Past Faculty
Telegraph Quartet, quartet in residence
The Telegraph Quartet, consisting of violinists Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violist Pei-Ling Lin, and cellist Jeremiah Shaw, was formed in 2013 with an equal passion for the standard chamber music repertoire as well as contemporary and non-standard repertoire, alike. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle in 2017 as “…an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was most recently awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award. Past prizes include the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The Quartet has since gone on to perform in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions from Los Angeles and New York to Italy and Taiwan, including Carnegie Hall, San Francisco’s Herbst Recital Hall and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Chamber Masters Series and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. In 2016, the Quartet was invited as one of a handful of emerging professional string quartets from around the world to perform in Paris, France at the Biennale de quatuors à cordes, a showcase for major concert presenters of Europe and Asia taking place at the Philharmonie de Paris.
David Balakrishnan, violin
David Balakrishnan, composer/violinist and founder of the Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet born in Los Angeles, California in 1954. After graduating from UCLA in 1976, he quickly established his reputation as a young and talented improvising violinist, appearing on many recordings and making guest appearances with the David Grisman Quartet and jazz violin legend Stephane Grappelli. Under his direction, Turtle Island has won two Grammy awards and David himself has been nominated six times, the most recent being a 2015 nomination in the instrumental composition category for his piece, “Confetti Man”. Several distinguished musicians have played with the TIQ, including clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, guitar legends Leo Kottke and the Assad brothers, pianists Billy Taylor, Kenny Barron, Cyrus Chestnut and Ramsey Lewis, singers Tierney Sutton and Nellie McKay and the Ying Quartet. A distinguished musician/composer,David won Chamber Music America’s prestigious Classical Commissioning Program grant in 2015, supporting a full-length work commemorating the quartet’s 30th anniversary season.
Randy Fisher, viola/violin
Committed to chamber music since 1973 (before CMA!), Randy Fisher’s ensembles bore chamber music traditions from coachings with members of the Juilliard, Cleveland and Budapest quartets as well as Lillian Fuchs and Joseph Gingold. Since moving to California, Fisher has coached regularly at Humboldt, CalCap, SoCal, CMNC, Santa Barbara, Golden Gate and Grand Pacific workshops. Previously, he played in symphonies and string quartets based in seven states and five countries, taught chamber music at colleges in Colorado, Virginia and Hong Kong, and served as Director of Education and Community Outreach for five symphonies.
Anne Harley, soprano
Canadian soprano Anne Harley tours regularly in North America, Europe and Asia and has appeared as soloist with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Opera Boston, BAM Next Wave Festival, American Repertory Theatre, Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Camerata, at the Banff Centre for the Arts and at the Tanglewood Festival. Her solo performances of new music and modern-day premieres of early music are available on Hänssler Profil, Naxos, Sony Classics, Canteloupe, Musica Omnia, einKlang and BMOP/sound, among others. In 2011, she founded the new music commissioning project Voices Of The Pearl. A prize-winning performer-scholar, director and educator, and associate professor in the Scripps College music department, she has been invited to give master classes and teaching residencies at the Salzburg Mozarteum, Shanghai Conservatory, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Beijing University, Brown College, among others.
Emma Rubinstein, violin
Emma has appeared in concerts both nationally and internationally as a guest soloist and chamber musician. She became concertmaster of the Idaho Falls Symphony in July 2009. Prior to arriving in Idaho Falls, she was Assistant Professor of Music and first violin of the Oxford String Quartet at Miami University of Ohio (“Quartet art at the highest level” – Salzburg, Austria). She is also the former first violinist and founding member of the Anacapa String Quartet (“Consummate interpreters” – San Jose, Costa Rica).
Peter Henderson, piano
A versatile pianist, Peter Henderson is active as a performer in solo, chamber and orchestral settings. Henderson is Associate Professor of Music and Artist in Residence at Maryville University, where he has been a faculty member since 2005. He performs frequently as an ensemble keyboardist with the St. Louis Symphony, and made his debut as a subscription concert soloist with the Symphony in January 2008. During January and February 2016, Henderson was the piano soloist in the St. Louis Symphony’s subscription concert and California tour performances of Oliver Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux étoiles…. Critics described him as a “powerhouse soloist” (San Francisco Chronicle) and an “excellent pianist” (Los Angeles Times), and praised his Messiaen playing for its “intense focus and thrilling vibrancy” (San Jose Mercury News). In addition to his work as a keyboard performer with the St. Louis Symphony, he occasionally gives pre-concert lectures from the Symphony’s Powell Hall stage, introducing subscription concert programs. Henderson has also served as Principal Keyboardist of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony since 2015.
