2023 PIANO FACULTY
Pavel Nersessian
“His performance brought a veritable roar of approval from the audience,” wrote the Irish Times, after Pavel Nersessian received the 1st Prize in the GPA Dublin International Piano Competition in 1991. Being one of the most remarkable pianists of his generation in Russia, he is known for his ability to play equally convincingly in the whole palette of the piano repertoire. He won prizes in the Beethoven Competition in Vienna in 1985, the Paloma O’Shea Competition in Santander, and the Tokyo Competition.
Nersessian was a pupil of the famous Central Music School of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, where his teacher was Yu. Levin. Later he was a student of the Conservatoire under Prof. S. Dorensky. Upon graduating from the Conservatoire in 1987 with maximum marks he was invited to join the faculty.
Pavel Nersessian has been touring Russia and surrounding states from the age of eight, and has given performances in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Cannes, Leipzig, Vienna, Budapest, Madrid, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Dublin, Muenchen, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro, Belgrade, Cairo, Kiev, Beijing and many other cities.
Mr. Nersessian, by special invitation from the Kirov and the Perm Ballet, performed solo part in Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial based on the music of Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Piano Concerto with performances in the Kirov, Bolshoi, Chatelet and Covent Garden. He also played a solo part in J. Robbins’ ballet “The concert, or The Perils of Everybody” on the music of F. Chopin.
He is known for his collaboration with chamber music groups and other musicians, such as Borodin and Glinka Quartets, National Symphony Orchestra in Russia, Thomas Sanderling, Tugan Sokhiev, Alexandr Chernushenko, Valeriy Polyansky, Mikhail Agrest, Pascal Moragues, Julius Milkis, Evgeny Petrov, Pavel Kogan, Abel Perreira, Benjamin Schmid, Stepan Yakovich, Ani Kavafian, Andrei Gridchuk, Alena Baeva, Zlatomir Fung, Filip Kopachevsky, Yana Ivanilova, Nina Kogan, Mikhail Bereznitsky, Maxim Emelyanychev, Diana Vishneva, Philippe Cassard, Alexandre Lazarev, Gaik Kazazyan, Lukas Geniushas, Richard Young, Valentin Uriupin, Itamar Zorman, Yulia Lezhneva and many others. He has recorded numerous disks with compositions of Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Shostakovich, and he has given masterclasses in the USA, Russia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Korea, Brazil, and Japan.
In 2005 he became a merited artist of the Russian Federation.
For more than 25 years P. Nersessian has been assisting his teacher, professor S. Dorensky. He has worked with such talented pupils as N. Lugansky, D. Matsuev, V. Rudenko, O. Kern, A. Shtarkman, Yu. Stadler, I. Tasovats, F. Amirov, M. Amara, A. Dossin, V. Igoshina, A. Mamriev, V. Korchinskaya-Kogan, S. Simonian, Z. Chochieva, G. Chaidze, N. Pisareva, A. Sychev, F. Kopachevsky, P. Kolesnikov, A. Tarasevich-Nikolaev, L. Bernsdorf, P. Elisha and many others.
Pavel Nersessian served as a jury member in many international piano competitions: Dublin, Hamamatsu, Sendai, Maria Canals in Barcelona, Hilton Head, Almaty, Valencia, and other international piano competitions.
In 2013 he started to work as a professor of piano at Boston University.
Boris Slutsky
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, 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, Bern 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.
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, 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.
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, 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.
Antonio Pompa-Baldi
Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, Antonio Pompa-Baldi won the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1999 and embarked on a career that continues to extend across five continents. A top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition of Paris, France, Antonio Pompa-Baldi also won a Silver Medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Mr. Pompa-Baldi appears at the world’s major concert venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, Milan’s Sala Verdi, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Shanghai’s Grand Theatre, and Paris Salle Pleyel, to name a few.
He has collaborated with leading conductors including Hans Graf, James Conlon, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Theodore Kuchar, Benjamin Zander, Louis Lane, and Keith Lockhart. He has performed with ensembles and colleagues such as Takacs String Quartet, Alison Balsom, Sharon Robinson, and principals of the Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, and New York Philharmonic, among others.
With a concerto repertoire including more than 60 works, Mr. Pompa-Baldi recently performed cycles of all the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos, the five Beethoven Piano Concertos, and both Brahms Concertos with various orchestras. He has played recitals in most major venues over the world.
