Leon Fleisher
Andrew W. Mellon Chair in Piano
As a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, pianist Leon Fleisher was recognized as a "consummate musician whose career is a testament to the life-affirming power of art."
The child prodigy began to study the piano at the age of 4 and by the age of 9, the legendary Artur Schnabel invited him to be his student, first in Lake Como, Italy, and then in New York, where Mr. Schnabel nurtured and inspired the young Fleisher for the next 10 years as he evolved into one of the great music masters of our time. Leon Fleisher made his debut with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Pierre Monteux, when he was 16 years old. Maître Monteux called him "the pianistic find of the century."
Mr. Fleisher went on to international renown, becoming the first American to win the prestigious Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition in Brussels in 1952. He subsequently enjoyed a prolific recording career, most notably with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, recordings recognized as among the great collaborations in the concerto repertoire. In 1965, before a scheduled tour of Russia with the Cleveland Orchestra, Leon Fleisher began to suffer symptoms of a debilitating condition of his right hand, later diagnosed as focal dystonia, a neurological condition that causes the fingers to curl into the palm of the hand.
After a period of great despair, Mr. Fleisher channeled his creativity in new directions, mastering the piano repertoire for left hand and initiating a career in conducting. He renewed his dedication to teaching at Peabody, where he has been the inspiration to hundreds of students since 1959. Leon Fleisher holds the Andrew W. Mellon Chair at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. As a teacher, he has carried on a tradition that descends directly from Beethoven himself, handed down generationally through Carl Czerny, Theodor Leschititsky, Artur Schnabel, and Leon Fleisher himself.
In the mid-'90s, with the combined therapies of Botox injections and Rolfing, he regained sufficient use of his right hand, leading to an extraordinary career renaissance. In 2003, Mr. Fleisher joined forces with his wife, pianist Katherine Jacobson, to form the Fleisher-Jacobson Duo, giving concerts world-wide and recording for Sony Classical. Leon Fleisher released the album Two Hands in 2004, which went on to hold a Top 5 Billboard Chart position and was hailed by critics as one of the best recordings of the year. Two Hands is also the title of the Oscar nominated documentary film about his amazing life story. In 2013, Sony Classical issued a 23-CD box set of his entire recorded output, and in 2014, Fleisher released his first solo CD in a decade, the Grammy nominated All The Things You Are.
In 2006, in Paris, Leon Fleisher received the honor of Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters by the Minister of Culture of the French government.
At age 86, in addition to his teaching at Peabody, Mr. Fleisher continues with an international schedule of master classes, performances, and orchestral guest conducting.
Yury Shadrin, assistant to Leon Fleisher
Brian Ganz
Piano
Pianist Brian Ganz has accumulated a list of awards, concert credits, and solo appearances with orchestras that establish him as one of the leading pianists of his generation. After recent performances with the St. Louis Symphony, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch critic wrote: "Note-perfect cascades of rippling arpeggios, melodies soaring into space and microscopically sculpted phrases only begin to describe Ganz's breathtaking technique and spectacular musicianship".
Ganz was co-winner of First Grand Prize in the 1989 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris, where he was awarded special prizes for the best recital round of the competition and best performance of the required work. That same year, he won a Beethoven Fellowship awarded by the American Pianists Association, and in 1991, he was silver medalist with third prize in the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Piano Competition.
He has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the St. Louis Symphony, the National Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the National Chamber Orchestra, L'Orchestre National de Belgique, L'Orchestre Lamoureux, the City of London Sinfonia, and L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. He has performed in such halls as the Kennedy Center Concert Hall and Terrace Theater, La Salle Pleyel and Salle Gaveau in Paris, La Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, De Doelen in Rotterdam, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, L'Arena Theater in Verona, and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. His performances have been heard on National Public Radio's Performance Today, and he has been broadcast live from both Paris on Radio France and Brussels on Belgian Radio and Television.
Ganz made his recording debut in August of 1992 in Belgium, and his recordings of works by Dutilleux and Chopin have been released on the Accord label in Paris. He has also recorded for the Gailly and REM labels in Europe. Recent performance highlights include a 1993 concerto appearance at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony under the baton of Mstislav Rostropovich, a concerto performance in the Phillipines' first Mostly Mozart Festival; and a concerto performance for the 1994 Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, under the baton of Gustav Meier. A live CD recording of the 1994 Long-Thibaud gala concert in Paris includes Ganz' collaboration with the French pianist Phillipe Entremont and Russian pianist Jania Aoubakirova in Mozart's Concerto for Three Pianos and Orchestra, K.242.
