Boris Berman
Professor in the Practice of Piano. Well known to the audiences of more than forty countries on six continents, Professor Berman regularly appears with leading orchestras, on major recital series, and in important festivals. He studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the distinguished pianist Lev Oborin.
An active recording artist and a Grammy nominee, Mr. Berman was the first pianist to record the complete solo works of Prokofiev (Chandos). Other acclaimed releases include all piano sonatas by Alexander Scriabin (Music and Arts) and a recital of Shostakovich piano works (Ottavo), which received the Edison Classic Award in Holland, the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy. The recording of three Prokofiev concertos with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi conducting (Chandos), was named the Compact Disc of the Month by CD Review. Other recordings include works by Mozart, Beethoven, Franck, Weber, Debussy, Stravinsky, Schnittke, Shostakovich, Joplin, and Cage.
In 1984 Mr. Berman joined the faculty of the Yale School of Music, where he chairs the Piano department and serves as music director of the Horowitz Piano Series. He was the founding director of the Yale Summer Piano Institute and of the International Summer Piano Institute in Hong Kong. He also gives master classes throughout the world, and in 2005 he was given the title of honorary professor of Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
In 2000 Yale University Press published Mr. Berman’s Notes from the Pianist’s Bench, which has been translated into several languages. His new book, Prokofiev’s Piano Sonatas, has just been published by Yale University Press.
Robert Blocker
Robert Blocker began his study of piano at the age of five, presenting his first public recital two years later. Today, he concertizes throughout the world. His engagements have included performances in the United States, Europe, Mexico, China, and Korea, Thailand, and several Pacific Rim countries. Recent orchestral engagements include the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, Houston Symphony, Monterey Philharmonic, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Korean Symphony and Daejeon (South Korea) Symphony.
His 2007 performance at the International Great Mountains Festival with the Sejong Artists was broadcast throughout Korea twice on KBS. These appearances have won him critical acclaim as noted in the Los Angeles Times review: “…great skill and accomplishment, a measurable virtuoso bent and considerable musical sensitivity… mesmerizing moments.” This year, Naxos will release a CD of three Mozart concerti performed by Blocker with the Biava Quartet.
Robert Blocker, has been the Henry and Lucy Moses Dean of Music at Yale University, since 1995. In 2006 Blocker was named honorary Professor of Piano at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 2000, Steinway and Sons featured Robert Blocker in its film commemorating the tercentennial year of the piano along with Billy Joel, Van Cliburn and others. He appears regularly on national radio and television as both artist and commentator. In 2004 the Yale University Press published The Robert Shaw Reader, edited by Robert Blocker. Now in its third printing, the volume is presently being translated for publication in Korea.
Peter Frankl
Visiting Professor (Adjunct) of Piano. Pianist Peter Frankl made his London debut in 1962 and his New York debut with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell in 1967. Since that time he has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Concertgebouw, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, all the London orchestras, and the major American orchestras.
He has collaborated with such eminent conductors as Abbado, Boulez, Davis, Haitink, Maazel, Masur, Muti, Salonen, and Solti. His world tours have taken him to Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and he also frequently appears at European and American festivals. His many chamber music partners have included Kyung Wha Chung, Peter Csaba, Ralph Kirshbaum, and the Tokyo, Takacs, Guarneri, Bartók, Fine Arts, and Lindsay quartets.
Among his recordings are the complete works for piano by Schumann and Debussy, Bartók and Chopin solo albums, a Hungarian anthology, concertos and four-hand works by Mozart, the two Brahms piano concertos, the Brahms violin and clarinet sonatas, the Brahms trios, Bartók pieces for violin and piano, and the piano quintets by Brahms, Schumann, Dvorák, Martinu, and both Dohnányis.
In recognition of his artistic achievements, Mr. Frankl was awarded the Officer’s Cross by the Hungarian Republic and on his seventieth birthday he was given one of the highest civilian awards in Hungary for his lifetime artistic achievement in the world of music. He joined the Yale faculty in 1987.
Elizabeth Sawyer Parisot
Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Piano. Pianist Elizabeth Parisot received her DMA from the Yale School of Music in 1973 and has served on the faculty of the School since 1977. She has appeared in solo and chamber music concerts throughout the world, performing at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center and the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Hispanic Institute in Madrid, and the Jerusalem Music Center in Israel.
With her husband, Brazilian cellist Aldo Parisot, she has toured extensively, joining him in sonata performances as well as in chamber music with other renowned artists. She served as coordinator and performing artist at the Aldo Parisot International Competitions and Courses in Brazil for several years and has also been a guest artist at the International Music Institute in Santander, Spain, the Banff Festival of the Arts in Alberta, Canada, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Recent tours have included concerts in Korea and Italy with violinist Kyung Hak Yu and performances with faculty colleagues Erick Friedman and Aldo Parisot in Taiwan. She has also performed recently with Yo-Yo Ma, Janos Starker, and Ralph Kirshbaum.
A collaborative artist with cellists for many years in concerts, master classes, and competitions worldwide, Professor Parisot was awarded the title “Grande Dame du Violoncelle” in 2007 by the Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center at Indiana University “in recognition of her universal contributions to the art of cello playing and cellists.”
Her numerous recordings include the two Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano with Aldo Parisot (Musical Heritage Society); music by Leo Ornstein and Alexei Haieff for cello and piano with Italo Babini (Serenus); Cellists from Yale, issued in Brazil (Phonodisc); the Yale Cellos of Aldo Parisot and The Yale Cellos Play Favorites (Delos); three CDs with Queen Elizabeth Competition winner Nai-Yuan Hu; a disc with cellist Carol Ou; music by Ezra Laderman with violinists Erick Friedman and Kyung Hak Yu and cellist Pansy Chang (Albany Records); and works by Strauss and Prokofiev with violinist Kyung-Hak Yu.