In 2019, he was a returning guest at the third edition of the Lang Lang International Piano Festival in Shenzhen, China, continued his honorary guest professorship at the Beijing China Conservatory, and was named honorary professor at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music.
Among the stops on his tours, he performed in Vienna (Austria), Malaga (Spain), Nancy (France), New York, and throughout China (Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Dalian, Guangzhou).
Mr. Pompa-Baldi has recorded over 30 CDs to date, for various labels including Centaur Records, Harmonia Mundi, Steinway, TwoPianists, Azica, and Brilliant Classics. Among them, the complete piano and chamber music works of Grieg, the Josef Rheinberger Piano Sonatas, the complete Hummel Piano Sonatas, and CDs dedicated to Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, Respighi, and Rachmaninoff. For the Steinway label, Pompa-Baldi recorded a disc of songs by Francis Poulenc and Edith Piaf, arranged for solo piano, to commemorate the 50th year of the passing of both French musical icons, as well as a CD titled “Napoli”, which features new piano versions of famous Neapolitan songs. His latest releases feature Concertos for Violin, Piano and Orchestra by Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Hummel.
Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a Steinway Artist since 2003.
He is often invited to judge international piano competitions such as the Cleveland, Hilton Head, E-Competition (Minneapolis), BNDES Rio de Janeiro, and Edward Grieg (Bergen), among many others. He serves as president of the jury and artistic advisor for the San Jose International Piano Competition since 2006.
Pompa-Baldi is on the Piano Faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. His students have been prizewinners in important competitions such as Marguerite Long, Hilton Head, Isang Yun, and Gina Bachauer. He is regularly invited to teach masterclasses in countless Universities, Music Schools, and Festivals in the US and all over the world.
From 2009 to 2012, Pompa-Baldi worked in Santo Domingo with Fundación por la Música, mentoring young Dominican pianists through the “Manuel Rueda” program.
In 2015, Pompa-Baldi founded the Todi International Music Masters festival, of which he is also Artistic Director and Faculty Member. This summer festival takes place every August in the beautiful Italian town of Todi. It features 15 concerts in 15 days, with internationally renowned faculty members, and students from all over the world.
Chun-Chieh Yen
Chun-Chieh Yen’s preeminence as Taiwan’s foremost young pianist of international caliber came into sharp focus in 1997, when he won the Third Prize at the third Tchaikovsky International Music Competition (Youth) in St. Petersburg, Russia
Mr. Yen has concertized in Europe, Asia, and North America, embracing a wide range of repertoire. Making history at age 13 as the youngest pianist to perform in recital at Taipei’s National Concert Hall, his annual concert tours in Taiwan have brought widespread critical acclaim. His rendition of Balakirev’s “Islamey” at the Braunschweiger Kammermusikpodium Germany at age 14 drew significant public attention and received rave reviews.
Concerto performances take Mr. Yen to orchestras all over the world including the Russian National Orchestra, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan. He has enjoyed collaborations with many conductors, including Mikhail Pletnev, Henry Mazer, Uri Mayer, and Shao-Chia Lü.
Mr. Yen has given concerts in leading venues worldwide, including Paris’s Salle Cortot, the Grand Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, and Alice Tully Hall in New York. In recent seasons, he has been a regular participant in international music festival including the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Braunschweiger Kammermusikpodium, Holland Music Sessions, Sarasota Music Festival, and Piano Festival Ferruccio Busoni.
Mr. Yen’s debut album, released in December 2007 on Universal, earned him the award of Best Classical Performer at the 19th Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan.
Born in Taipei in 1983, Chun-Chieh began his piano studies with Mei-Fu Chen and Rolf-Peter Wille. From 1999 to 2007, his studies continued under the tutelage of Vladimir Krainev at the Hochschule für Music und Theater Hannover in Germany. During this time he won numerous prizes in competitions, including First Prize at the 4th Hamamatsu International Academy Piano Competition in Japan (1999) and Third Prize at the 4th Prokofiev International Competition in St. Petersburg (2004). He also received the “Prix de L’Ordre du Merite” in Luzern, where he was praised by Maestro Alexis Weissenberg.