Ganz is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Leon Fleisher. A 1990 Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, Ganz is also an accomplished chamber musician. He has been called "splendid" as an accompanist/duo partner by The New York Times, and "a model chamber musician" by The Washington Post.
In addition to his appointment at Peabody, Brian Ganz is Artist-in-Residence and a member of the piano faculty at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Ganz is an active participant in the fight against hunger both locally and throughout the world, and frequently donates performances in benefit concerts. He is a founding member of the Washington Chapter of Artists to End Hunger.
Marian Hahn
Singapore Conservatory of Music Chair in Piano
Chamber Music
Marian HahnMarian Hahn holds the Singapore Conservatory of Music Chair in Piano at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore where she has been on the piano faculty since 1987. As a liaison with the new Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, she has performed and given master classes in Singapore,Taiwan, Korea, and Thailand and is in frequent demand as a competition juror and for master classes on campuses throughout the U.S.
Hahn’s solo career was launched in 1976 when she became a winner in the International Leventritt Competition. She made her Carnegie Recital Hall debut as a Concert Artists Guild winner and subsequently appeared in New York recitals at the Metropolitan Museum and Merkin Hall. A top prizewinner in the University of Maryland, and Kosciuzko competitions, Hahn has toured nationwide, performing recitals on prestigious series in Washington D.C., Boston, Chicago, and Minneapolis, and as a soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Pops, and five appearances with the Jacksonville Symphony. Critically acclaimed European tours have taken her to England, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium, and Germany.
An avid chamber musician, Hahn has been a participant in the Marlboro, Sedona, Grand Canyon, and Aria festivals, and is on the faculty of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Maine. She toured extensively as the pianist of the Amadeus Trio and was also a founding member of the Amabile Piano Quartet. Her recordings with the Amabile Quartet and Amadeus Trio appear on the Summit and Kleos labels respectively.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College with a major in Comparative Religion, she received her M.M. degree from the Juilliard School; her teachers have included John Perry, Leon Fleisher and Benjamin Kaplan.
Lura Johnson
Piano Minor
Pianist Lura Johnson is a Steinway Artist and the recent Second Prizewinner, as a member of Duo Baltinati with cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn, of the 2015 International Johannes Brahms Competition Chamber Music Division. She is one of the Mid-Atlantic’s most prominent and sought-after ensemble pianists. Hailed as “brilliant” by the Washington Post, Ms. Johnson is celebrated for her passionate and insightful interpretations of the standard repertoire and esteemed by colleagues for her uncommon sensitivity and skill as a collaborative partner. Trained by luminaries Leon Fleisher and Robert McDonald, she is the Principal Pianist of the Delaware Symphony and has performed extensively as the pianist of choice for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2007. She has collaborated extensively in orchestral performances and recordings with Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Leila Josefowicz, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and has performed as soloist with the Baltimore and Delaware Symphonies.
Ms. Johnson’s discography includes a 2001 album, The Jennings-Johnson Duo, with flutist Christina Jennings, and 2010 Centaur Records release of Inner Voice with BSO violist Peter Minkler, featuring sonatas by Rochberg and Shostakovich. This recording of Arvo Pärt’s spiegel im spiegel was featured in the official teaser trailer for the 2013 Warner Brothers film Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Ms. Johnson can also be heard on several recordings released by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, including Naxos’ Grammy nominated release of the Bernstein Mass, on which she played principal keyboard. Ms. Johnson's first solo CD, Turning, was released in the summer of 2014, and her CD Celebration Tour traveled across the country during the course of the '14-'15 season. Ms. Johnson has recorded for the Foxridge, Naxos, Innova, Centaur, Albany, and Azica labels.
Devoted to chamber music from an early age, her many recital partners include Baltimore Symphony concertmaster Jonathan Carney, with whom she has presented the complete Brahms violin sonata cycle, clarinetist Anthony McGill, cellists Ilya Finkelshteyn, Amit Peled and Kenneth Slowik, and flutist Marina Piccinini. She is a founding member of three duos, the Jennings-Johnson Duo with flutist Christina Jennings, Times Two with violinist Netanel Draiblate, and Duo Lalu, a cabaret duo with soprano Lara Bruckmann. She performs with VERGE Ensemble, a new music group who are in residence at Washington’s Corcoran Gallery and have rapidly established a commanding presence in the new music community both nationally and abroad. She has also performed with 21st Century Consort, PostClassical Ensemble, and the Towson New Music Ensemble.