Henderson is an advocate of new music, having given several premieres of solo piano and chamber works. In recent years, he has programmed solo recitals exploring focused repertoire: during the 2011-12 season, he performed the 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven; in November and December 2012, he presented the complete piano works of Debussy; and in November 2013, he played Chopin’s 27 Études in a single concert. Henderson’s discography includes collaborations with violinist David Halen, flutist Mark Sparks, violist Jonathan Vinocour, bass trombonist Gerry Pagano, soprano Marlissa Hudson, and The 442s, a Saint-Louis based crossover group. He appears on CDs published by AAM Recordings, AMP Records, and other labels, and is the piano soloist on a disc released during 2015 that features Fred Onovwerosuoke’s 24 Studies in African Rhythms. His second solo CD, “A Celebration of African Composers for Piano,” was issued in 2017.
Henderson is a member of the Ilex Piano Trio, along with violinist Kristin Ahlstrom (his wife), and cellist Anne Fagerburg. Both Kristin and Anne are St. Louis Symphony members.
Henderson holds the degree Doctor of Music from Indiana University, Bloomington, where his piano instructor was Dr. Karen Shaw. Prior to attending Indiana University, he studied piano with Dr. Jay Mauchley at the University of Idaho, Moscow. In addition to his performing activities, Henderson also works as a recording producer and composes music. He and Kristin live in St. Louis with their lively, sweet beagle/terrier-mix Zinni.
Jeffrey LaDeur, piano
Praised for his “delicate keyboard touch and rich expressivity” (San Francisco Chronicle) and playing that is “deeply moving, probing, entirely felt as in the moment” (Eduard Laurel), Jeffrey LaDeur performs worldwide from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the San Francisco Jazz Center, from the Shanghai Conservatory to the Orlando Festival in the Netherlands. LaDeur is founder and artistic director of New Piano Collective and the San Francisco International Piano Festival.
A passionate chamber musician, LaDeur has concertized internationally with the Delphi Trio. The Trio received the dedication of William Bolcom’s first Piano Trio. Jeffrey has collaborated with such artists as Robert Mann, Bonnie Hampton, Geoff Nuttall, Ian Swensen, Anne Akiko Meyers, Toby Appel, David Requiro, and the Alexander, Telegraph, and Aifara Quartets.
LaDeur holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He counts among his teachers Mark Edwards, Douglas Humphreys, Yoshikazo Nagai, and Robert McDonald. His formative musical training was from pianist Annie Sherber, a student of Vlado Perlemuter and Alfred Cortot.
Susan Bates, viola
Susan Bates, violist and champion of chamber music education holds the 2013 Viola Advocate Award from the Northern California Viola Society and the 1992 award for “Excellence in Chamber Music Training” from Chamber Music America. Since 1982, she has instructed violists and chamber musicians in the Pre College of San Francisco Conservatory of Music, guiding many who are now pursuing careers as professionals, as well as playing chamber music “for the love of it”.
Susan Bates is a founding member of the New Age String Quartet that worked under the tutelage of Albert Gillis and the Paganini Quartet. She was for seven years instructor at San Jose State University serving as violist of the faculty ensemble, the San Jose String Quartet. The Quartet worked closely with composer Lou Harrison, giving the premier of his Quartet Set (1978). Ms. Bates also recorded Mr. Harrison’s Threnody for Carlos Chavez (1979) for Solo Viola with Gamelan Sekar Kembar for CRI.
The focus of Ms. Bates’ forty-year career has been the creation and direction of chamber music education programs for highly talented musical youth: SFCM Prep Chamber Music Program (1983-2000), California Summer Music (1996-2000), and Lake Tahoe Music Festival Academy with the Miró Quartet (2000-2006), among others. In 2009, Susan Bates retired from the viola section of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra after 34 years and founded the award-winning pre college chamber music training program Young Chamber Musicians. Through its collaboration with Music at Kohl Mansion and Mercy High School, Burlingame, the program fosters “learning through listening and performing. In 2009, Ms. Bates and her colleagues led the student ensemble – the Fervida Trio – to the Gold Medal in the 2019 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition (Junior Division).