In 2007, Chun-Chieh was given a full scholarship to study with John Perry at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where he is currently a candidate for an Artist Diploma.
Pablo Galdo
He was born in Ferrol (La Coruña). He studied at the “Vigo Superior Conservatoire”,where he graduated with special distinction and extraordinary prize, at the “University de Alcalá de Henares”, at the “Zoltán Kodály Institute”, at the “Franz Liszt Academy of Budapest”, at the “Mozarteum University in Salzburg”, where he obtained his Postgraduate Diplom, and at the “Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Moscow” (Russia) . His professor included Nicasio Gradaille, Ferenc Rados, Rita Wagner, András kemenes, Imre Rohmann and Elisso Wirssaladze.
Besides he has received classes and advices from many renowned and prestigious international masters, including Alicia de Larrocha, Zoltán Kocsis , Tamás Vasáry, Dimitri Bashkirov, Várjon Dénes, Heinz Kämmerling,, Marta Gulyás, Haewon Song, and Almudena Cano, among others.
He has performed in France, Greece, Portugal, Costa Rica, Australia, Spain, United Kingdom, Iceland, China, South Korea, Russia, Slovenia, Australia, Ukraine, Sudafrica, Latvia, Vietnam, India, Croatia, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Oman, Kuwait, Italy, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Lebanon, Republic of Iran, Lithuania, Turkey, Argentina, Uruguay and the United States. He has performed with different orchestras in Spain, Hungary, Germany and Austria, and he has been finalist and awarded in various piano competitions.
He has represented Spain abroad on numerous occasions, being invited to inaugurate the “Aula Cervantes Reykjavik”, performing for the President of Iceland, performing within the “Spanish Language Week” in Slovenia, to celebrate the National Day of Spain in Hungary, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Spain and Kazakhstan, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of new relations between Spain and Russia, the 100t anniversary of beginning of relations between South Africa and Spain, the 100 anniversary of relations between Latvia and Spain, and the 45th anniversary of relations between Vietnam and Spain.
He has played 4 hands and 2 pianos with pianists as Martha Argerich , Zoltán Kocsis, Stephen kovacevich, Lilya Zilberstein, Tamás Vásáry, Cyprien Katsaris, Philippe Entremont, Jorge Luis Prats, Imre Rohmann, Sergio Tiempo or András kemenes, with cellist Asier Polo or violist Rocío Gomez, or baritone Luis Alberto Llaneza, among others.
Also he was selected to participate in concert cycles and festivals such as ¨Jeneusses Musicales” (97.98), “Teresa Berganza Association”(99), “Young talents of Budapest in the Buda Castle” (01) “Pedro Barrié de la Maza Foundation” (04) and the “Juan March Foundation” (07), Izmir festival (2018), Kharkiv musical Assemblies (2018), Costa Rica Piano Festival (2019), Gümüslük Festival in Turkey (2021), Ferrol no Camiño (2021), among others.
He has currently recorded a DVD, produced by IRIS, of works by Albéniz, Liszt and Rachmaninoff, a CD produced by MANS with works of Bach, Chopin and Liszt, and other CD produced by the same discography with works of Albéniz. He has also recorded for the Spanish Television, Galician Television and Hungarian Radio. The composer Saúl Chapela has dedicated him his piano composition “22 variations on two cells”.
Pablo Galdo has given master classes at the ¨Tchaikovsky Conservatory“ in Moskow, “ Frederick Chopin University” in Warsaw, “Academy of Arts of Iceland”, “Buchmann-Mehta school” in Israel, “Istanbul State Conservatory”, “Tbilisi State Conservatory”, “Music Academy of Baku”, at ESMAE University in Porto, at the “Baremboim-Said Foundation” in Palestine, at the the “National Conservatory of Jordan”, “National Conservatory of Lebanon”, “Verona Conservatory of music”, at the “Academy of Music and Theater of Vilnius” (Lithuania), “Yahsar University in Izmir” (Turkey), “Macedonian University in Thesalonika” (Greece), “Kharkiv National University of Arts”, “National Music Academy of Estonia”, “Sydney Conservatory of music”, “National University of Kazakhstan”, “Costa Rica National University”, “Superior School of Music of Neuquén” (Argentine), “University of Music and Theatre of Timisoara”, “Hamburg University of Music and Theatre”, “Anadolu University”, “Trinity Laban Conservatpry of Music and Dance”, “Royal Danish Music Academy”, and in different Music institutions across Spain. He is regular guest professor at the International Music Academy “Forum Musikae” in Madrid, International Piano Festival in Costa Rica, Talent Music Summer Courses and festival in Brescia, Malta Classical Music Academy in Malta, Altalena Music Festival in Hungary, Gümüslük Festival in Turkey, Loop Piano Festival in Croatia, among others. He was jury member in several international competitions as City of Vigo and Ferrol in Spain, Grieg Competition in Norway, Petrof Competition in China., Mozarte Competition in Germany, Gerswin Competition in USA, Loop International in Croatia, Sonja Pahor in Italy, Thymis in Greece, among others. Among his students there are prize winners of national and international competitions.