Ms. Johnson has taught piano at the Peabody Conservatory since 2002, and in 2013 was named Director of Chamber Music at Georgetown University in Washington.
Formerly the Artistic Director of Baltimore chamber music series Music in the Great Hall, Ms. Johnson recently accepted a position as Pianist and General Manager with the PostClassical Ensemble in Washington, DC, an innovative and wildly ambitious chamber orchestra that is reinventing and reinvigorating the presentation of classical music with programming that is thematic and cross-discliplinary.
When not onstage, Ms. Johnson can be found on the dance floor. She is an avid social and competitive dancer with roots in gymnastics, ballet, and ballroom, specializing now in West Coast Swing.
Seth Knopp
Chamber Music, Piano
Pianist Seth Knopp serves on the piano and chamber music faculties of the Peabody Conservatory. In 1983, Mr. Knopp met violinist Violaine Melançon forming the Knopp-Melançon Duo, an artistic collaboration which would eventually expand to become the Peabody Trio, winner of the 1989 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and Peabody ensemble-in-residence since 1987.
In 2000, Mr. Knopp was named Artistic Director of the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival, an international gathering of artists who meet each summer to explore the vast riches of the chamber music repertoire. Mr. Knopp has performed in North America, Europe, the Far East, and Middle East with appearances at New York's Alice Tully Hall, London's Wigmore Hall, Israel's Jerusalem Music Center, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He has conducted master classes at Eastman, San Francisco Conservatory, New York University, Conservatoire de Montreal, Jerusalem Music Center, and Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts. Mr. Knopp’s solo and chamber music performances can be heard on the Albany Records, Analekta, Artek, CRI, Koch and New World Records labels.
Mr. Knopp studied at the New England Conservatory with Leonard Shure, at the San Francisco Conservatory, where he studied with Nathan Schwartz, and with Leon Fleisher.
Sharon Levy
Music Theory, Piano Literature
Sharon Gail Levy has been a Professor of Music Theory and of Piano Literature at the Peabody Conservatory of Music since 1996 and a Professor of Piano Literature at the Juilliard School of Music since 2004. Dr. Levy has also taught Musicology at the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus, has offered poetry electives within the Humanities division of the Peabody Conservatory, and has taught piano and theory in the Peabody Preparatory Division.
She received a PhD in music history and theory from the University of Chicago and a Doctorate in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory. She also has a bachelor’s degree in music with a minor in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in piano from the Rubin Conservatory of the University of Tel Aviv.
Current interests include bridging the gap between the worlds of performance and analysis, and finding ways to use words not to obscure, but to heighten musical understanding for analysts, performers, and music lovers alike. She has also recently learned to chant Torah, and is enjoying the challenge of this new form of verbal and musical integration.
Ellen Mack
Piano, Ensemble Arts
Ellen MackEllen Mack is a Fulbright scholar who has performed recitals in major capitals of the world and tours Europe, Russia, and North America. Ms. Mack teaches seminars and master classes in Asia and Canada and is also a prolific recording artist.
The pianist for Jascha Heifetz/Gregor Piatigorsky/William Primrose Institute, Ms. Mack studied at the University of California, University of Southern California, University of California at Berkeley, and Vienna State Academy with Gwendolyn Koldofsky and John Crown. In addition to teaching and recording, Ms. Mack is the co-founder of the First Opus Chamber Music Society.
Yong Hi Moon
Piano
Accomplished pianist and teacher Yong Hi Moon made her solo debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at age 10 after winning the National Korean Broadcasting Competition. Among many awards and prizes Ms. Moon has won top prizes in the Elena-Rombro Stepanow Competition in Vienna, the Viotti International Competition in Vercelli, Italy, received the Chopin Prize from Geneva International Competition in Switzerland, and was also a prizewinner in the Vienna da Motta Competition in Lisbon, Portugal.
Ms. Moon has performed extensively throughout Asia, Europe and the U.S. as a recitalist and with orchestras including the Osaka, Seoul, Tokyo, and Korean National symphony orchestras. She has collaborated with her husband, pianist/conductor Dai Uk Lee, in duo piano concerts in the U.S. and Korea, and has performed under his baton with the Busan Philharmonic. In the summer of 2000, she made her first extensive concert tour of Korea, including solo recitals in five cities as well as performances with the Orchestras of Kwangju and Daejun. Upcoming engagements include Ms. Moon’s return to Korea to perform with the Ulsan Philharmonic.