Young Chamber Musicians offers advanced chamber music instruction and exciting performance opportunities to string players and pianists ages 14-19. The program immerses students in the chamber music repertoire to develop technical skill, musical imagination, and the art of working with others. Since its inception, YCM has fostered learning through listening and performing with a curriculum of intense coaching, frequent student performance, master classes and access to performances by professional artists. Since its collaboration with Music at Kohl Mansion in 2011, and Mercy High School, Burlingame in 2014, YCM has risen to become one of the top training programs in California. In 2019, YCM ensembles earned gold medals and top prizes in three of the nation’s premier pre college competitions: the Galante Prize, San Francisco; PCM Chamber Music Competition, Pasadena; and, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, South Bend, Indiana. http://www.youngchambermusicians.org
Susan Freier, violin/viola
Susan Freier, violin/viola, and co-Artistic Director of the Ives Collective, earned degrees in music and biology from Stanford University as a Ford Scholar and continued her studies at the Eastman School of Music where she co-founded the award-winning Chester String Quartet. The Chester went on to win the Munich, Portsmouth (UK) and Discovery Competitions and were the quartet-in-residence at Indiana University, South Bend.
In 1989 Susan returned to her native Bay Area and joined the Stanford faculty and the Stanford String Quartet. She performs with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and has been an artist/faculty member at the Newport Music Festival, Garth Newell, Music in the Mountains, Rocky Ridge Music Center, and the Schlern and Orfeo Music Festivals (Italy). Susan teaches and performs at the Mendocino Music Festival, the SoCal Music Workshop and the Telluride Chamber Music Festival.
Stephen Harrison, cello
Stephen Harrison, cellist has been on the Stanford University faculty since 1983. A graduate of Oberlin College and Boston University, he has been solo cellist of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players since 1985.
Stephen has been on the faculty of the Pacific Music Festival, the Orfeo and Schlern International Music Festivals (Italy) and the Rocky Ridge Music Center. He is currently principal cellist at the Mendocino Music Festival, and performs and teaches at the SoCal Chamber Music Workshop and the Telluride Chamber Music Festival.
Rachel Huang, violin
Rachel Huang, violinist on the Scripps College faculty, performs locally and abroad with The Gold Coast Trio, The Mei Duo and Duo 209; recent engagements have ranged from Quito, Ecuador to Xiamen, China. She also performs with Trio Lykos and Quartet Euphoria, ensembles in residence at Scripps College. Holding degrees from Harvard University and SUNY at Stony Brook, she has received grants for performance and scholarship from the NEA and the NEH. Her scholarly interest in music analysis extends to Jazz: with Hao Huang, she has co-authored published articles on the performance practice of Billie Holiday. For the past 30 years, she has had the privilege of sharing with her violin students the legacies of three great teachers, with whom she studied: Ivan Galamian, Dorothy DeLay and Robert Koff, all of them both late and lamented.
Gayle Blankenburg, piano
Gayle Blankenburg has performed extensively to great critical acclaim as a solo pianist, chamber musician, and vocal accompanist. She was a roster artist with Southwest Chamber Music from 1996 to 2003. Among nearly a dozen award-winning CDs recorded for Southwest Chamber Music on Cambria Records are her performances of Elliot Carter's song cycle Of Challenge and of Love (with soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson) and the Carlos Chavez Invencion for solo piano. Her recording of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with the LA-based ensemble “inauthentica” has received the highest critical acclaim from Gramophone Magazine, Opera News, and The American Record Guide.
She has performed in venues such as the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, at Cooper Union, the Tenri Institute, the DiMenna Center and the National Opera Center in New York City, the Schoenberg Institute in Vienna, Austria, the Hongtai Concert Hall in Xiamen, China, the ASEAN Festival in Nanning, China, and the Canterbury Performing Arts Center in Christchurch, New Zealand. She has also performed 6 concert tours in China, during which she also gave master classes at various universities.