He is artistic director, since January 2016, of the Galician Classical Music Association, founder of “Vigo International music Festival” and artistic director and president jury at international Vigo competition “City of Vigo”, and artistic director and president of jury of Ferrol International Piano Competition. He is also the founder and artistic director of Online Piano Masterclass Academy, an online academy which includes some of the most renowned piano professors in the world.
Recently, he was awarded with the “Gregorio Baudot prize” to his artistic career (2016), with the Gold badge of Ferrol (2017) , the silver medal at the Global music awards to the category of classical pianist and instrumentist (years 2017 and 2018). In 2020, he was awarded as Galician of the year.
He currently combines his concert activity with his position as piano professor at the “Superior Conservatory of Music in A Coruña” (Galicia, Spain), at Superior Center Katarina Gurska, at the “Alfonso X the Wise University,” both in Madrid
Juan Lago, Program Director
Since the beginning of his career, Spanish-born pianist Juan Lago has attained numerous prizes in the foremost piano competitions in Spain. Most recently, he has been awarded at the XXIII Concorso Internazionale “Valsesia-Musica” in Varallo, Italy; the XX “Cidade de Ferrol” Piano Competition; the IX Premio Internazionale Pianistico “A. Scriabin” in Grosseto, Italy; and the VI “Compositores de España” International Competition of Las Rozas de Madrid. As a consequence of these successes, Juan Lago performed his first European tour and his first recording of an album for “Radio Clásica,” Spanish National Radio, featuring works by Beethoven, Scriabin, and Bartók.
Juan Lago has performed in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, England, Russia, Latvia, Turkey, United States, China, South Korea and all major cities in Spain as a recitalist, chamber musician and as concerto soloist playing under conductors such as Ovidiu Balan, Emin Guven Yasliçam, José Ramón Encinar, Ernest Martínez Izquierdo, Joachim Jousse, José Luis Martínez and Francisco de Gálvez among others, as well with orchestras such as the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana (Italy), “Mihail Jora” Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau (Rumania), Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra (Turkey), Istambul Chamber Orchestra (Turkey), and the Spanish Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Orquesta de Córdoba, Orquesta de Valencia and Orquesta Sinfónica de Málaga.
Lago has appeared as a master artist at the Washington International Piano Festival (Washington, D.C., U.S.A.); the Festival del Mediterráneo at the Palau de les Arts (Valencia, Spain), directed by Zubin Mehta; Talent Music Summer Courses (Brescia, Italy); Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne (Germany); Musical Krasnogorsk (Moscow, Russia); Schubertiaden Schnackenburg (Germany); Festival de Vila-seca (Spain); Alion Baltic International Music Festival or Semaine Internationale Piano et musique de chambre (Blonay, Switzerland).
As an avid chamber musician, Juan Lago has collaborated with violinists Vasco Vassilev, Alissa Margulis and Santiago Juan, violist Santiago Cantó, cellist Alexander Buzlov and Iván Balaguer and pianist Belén Navarro. He has presented lectures at Universidade de Aveiro (Portugal), Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (Germany), Hochschule für Musik Aachen (Germany), Gulangyu Conservatory of Xiamen (China), Latvian Academy of Music, Riga (Latvia) or Conservatorio José Iturbi of Valencia (Spain).