In 1975 Ms. Moon was invited officially by the Korean government to participate in a festival commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Korean liberation, and since 1990 has been regularly invited to perform and give master classes throughout Korea. In 1991 she performed in a cycle of the complete Mozart piano concerti with the Bu-Chon Philharmonic Orchestra to commemorate the composer's bicentennial year. During 1997 Ms. Moon performed six all-Schubert solo recitals in both Korea and the U.S. Her discography includes a CD recording on the Music and Art label of Czech four-hand piano music that has received outstanding critical acclaim.
Ms. Moon is in high demand as a guest master class teacher and adjudicator. In 1993, she released a teaching video in Korea titled Artistic Piano Playing which has earned great popularity. Ms. Moon has been a regular faculty member at Shandelee, Aria, Prague and Bowdoin Summer Festivals. In addition, she has been invited to perform and conduct master classes in Chautauqua Summer Festival in New York and the International School for Musical Arts in Canada.
As an adjudicator, she judged in Senigallia International Piano Competition in Italy, Gilmore International Piano Competition as well as numerous MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) related competitions throughout the U.S. and Korea. After teaching at Michigan State University School of Music for fifteen years, Ms. Moon joined the faculty of Peabody Conservatory of Music in 2002 where she currently maintains a full-time position.
A native of Korea, Ms. Moon studied at the Vienna Academy, from which she graduated with highest honors. She then continued her studies in London before completing her Artist Diploma degree at Indiana University. Her teachers include Dieter Weber, Maria Curcio, Georgy Sebok, Leon Fleisher, Wilhelm Kempff and Fu Tsong, who were always an inspiration to her work.
Timothy Murphy
Jazz Piano
Jazz pianist Timothy Murphy has performed and recorded extensively, with performances on internationally released CDs on the JMT, Palmetto, and Timbre labels. He has performed and/or recorded with musicians including Woody Shaw, Greg Osby, Curtis Fuller, Dennis Chambers, Antonio Hart, Charlie Rouse, Gary Thomas, Pat Metheny, Terri Lyne Carrington, John Scofield, and more. Mr. Murphy has toured throughout Europe.
In Baltimore, Mr. Murphy has served as organist at St. Ignatius Church since 1983. He is the host of The Morning Jazz Show and WYRE and is also a faculty member at Towson University. Mr. Murphy earned his BM and MM in organ performance from the Peabody Conservatory.
Hyun-Sook Park
Piano, Piano Pedagogy
Hyun-Sook Park earned the Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, under the tutelage of Ellen Mack. She is currently on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory as an adjunct professor of piano pedagogy, and serves as the co-director of the Preparatory’s Peabody Piano Academy.
Dr. Park has been the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships including the Presser Foundation Scholarship, the Lillian Gutman Memorial Prize, the Annie Wentz Scholarship, and the Rose Marie Milholland Award in Piano at Peabody. She has also received a Korean Honor Scholarship from the Korean Embassy in the United States and is a member of Phi Kappa Lambda. Dr. Park collaborates with her sister Hyunah Yu, and has been invited to perform in Carnegie Hall’s Evening of Songs Series, the Shriver Hall Concert Series, the Brattleboro Music Center Concert Series, Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, and was featured during the Peabody’s reopening celebration: Chamber Concert Series in the Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall.
Benjamin Pasternack
Piano
Among the most experienced and versatile musicians today, the American pianist Benjamin Pasternack has performed as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician on four continents. His orchestral engagements have included appearances as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Pacific Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, the Orchestre National de France, the SWR Orchestra of Stuttgart, the Bamberg Symphony, and the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra. Among the many illustrious conductors with whom he has collaborated are Seiji Ozawa, Erich Leinsdorf, David Zinman, Gunther Schuller, Leon Fleisher, and Carl St. Clair. He has performed as soloist with the Boston Symphony on more than a score of occasions, at concerts in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, in Athens, Salzburg, and Paris on their European tour of 1991, and in Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Caracas on their South American tour of 1992. He has been guest artist at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Minnesota Orchestra Sommerfest, the Festival de Capuchos in Portugal, and the Festival de Menton in France, and has been featured as soloist twice on National Public Radio’s nationally syndicated show SymphonyCast.
