Piano Faculty
Gloria Chuang - piano (JSS2, Piano Seminar)
Gloria Chuang, piano, won the National Young Keyboard Competition of Taiwan at
age 11, under the tutelage of her father and Robert Scholz. Her success
led to her United States' debut, soloing with the San Francisco Youth Symphony. She holds both a Bachelor's and a Masters of Music from the Juilliard School
in New York City. She then received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano
Performance from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1993, where
she was the recipient of the Regents Scholarship.
Gloria is a third-generation teacher of music in her family. While serving as a university faculty member, she was the appointed Distinguished Artist to Taiwan for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Tamkang University. As an ambassador of international relations through music, she performed, spoke and administered master classes to students in high schools and universities in Taipei. Some of Gloria's past performance venues have been: Alice Tully Hall, Paul Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Weill Recital at Carnegie Hall, the Institute of the Arts, the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, the Landmark Center, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison/UW Whitewater. She has been twice the featured artist with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra of Minneapolis.
Aside from performing Dr. Chuang has been adjudicator for numerous competitions and festivals, and a clinician for many workshops. Gloria is the Chair of the Independent Music Teachers for WMTA, and a faculty and staff at University of Wisconsin in Madison and assistant professor of piano at Winona State University. She is also a violinist at the Edgewood Chamber Orchestra and in the Bayfield Piano Quintet.
Sergio Gallo - piano (Piano
Seminar)
Sergio
Gallo joined Georgia State University in fall 2006, having previously
served as faculty at the University of North Dakota and Millikin University.
Dr. Gallo received his degrees from the Conservatoire Européen
de Musique in Paris (Diplôme d'Excellence), the Franz Liszt Academy
of Budapest, Hungary, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Master
of Music and Artist Diploma) and the University of California (DMA).
He has performed with orchestras throughout the Americas and in Turkey,
as well as for Radio France and Radio Cultura. Recently, Dr. Gallo performed
and taught in several countries in Asia and Europe, as well as in major
cities in the United States and in his home country, Brazil. In addition,
he has served as the adjudicator for the International Piano Performance
Examinations in Taiwan.
Dr. Gallo is the winner of concerto competitions of the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and the University of California Symphony. He has received a grant from the Henry Cowell Incentive Funds at the American Music Center in New York, NY, and has toured North Dakota with a Challenge America Fast-Track Review Grant award from the National Endowments for the Arts.
Sergio Gallo is a Bosendorfer artist and records for the Eroica label. His recordings have been reviewed by Gramophone Magazine and American Record Guide.
Marina Beretta Hammond - duo-piano (JSS1)
The
Hammonds made their debut as a duo in 1991 at the V Latin-American Music
Festival in Caracas, Venezuela. The Hammonds have played at the IX Contemporary
Music Festival in Alicante, Spain and in the Chamber Music series at the
Auditorio Nacional in Madrid. They have toured Argentina repeatedly, playing
in Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba and Concepcion. The Duo has given many
performances as recitalists and with orchestra in the United States, Venezuela,
Spain and Argentina.
Fred Hammond, born in Venezuela, received his Bachelor and Master of Music from The Julliard School. He is currently teaching piano at the Young Pianists Program of the Indiana University and IUPUI Music Academy. He has played in Spain, France, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and the United States. Marina Berretta-Hammond, born in Argentina, graduated from the National Conservatory of Music and in 1992 received a Master of Music at Indiana University where she is on the adjunct faculty.
Catherine Herbener - piano ( YAS, JSS1& 2, Piano Seminar)
Catherine
Herbener, piano, appears as a collaborative artist in recitals throughout
the United States. As a member of the Bachman Trio, she participated in
the touring program of the Nebraska Arts Council, received three grants
from the National Endowment for the Arts and participated in a cultural
exchange with the Republic of Tajikistan. Ms. Herbener often performs
and premieres new works of music. She frequently concertizes with oboist
William McMullen. They have been heard in numerous recitals, master classes
and conferences. In 2002, their recording of 20th Century British Music
for Oboe and Piano was released by Crystal Records. Ms. Herbener has also
recorded on the Vienna Modern Masters label and her performances are heard
regularly on Nebraska Public Radio. Ms. Herbener operates a piano studio
in Lincoln, Nebraska and is on the faculty of Concordia
University. She holds a Master's of Music Degree in Piano Performance from Michigan State University and a Bachelor's Degree in Piano Performance from Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Pianist ELI KALMAN has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in Romania, Israel, Germany, Hungary, United States and Canada. Hailing from Israel, he was the recipient of the Paul Collins Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship for Excellence at UW-Madison. He was an enthusiastic artist-in-residence at the Chamber Music Festival at Banff, Canada where he has performed for three consecutive years in the Art of the Ensemble concert series. Dr. Kalman performed at the Token Creek Festival, the Emmanuel Music-Schumann Chamber Series in Boston, and the Connoisseur Series at Wichita State University, the “Searl Pickett Classical Concert Series” at Windhover and as a part of the acclaimed Myra Hess Memorial concerts in Chicago. In 2001, he recorded on CD the works for solo piano and cello and piano by Erwin Junger and in 2006, Robert Schumann’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano with violinist Rose Mary Harbison. Other recordings of his recitals have been heard on Jerusalem Radio and for the most part on Wisconsin National Public Radio. His research interests include neglected repertoire for strings and piano and the compositions of Romanian pianist Dinu Lipatti and Israeli composer Erwin Junger. Since 2006, he serves as Professor of Piano at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh and he is also on the piano faculty at the association “Maestro“, which is a non-profit organization in Israel that provides a home base for accomplished Israeli musicians living abroad. Dr. Kalman earned the Diploma in Piano Performance at the Academy of Music “G. Dima” in Cluj, Romania, the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
SoYoung Lee -
piano,(RRMC Music Director, YAS, JSS1 & 2, APS)
SoYoung
Lee, newly appointed Music Director at Rocky Ridge Music Center,
received her Doctorate in Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the
University of California, Santa Barbara. SoYoung is involved with
a number of innovative chamber music and dance projects including Bach2Brazil and In the Mist chamber ballets in collaboration with choreographer
Viki Psihoyos, a newly commissioned of chamber opera by composer/librettist Daniel Felsenfeld titled The Bloody Chamber based on the fairytale
of the Bluebeard's Castle, and a multi-disc recording project of Schumann's piano works with pianist Sergio Gallo. She has held director
positions at Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory Adult Education/Preparatory
Department, Millikin University Preparatory Division and the Boulder
Arts Academy/Boulder Ballet. SoYoung served on the music faculty
at Millikin, State University of New York, Fredonia and most recently,
served as visiting Piano Pedagogy faculty at the University of Colorado,
Boulder. She attended
the University of Birmingham and the Birmingham School of Music in England,
the University of Southern California and the University of California
at Santa Barbara on a full music fellowship. SoYoung is equally
at home as a performing artist, teacher, producer, and arts administrator.
Naoko
Takao, piano, is the winner of many top prizes including the 7th San Antonio
International Piano Competition, and has been actively performing as recitalist,
orchestral soloist, and chamber musician in the United States, as well
as in Canada, France, Taiwan, and Japan. Currently a faculty member at
Levine
School of Music in Washington, D. C., she performs regularly with
such noted ensembles as Smithsonian Chamber Players and Santa Fe Pro Musica.
She has studied piano with Santiago Rodriguez, Anne Koscielny, Raymond
Hanson, Nathan Schwartz and Andre Watts and chamber music with the Guarneri
String Quartet