Recently released is a CD of chamber music and solo piano works of Richard Cameron-Wolfe on the Furious Artisans label. A double-CD set of the flute/piano repertoire by Karl Kohn was released on Bridge Records early in 2022.
The Los Angeles Times has reviewed her playing on numerous occasions, says, “Blankenburg played with elegant power and poise… Her crisp touch and light pedaling produced crystalline, pensive, haunting sequences... This is a gratefully idiomatic piece for a pianist with both power and a palette, requirements Blankenburg met easily.”
Ms. Blankenburg was a student of the distinguished pianists Menahem Pressler (of the Beaux Arts Trio) and Abbey Simon at Indiana University, where she received the Bachelor's and Master's degrees in piano performance, and where she was also awarded the coveted Performer's Certificate. She is currently on the piano faculties at Pomona College and the Claremont Graduate University.
Armen Ksajikian, cello
Admired as much for his artistry and as for his sense of humor, Armen Ksajikian started out his professional career at age 12 with the Abkhazian State Philharmonic in the former Soviet Union. Since 1976, Armen has been very active in LA’s musical life, working with such notables as Heifetz, Rostropovich, Van Cliburn, Pavarotti, Rosza, Giulini, Baryshnikov, Cage, Mancini, Corea, Dudamel, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Randy Newman, Zubin Mehta and James Cameron, and with groups such as the Eagles, Incubus, System Of Down, and with the Duke Ellington, Dancing with the Stars and Academy Awards orchestras.
Armen has appeared as a soloist with the Nacional Orchestre du Brazil, Pacific Symphony, and Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles Chamber orchestras, and regularly subs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is a member of several ensembles including The Catgut trio, The Rio Trio, California String Quartet and the award-winning Armadillo String Quartet, with whom he performed Haydn’s complete string quartets in a 34 ½ hour marathon. He made his Carnegie Hall debut premiering a quartet by PDQ Bach in 1999 and has appeared in the Cabrillo, Colorado, Banff, Sitka Summer, Oregon Bach, High Desert, Park City and Venice Film festivals; the Rio International Cello Encounter and Jasper Festival of Music and Wine.
In 1993, Armen made his ‘limousine-driving” debut in James Cameron’s True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. Also a busy recording musician – he has over 1,100 movies to his credit – Armen played his own “death scene” in the movie.
Armen’s performances in “less conventional” venues include 16-day whitewater tours down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, “concerts for grizzlies” inside a clarifier tank of an old pulp in Sitka, Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro and at Neverland Ranch. He is particularly proud to have soloed with the Hiland Mountain Women’s String Orchestra at the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.
Maggie Parkins, cello
Maggie Parkins is equally at home in chamber music, orchestral music and the avant-garde. She has performed throughout the Americas and Europe and her work currently ranges from concert recitals to multimedia, multi-genre collaborations. Always an advocate for new and experimental music, Parkins, along with the Eclipse Quartet, has commissioned or premiered numerous works from composers, including Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins and Fred Frith. As a chamber musician, in addition to the Eclipse String Quartet, she also is a member of the Mojave Piano Trio and Brightwork newmusic. In the orchestra world she has performed under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle and Andre Previn performing with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Syracuse Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Pasadena Symphony, the Riverside Symphony and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. She was cello professor and coordinator of chamber music at UC Irvine from 1997-2016.
Kindra Scharich, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo Soprano Kindra Scharich has been praised by The San Francisco Chronicle for her “exuberant vitality”, “fearless technical precision”, “deep-rooted pathos” and “irrepressible musical splendor.” As a dedicated recitalist, she has performed over 200 art songs in 12 languages and given solo recitals at the The American Composer’s Forum, La Jolla Athenaeum, The Wagner Society, Lieder Alive and the acclaimed Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio de Janeiro. In 2018 Ms. Scharich sang the U.S. Premiere of new songs of Anno Schreier as a co-collaboration between Deutsche Oper Berlin and Lieder Alive. She also continued her partnership with Brazilian pianist Ricardo Ballestero in performing and recording the non-Portuguese repertoire of the great Brazilian composer Alberto Nepomuceno.