A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Pasternack entered the Curtis Institute of Music at the age of thirteen, studying with Mieczyslaw Horszowski and Rudolf Serkin. He was the Grand Prize winner of the inaugural World Music Masters Piano Competition held in Paris and Nice in July 1989. Bestowed by the unanimous vote of a distinguished panel of judges, the honour carried with it a $30,000 award and engagements in Portugal, France, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States. An earlier competition victory came in August 1988 when he won the highest prize awarded at the Fortieth Busoni International Piano Competition. After fourteen years on the piano faculty of Boston University, he joined the piano faculty of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in September 1997.
Alexander Shtarkman
Piano
Alexander Shtarkman's debut recitals in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City prompted strong words of praise from audiences and critics alike. Martin Bernheimer, Los Angeles Times, wrote "Alexander Shtarkman. Remember the name... He plays the piano with all the strength, flash and eagerness that his age would suggest. He also plays with the sensitivity and mellow refinement one associates with certain grand old men of the keyboard, most of them Russian." James Keller of The New Yorker staff wrote of Mr. Shtarkman's 92nd Street Y appearance: "Shtarkman's was a debut recital of importance. In fact, debuts just don't come much better than this. Of the young pianists currently entering the international spotlight, Shtarkman is unquestionably among the most musicianly."
Recital appearances in the United States include the Ambassador Foundation, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, Tisch Center for the Performing Arts, Ravinia Festival's Rising Stars Series, San Francisco Performances, Regional Arts Foundation at the Kravis Center, The Peace Center and Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. Orchestral appearances include the Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta at Orchestra Hall, Northwood Festival Orchestra, Marin Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque.
In August 1995, Mr. Shtarkman was awarded the First Prize of the Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy. As a result of this prize, he has been offered over sixty recitals and orchestral engagements in Europe within the next few seasons.
In addition to the Busoni Prize, Mr. Shtarkman is a major prizewinner of the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and the 1994 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. He also won the First Prize of the First Taipei International Piano Competition and was engaged for numerous concerts throughout Asia.
Mr. Shtarkman performs and gives master classes in Europe, Asia, South and North Americas, and in Russia where he is a frequent guest performer at the prestigious Great and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatory.
Since 2002 Mr. Shtarkman has been serving as a member of the Piano Faculty at the Peabody Conservatory.
Boris Slutsky
Piano
Consistently acclaimed for his exquisite tonal beauty and superb artistry, Boris Slutsky emerged on the international music scene when he captured the First Prize—along with every major prize, including the Audience Prize and Wilhelm Backhaus Award—at the 1981 William Kapell International (University of Maryland) Piano Competition. His other accomplishments include first prizes at the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition and San Antonio International Keyboard Competition, and major prizes at the International Bach Competition in Memory of Glenn Gould, Busoni, Rina Sala Gallo, and Ettore Pozzoli International Piano Competitions.
Since his orchestral debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony in 1980, Mr. Slutsky has appeared on nearly every continent as soloist and recitalist, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Dimitri Kitaenko and Valery Gergiev. He has performed with the London Philharmonic, Stuttgart State Orchestra and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Neuss am Rhein in Germany, Bem Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland, Bergen Philharmonic in Norway, RAI Orchestra in Milan, KBS Symphony Orchestra in Korea, and major orchestras in Spain, Russia, Columbia, and Brazil. In South Africa, he has been soloist with the orchestras of Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg. His North American engagements have included concerts with the Baltimore, Florida, Utah, and Toronto Symphonies.
Mr. Slutsky has been heard on recital series throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the Far East, making appearances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Kaufmann Concert Hall, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, National Concert Hall in Taipei, Performing Arts Center in Seoul, and Teatro Colon in Bogota, among many others. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Slutsky's more than two decades of chamber music collaborations include the critically acclaimed recording of Schumann's Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Ilya Kaler on the Naxos label, as well as performances with many renowned artists.
Mr. Slutsky has presented master classes throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, and served as a jury member for many international piano competitions.
Born in Moscow into a family of musicians, Mr. Slutsky received his early training at Moscow's Gnessin School for Gifted Children as a student of Anna Kantor, and completed his formal studies at the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, studying with Nadia Reisenberg, Nina Svetlanova, John Browning, and Joseph Seiger. In addition, he has worked for many years with his mentor Alexander Eydleman.
In 1993, Mr. Slutsky joined the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory, where he currently serves as chair of the Piano Department.
