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The 2022 San Francisco International Piano Festival is supported in part by a grant from the Ross McKee Foundation https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1747179170738-JJNL2CMH38WX419A2FL9/Maurice_Ravel_1925.jpeg Welcome https://sfpiano.org/contact daily 0.75 2020-07-21 https://sfpiano.org/artists daily 0.75 2026-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1492358085968-O3PNV35QJXEFM4VPUHX1/pexels-photo-251603.jpeg Meet the Artists https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/e10f9807-a4b6-4ef8-bafc-af9b638379f0/Eva+Polgar+2.jpg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Éva Polgár, piano Pianist Éva Polgár is a sought-after recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, educator, and adjudicator. Critics praise her for her “intelligent interpretations” (Funzine Magazine) and “emotional power” (New York Concert Review). Her dedication to her native Hungarian culture has led her to research Béla Bartók’s piano arrangements of his original orchestral compositions and to specialize in the music of Franz Liszt. Her solo album, Liszt: Harmonies patriotiques et religieuses, was released under Hunnia Records. She has appeared as a panelist and expert on BBC World Service’s program The Forum: Franz Liszt – Hungarian pianist and painter in sound. Polgár has toured the Americas, Asia, and Europe. As the Hungary Foundation’s Cultural Ambassador of the Year in 2022, she performed a full program of musical treasures from Central Europe and Hungary at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York City and Nichols Concert Hall in Chicago. Her concerto performances include appearances with conductors Horst Förster at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, Tamás Vásáry at the Danube Palace in Budapest, and Okko Kamu at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Her chamber music debut recitals at Carnegie Hall featured violinist Kristóf Baráti and clarinetist Bence Szepesi, and at the Kennedy Center she performed with pianists László Borbély and Gábor Varga, all to high critical acclaim. She has also collaborated with Klára Csordás (voice), Márta Ábrahám (violin), and Vilmos Szabadi (violin), among other renowned artists. Her long-standing duo partner is flutist Lisa Bost-Sandberg, with whom she recorded Asha Srinivasan’s virtuosic work Utthishta. An avid promoter of contemporary music, Polgár actively collaborates with composers and new music performers. Her solo and collaborative repertoire ranges from Pierre Boulez to emerging composers. As a member of the InterSpheres Trio, alongside flutist Lisa Bost-Sandberg and percussionist Jacob Harpster, she has built an impressive performance history, commissioning and premiering works such as i/o (2017) by Daniel Tramte and dualith (2017) by Balázs Horváth, in addition to performing other trio and duo repertoire on national and international tours. She gave the world premiere of Andrew S. Lloyd’s Préludes: Book II at the University of Texas at San Antonio, supported by the Barlow Endowment. In the realm of cross-disciplinary endeavors, she collaborates with visual artist Sándor Vály. Their experimental music albums, released under Ektro Records, have been broadcast by Finnish Radio. Polgár has won top prizes in competitions, including the 2012 Los Angeles International Liszt Competition (LAILC). In 2017, she was elected co-director of LAILC alongside Dr. Katherine Hickey, a role through which she fosters young musicians in the early stages of their professional careers. To support her work in mentoring emerging talents and promoting the musical heritage of Franz Liszt, the Hungarian Academy of Arts awarded her a three-year grant to design a series of twenty-nine concerts in Hungary and the United States between September 2020 and August 2023. A graduate of the Franz Liszt University and the Sibelius Academy, Polgár earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas (UNT). Her former mentors include Jenő Jandó, Hamsa Al-Wadi Juris, Lívia Rév, Orsolya Szabó, and Adam Wodnicki. A committed educator and adjudicator, she has given masterclasses and appeared at festivals and competitions such as LAILC, the Bogotá International Piano Festival in Colombia, East China Normal University, the Pacific Stars International Piano Competition, and the Southeastern Piano Festival, among many others. She is currently Assistant Professor of Piano and Keyboard Area Coordinator at East Tennessee State University. In addition to her teaching appointment, she serves as President of the Appalachian Music Teachers Association and as Executive Secretary on the Executive Board of the American Liszt Society. In this capacity, she hosted the American Liszt Society Festival at East Tennessee State University in fall 2025. www.evapolgar.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/f0520a48-8ec3-47fe-a865-c0e072c4ade7/Jeff-LaDeur_Carlin.Ma-4950+l+wm+resized+for+social+media.jpg Meet the Artists Jeffrey LaDeur, piano Jeffrey LaDeur is known for his rare blend of insight, spontaneity, and approachable, communicative stage presence. Clic Musique Magazine (France) lauded “…an irreproachable legato, a beautiful palette of nuances, and an always well-balanced sound.” Having inherited a rich tradition of pianism and interpretation from Annie Sherter, student of Vlado Perlemuter and Alfred Cortot, LaDeur has established himself as a compelling exponent of classic and new repertoire. In March of 2018, LaDeur made his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall on the centennial of Claude Debussy’s death. He appears regularly with orchestra and maintains a repertoire of over 40 concerti. LaDeur is the founder and artistic director of the San Francisco International Piano Festival and president of the American Liszt Society, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. LaDeur’s most recent solo recording features music of Liszt and was released by Music & Arts in April of 2022. Critic Henry Fogel wrote, “The beauty of his coloration, the rightness of his phrasing, and his sensitive dynamic shaping, all draw the listener into Liszt’s world.” A chamber musician of distinction, Jeffrey’s collaboration with mezzo soprano Kindra Scharich has produced To My Distant Beloved, an album exploring the connections between Beethoven and Schumann through cycles in song and solo piano works. LaDeur has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Robert Mann, Bonnie Hampton, