarship and Happy-Bell Keyboard Scholarship. She worked on her undergraduate degree under the guidance of Dr. Tamas Ungar, and graduated Magna Cum Laude in May 2012.

Claiming the 1st prize winner of Ananda Sukarlan Award for Best Indonesian Pianist 2010, she has also received an Award of Achievement in International Forum from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia. During the summer of 2009, she has also been offered scholarships to go to International Piano Academy Freiburg, Germany and Adam Gyorgy Castle Academy, Budapest, Hungary. During 2011-2012 she also received scholarship to participate in PianoTexas International Festival and Academy as well as Schlern International Music Festival in Italy.

In addition she has been awarded the Judith Solomon Award in Chamber Music from TCU as well as the TCU Faculty and Friends Chamber Music Award. She has also performed in numerous cities in Indonesia as well as abroad, including Italy, Costa Rica, China, Germany, Hungary, and U.S.A. In the summer of 2012, she has served as one of the judges for Ananda Sukarlan Award-Bandung International Music Academy International Piano Competition in Bandung, Indonesia.

Besides her passion in piano, Edith also enjoys playing Chinese zither and Indonesian gamelan, and had performed numerous times with both instruments. She is currently a scholarship recipient working with Prof. Barry Snyder on her Master of Music degree in Eastman School of Music.

Lizhen Wu

Pianist Lizhen Wu was born in 1988 in the town of Yue Yang in the People’s Republic of China. He began studying the piano at the age of 5. Because of his promising musical gifts, he was accepted into the Wuhan Conservatory, which necessitated moving away from home. He studied at the Conservatory with Wang Xian, who remained his teacher until he came to the United States in 2006.

Mr.Wu – known to his American friends as Rick – won First Prize in the Hazimen Piano Competition in China and was invited to the United States to perform at four universities, including the University of North Texas. He auditioned for the Bachelor of Performing Arts degree at the UNT College of Music, and was accepted as a freshman performance major in the fall of 2006 on a scholarship, and studying with Dr. Pamela Mia Paul. In 2012, Mr Wu was accepted as a graduate student at SMU with full scholarship. He is currently studing with Joaquin Achucarro.

Hanqing Zhou

HanQing Zhou is a rising figure of the 80s generation pianist who is committed to connect to today’s audiences by offering strong interpretations of the historical and contemporary repertoire. As a soloist he has performed in orchestral and recital settings. His debut was with the Firelands Symphony Orchestra, performing the Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto under James Feddeck. He has given solo and chamber performance at Warner Concert Hall, Kulas Recital Hall in Ohio, Neier Recital Hall in Chengdu, and Duncan Recital Hall in Houston.

Hanqing completed his Bachelor’s Degree of Piano performance at Oberlin conservatory of music with Professor Peter Takacs. He achieved his Master’s Music Degree at Rice University, Shepherd School of Music under Dr. Robert Roux. Now, He pursues his Artist Diploma in University of Houston with Nancy Weems. He have also participated to many music festivals and master classes including working with Leon Fleisher, Paul Badura-Skoda, John Lill, Nalita True, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Vladimir Fletsman and so on.
HanQing received a full scholarship from Oberlin Conservatory and is a recipient of the Dr. Margaret Ann Goldstein Prize from Rice University He is also a prize winner of many competitions including the Hong Kong Mozart Piano Competition, Firelands Symphony Orchestra Concerto Completion, Gu Lang Yu National Competition (in the Sichuan region).

“At last night’s Dallas Chamber Symphony performance a film screen illuminated the front of City Performance Hall. One of cinema’s first haunts — The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, came alive again on its 93rd birthday. Below it, a tidy cluster of classical musicians plucked their strings, building suspense.”

“there, in that acoustically stunning performance hall, each squeal and knock resonated in time with the wobbly, askew film and its surreal cut-paper backdrop.”

“There were a lot of excited whispers and shoulder grabs as people stood up to leave. I rarely see crowds so invigorated after classical productions. Shows like this reinforce that I’m on board; I’ll see anything this group and its artistic director Richard McKay tries…I trust them, and I believe we need them.”

“Dallas…is beginning to take notice… If we want to keep classical music relevant, we need to fuse it naturally with our other passions…The Dallas Chamber Symphony is making that happen.” ~Jamie Laughlin, the Dallas Observer

To read the full article, click here.

Join us next time, March 26, 2013 @ 7:30pm – Dallas City Performance Hall

For more information about the Dallas Chamber Symphony’s next concert on March 26, 2013, featuring The Wyeth Quartet performing works by Beethoven, Theofanidis & R. Schumann, visit www.DallasChamberSymphony.org. Tickets are available starting at $19 ($12 for students). Tickets may be purchased online, at the door, or by phone at (214) 880-0202.

Leading the way in educational outreach through innovative programs and technology, the Dallas Chamber Symphony launches a free App for all Apple iOS devices, bringing an array of exciting and interactive digital content to audiences. The Dallas Chamber Symphony Digital Program app is unique amongst those provided by orchestras, as it works entirely through Apple’s Newsstand platform, providing readers with pre-concert program notes, audio clips, biographies of composers, and more, weeks before the corresponding Dallas Chamber Symphony event. The DCS is the first local orchestra to provide this kind of digital content to its audience and the Metroplex-at-large.

“It’s a great way to connect with the community,” says Richard McKay, Dallas Chamber Symphony Artistic Director. “Whether you’re a student at a local school, a teacher in need of arts education support or simply a music lover, we’re providing a new way to engage with our music and programs before you even set foot in the symphony hall.”

While the new App is not intended to replace the traditional printed program book, it can provide a new window into the operations of a professional orchestra. It will serve as a platform where patrons can learn all about music – and Dallas Chamber Symphony programs – well in advance of concerts. Because the Dallas Chamber Symphony Program Book app is designed for Apple’s Newsstand platform, readers can read new editions, browse archives, purchase tickets, get directions, and share content through social media—all without leaving the application. “The technology available today allows us to reach more people than ever before—we are committed to using every possible means to cultivate music appreciation, and this new app is a great way to do that” adds McKay.

Corporate and organizational sponsors are delighted by the extended market exposure and shelf life that digital program books provide. As each edition is browsed, shared, and archived over the course of weeks (rather than days), DCS digital publications provide a sponsor’s message increased longevity and customer impressions than afforded by the traditional printed page. In addition, readers do not have to be ticket holders to access the app and its content. This broad accessibility is also appealing to sponsors.

The new app is available now. Periodic publications begin in earnest in February, with the release of the new, Digital Program Book in advance of the February 26th performance of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

DCS digital publications will soon be available on Android & Kindle.