Wei-Yi Yang
Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Piano. Internationally acclaimed pianist Wei-Yi Yang enjoys a flourishing concert career, appearing before audiences in North and Central Americas, Asia, Europe, and Australia in solo recitals, chamber music concerts and with symphony orchestras. Most recently, Mr. Yang was praised by the New York Times as the soloist in a “Sensational” performance of Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie at Carnegie Hall. Winner of the Gold medal and Grand Prize in the Fifth San Antonio International Piano Competition, Mr. Yang has performed in such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall, Merkin Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Kumho Art Hall in Seoul, South Korea, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow, Scotland, the Great Hall in Leeds, England, the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Sydney, among many other major concert stages around the world.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Yang has performed with members of some of the world's finest ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, Orpheus and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras, the London Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Orquestra do Estado de Sao Paulo, and Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society.
Born in Taiwan of Chinese and Japanese heritage, Mr. Yang was first educated in the United Kingdom, then as a scholarship recipient under the tutelage of Russian pianist Arkady Aronov at New York City's Manhattan School of Music. Additionally, Mr. Yang has worked with such artists as Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Vera Gornostaeva, Byron Janis, Murray Perahia, and the late Hans Graf. Under the guidance of Boris Berman, Mr. Yang was awarded a doctorate in musical arts by Yale University in 2004.
In addition to receiving numerous awards and fellowships, Mr. Yang has also garnered top prizes in the Manhattan Concerto Competition, New York's FiveTown Arts Foundation Competition, the San Jose International Piano Competition, and the Long Island Young Artist Competition. Mr. Yang co-founded the award-winning Soyulla Ensemble, which recently debuted at Alice Tully Hall, toured Korea, and released a CD on the Renegade Classics label. Mr. Yang's performances have been featured around the globe via international television, radio, and web broadcasting medias, and he has appeared at festivals in Novi Sad (Serbia), Monterrey (Mexico), Kotor (Montenegro), Norfolk (Connecticut), Napa Valley and La Jolla (California). Wei-Yi Yang joined the faculty at Yale University in 2005.
Hung-Kuan Chen
visiting professor in piano
Hung-Kuan Chen has been described as one of the great personalities of the music world: enigmatic, brilliant, and versatile. And he is admired both as a performer o f remarkable individuality as an inspiring teacher.
Born in Taipei and educated in Germany and United States, Chen's early studies fostered strong roots in Germanic classicism, which he tempered with the sensibility of Chinese philosophy. Chen star ted his career under the guidance of Young Concert Artists after winning their competition in 1987, and has performed in the major cities of Asia, Europe and the Americas, where he has appeared with many important orchestras, including Houston, Baltimore, Israel, Montreal, Pittsburgh, the Tonhalle, San Francisco, and Shanghai. He has performed with such highly esteemed conductors as Hans Graf, Christoph Eschenbach, Joseph Silverstein, Andrew Parrott, and Sui Lan, and colleagues including Yo-Yo Ma, Cho-Liang Lin, Roman Totenberg, Denes Zsigmondy, Bion Tsang, Anthony Gigliotti, David Shifrin, Laurence Lesser and Tema Blackstone.
In 1992, Chen suffered an injury to his hand that caused neurological damage and eventually resulted in Focal Dystonia. Through meditation and his own unique research, he was able to hea1 and return to his life as a concert artist. In 1998, his first post-accident solo recital received rave reviews, and he was described as a trans formed artist.
Chen is a 1991 Avery Fisher Career Grant Recipient and 2nd Prize Gold Medalist in the 1983 Arthur Rubinstein and Busoni International Piano Competitions. He has adjudicated numerous international piano competitions in the past five years, such as Shenzheng, China, Tongyeong, Van Cliburn, Busoni and Esther Honens.
Melvin Chen
A native of Tennessee, pianist Melvin Chen has received acclaim for performances throughout the United States and abroad. As a soloist and chamber musician Mr. Chen has performed at major venues in the United States, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Kennedy Center, and Boston’s Jordan Hall, in addition to other appearances throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia.
Mr. Chen’s performances have been featured on radio and television stations around the globe, including KBS television and radio in Korea, NHK television in Japan, and NPR in the United States. Solo recordings include Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations on the Bridge label, praised as “a classic” by the American Record Guide, and a recording of Joan Tower’s piano music on the Naxos label. Recordings of the Shostakovich piano sonatas and Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice were released in 2007.
An enthusiastic chamber musician, Mr. Chen has collaborated with such artists as Ida Kavafian, David Shifrin, Pamela Frank, Peter Wiley, and with the Shanghai, Tokyo, Miami, Penderecki, and Miro quartets. A performer in numerous music festivals, he has performed at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Bard Music Festival, and Music from Angel Fire, among others.
Melvin Chen completed a doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University, and also holds a double master’s degree from The Juilliard School in piano and violin. Previously, he attended Yale University, receiving a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and physics, where he also studied with Boris Berman, Paul Kantor, and Ida Kavafian. Mr. Chen was previously on the piano faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where he was also associate director. He is also the artistic director of the chamber music program at the Hotchkiss Summer Portals. In 2012 he rejoined the faculty of the Yale School of Music, where he serves as Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Piano and Deputy Dean.