A great proponent of Lieder and Chamber Music, she and Jeffrey LaDeur recently recorded “To my distant beloved”, music of Beethoven and Schumann, also to be released in 2020. She has collaborated extensively with the Alexander String Quartet, and in 2018 “In meinem Himmel: The Complete Mahler Song Cycles”, a recording of new transcriptions by Zakarias Grafilo, was released on the Foghorn label. In the world of opera, Ms. Scharich has sung over 30 roles ranging from Monteverdi to Philip Glass. She has taught and given master classes at the Yehudi Menuhin Seminar and Festival for Chamber Music at San Francisco State, Point Loma University and the University of São Paolo, among others. See Kindra Scharich for more information and upcoming concerts.
Paul Stein, violin
A member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 38 years, violinist Paul Stein has brought his musical experience into many educational and chamber music venues. He created the Chamber Music Express ensemble in 1985 to introduce classical music to audiences at schools and libraries. His stories for those programs include Galileo’s Metronome, The Magical, Musical Mini-Mall, and The Voyage of the Viola. Mr. Stein is the Artistic Director of the Classical Kaleidoscope chamber music series at the Arcadia Library, which is now in its 16th season. His articles about the relationship between music and the mind have been featured in Strings Magazine, the American String Teacher and the California Music Journal. He regularly blogs on Violinist.com and some of his performances can be found on youTube, at Paul Stein, violin.He has performed the cycle of the ten Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonatas with Jocelyn Chang, and the cycle of Reger and Delius Sonatas with Leo Marcus. He retired from the Philharmonic in 2017, and his hobbies include bridge, reading, hiking, and aquariums. He lives with his wife in Monrovia, where he teaches violin from beginner to advanced students. Visit his web site at www.chambermusicexpress.com.
Aron Kallay, piano
Described as a “modern renaissance man,” (Over the Mountain Journal) Grammy® nominated pianist Aron Kallay‘s playing has been called “exquisite…every sound sounded considered, alive, worthy of our wonder” (LA Times). “Perhaps Los Angeles’ most versatile keyboardist,” (LaOpus) Aron has been praised as possessing “that special blend of intellect, emotion, and overt physicality that makes even the thorniest scores simply leap from the page into the listeners laps.” (KPFK) Fanfare magazine described him as “a multiple threat: a great pianist, brainy tech wizard, and visionary promoter of a new musical practice” and wrote of his latest release: "Kallay’s performance is that of a Liszt for the modern era, of a live electricity that is unforgettable."
Aron has performed throughout the United States and abroad and is a fixture on the Los Angeles new-music scene. He is also the co-director of MicroFest Records, whose first release, John Cage: The Ten Thousand Things, was nominated for a Grammy® award for Best Chamber Music Performance. Aron is the founder and Artistic director of Brightwork newmusic and is on the faculty of Pomona and Scripps College. Learn more at www.aronkallay.com.
Jennie Jung, piano
Jennie Jung made her debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at the age of eleven and has since been active as both a soloist and collaborator in North America. She has performed with the Republic of Tatarstan Symphony, Korean Philharmonic, Taejon Symphony, Korean-Canadian, University of Toronto, Hart House, and Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestras, and has attended festivals including the Taubman Institute of Piano, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara.
As a chamber musician, Dr. Jung has performed in North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, and has been on staff at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, Aspen Summer Music Festival, Gregor Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists, and the Banff Centre for the Arts. She was a member of the Jung Trio with her sisters Ellen (violin) and Julie (cello). The Jung Trio was the Grand Prize winner at the 2002 Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition and was awarded the Bronze Medal at the 2002 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The Trio has attended numerous festivals and workshops, including the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Orford Arts Centre Festival, and the Banff Centre for the Arts. Past performances include recitals in Berlin, Salzburg, Seoul, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Toronto, and a concert tour of Kenya and Mauritius as representatives of the Korean Kumho Cultural Foundation. The Jung Trio performed Beethoven's Triple Concerto with orchestras in Russia, Korea, Toronto, and Los Angeles. Their recording of Dvorak’s Piano Trio in F Minor was released by the Groovenote Label on LP and SACD.
Dr. Jung received a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto, her Master of Music and Artist diploma from Yale University, and received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School. She is a member of the faculty at Pomona College, Scripps College, and Center Stage Strings, an Mpulse Institute at the University of Michigan, School of Music, Ann Arbor. She performs frequently in the Los Angeles area and lives in Claremont, CA, with her husband, and daughter.