Juan Lago is the Founder and Artistic Director of Campillos International Piano Competition since 2007, Piano Department Director of Valencia International Performance Academy and Festival (VIPA) and Artistic Director of Malaga International Piano Festival (FIPMA). In addition, he is the Artistic Director of the “Amadeus” piano concert series. He is often invited to serve as a jury member in competitions like Cantù (Italy), S. Rachmaninoff (Moscow, Russia), F. Chopin (Hartford, CT. USA), Parnassós (Monterrey, Mexico) and many others. Since 1999, Juan Lago has served as professor of piano at the “José Iturbi” Conservatory of Valencia, where he became piano department Chair in 2010. He has also been teaching piano performance at the Talent Music Master Courses in Brescia, Italy, since 2017. Currently Juan Lago is teaching piano at the Qatar Music Academy by the Qatar Foundation. His students have been awarded numerous times in international and Spanish competitions.
Lago holds a Master’s degree in Performance and Musical Research from the Valencian International University; an Artist Diploma from the Amsterdam Conservatorium, where he studied under the tutelage of Professor Jan Wijn; a Bachelor’s degree from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, where he studied with Professor Ana Guijarro, and a degree from the Conservatorio Superior de Málaga (Professional Degree), where he studied with Professor Juan J. Peralta. He has also been influenced by pianists Gyorgy Sebok, Eugen Indjic, Stanislav Pochekin, Imre Rohmann, Claudio Martínez Mehner and Leonel Morales.
Daniel Abalos
Born in Málaga, in 1973, Mr Abalos began his musical training at the age of nine, always obtaining the highest grades. In 1984 he won the First Prize at the “Marisa Montiel” National Piano Competition (Linares, Spain), also getting the “Musicality trophy” (children’s level).
He finished his elementary music school studies being awarded with the Honor Prize, under the tutelage of Mrs. Julia Casquero. In January 1990 he won the First Prize at the “Gregorio Baudot” National Piano Competition in Ferrol (La Coruña, Spain).
In May 1991, she obtained the Third Prize at “Marisa Montiel” National Piano Competition, (Youth Level).
In 1992 he won the First Prize (for solo piano) at Muestra de Jóvenes Intérpretes (Málaga Young Performers Contest); for this reason he made his début at Teatro Cervantes, Málaga, Spain).
He ended his Piano Intermediate Grade being awarded with Honorary Mention, as student of professor Mr. Horacio Socías (Conservatorio Superior de Música de Málaga). He also obtained Intermediate Grade Honor Prize at Chamber Music Department.
In 1993, he won the Second Prize at Muestra de Jóvenes Intérpretes (Málaga Young Performers Contest). This year, he also got Honorary Mention at “Albacete Piano National Competition” (organized by Jeunesses Musicales of Albacete, Spain).
In 1994, he got the First Prize at Málaga Young Performers – High Level, this time competing against other instrumentalists. For this reason he took part in the recording of a CD, and offered a Concert at Teatro Cervantes in Málaga.
He has attended Piano Workshops with Professors Giovanni Carmassi, Greorgy Sándor, Manuel Carra, Guillermo González, Ana Guijarro, Leonel Morales, Pilar Bilbao, Almudena Cano, and others.
In 1993-94 academic year, he graduated at Conservatory of Music of Málaga, getting his Piano Degree with Honorary Mention, being his teacher Mr. José Felipe Díaz Álvarez-Estrada.
He has been a finalist at the National Competitions of Granada, Melilla, Carlet (Valencia) and Albacete; being awarded with the Fourth Prize at Albacete last two editions. He has performed in a Young Talents Series organized by Jeunesses Musicales of Seville.
He obtained the Third Prize at the National Piano Competition City of Albacete.
He has completed his studies along two years in Seville, with Mrs. Pilar Bilbao, Professor and Concert Pianist.
He has collaborated with the Opera Choir of Málaga as Master Repetiteur. He has also been a jury member at different national and international piano competitions.
He has also been invited as a professor in several piano workshops and festivals. He has performed as a concerto soloist with some orchestras, under the direction of conductors such as Octav Calleya, Dorian Wilson, Francisco de Gálvez, Juan Baeza, Maria del Mar Muñoz, Alberto Navarrete, etc. always playing successfully.
He is President of the Malaga Piano Association and General Director of the Malaga International Piano Festival (FIPMA).
He is currently a Piano Teacher at the Professional Conservatory of Music “Manuel Carra” in Malaga.