Clara Kim, violin
Adventure and collaboration are at the heart of NYC-based violinist Clara Kim’s multi-faceted career as new music performer, chamber music artist, and educator.
By commissioning, premiering, and championing the works of living composers, Clara has quickly established herself at the forefront of her generation in the interpretation of contemporary music. She has collaborated with some of today’s most celebrated and imaginative musical voices such as Christopher Cerrone, Stephen Hartke, Andrew Norman, Kaija Saariaho, Juri Seo, Chris Theofanidis, and Augusta Read Thomas, and continues to actively premiere works through her solo and chamber music projects. Towards her commissioning efforts with her quartet, Clara has received support from organizations such as Chamber Music America, The Koussevitzky Foundation, Concert Artists Guild, and Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts.
As a performer, Clara concertizes regularly and loves connecting with audiences, people, and communities across the world. Her significant engagements include performances at Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Clara is a recipient of the St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award and a first prize winner of the Cremona Solo Violin Competition, in addition to a first prize winner at the MPrize Chamber Arts and Concert Artists Guild Competitions as a member of the Argus Quartet.
Also dedicated to community engagement and education, Clara directs Midori’s Orchestra Residencies Program, where she coaches and performs alongside violinist Midori. During the summers, she spends her time teaching at places like Interlochen, Greenwood, and Hawaii’s Pacific Music Institute.
Clara holds diplomas from Tufts University (English Literature), New England Conservatory, the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, The Juilliard School, and a doctoral degree from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.
Benjamin Hopkins, piano
Pianist Benjamin Hopkins has performed across Europe and North America, including recent debuts at the Festival de Luis Vega in Asturias, Spain, Mexico’s Festival del Lago, and New York City’s Merkin Hall. He holds a doctorate from the University of British Columbia, where he was a member of the prestigious Public Scholars Initiative.
Dr. Hopkins is a two-time prize winner at the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Auditions and has won first prize at the Susan Torres Award, the Rio Hondo Symphony Young Artist Competition, and the Thousand Islands International Piano Competition. He holds three degrees from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, where the faculty twice selected him as the school’s Outstanding Graduate. His past teachers include Julian Martin, Corey Hamm, Lucinda Carver, Brian Preston, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
While at UBC he was chosen to perform concertos with the UBC Symphony an unprecedented three seasons in a row, won Grand Prize at the inaugural Silverman Piano Competition, and commissioned and premiered new piano works by composers Joel Thompson and Peter S. Shin.
Dr. Hopkins is a highly sought-after collaborator and teacher, and has held fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival, Festival del Lago (Mexico) and the Gijon International Piano Festival (Spain) in recent summers. He has played in masterclasses for renowned musicians including Menahem Pressler, Stephen Hough, Roberto Plano, Yong-Hi Moon, Frederic Chiu, Vadym Kholodenko, and Anton Nel. His students benefit from his breadth of experience and regularly earn top marks and win prizes at festivals and competitions in Canada and the U.S.
Robert Thies, piano
A pianist of “unerring, warm-toned refinement, revealing judicious glimmers of power” Robert Thies is an artist renowned for his consummate musicianship and poetic temperament. He first captured worldwide attention in 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. With this victory, Thies became the only American pianist to win a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn's triumph in Moscow in 1958.
Robert enjoys a diverse career as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and recording artist. He has already performed 40 different concerti with orchestras all over the world, including the Saint Petersburg (RUSSIA) Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Louisville Orchestra, and the Mexico City Philharmonic.
As a Steinway Artist and frequent recitalist in the United States and abroad, Robert has developed a reputation as a “genuine” and “sincere” artist, creating delicately balanced programs and performing in a manner to draw focus to the composer rather than to himself. In 2001, under the auspices of Community Concerts, he completed a forty-city tour of the United States. In May 1999, he performed in the Hermitage Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia. Two years earlier he worked with the late Henryk Gorecki in the U.S. premiere of his Piano Sonata.
Robert is highly sought after as a recital partner and collaborator in both instrumental and vocal chamber music. Offstage he is in high demand for special recording projects by contemporary composers, and he sometimes appears on soundtracks for film and television. For more information, visit Robert Thies at: Robert Thies.
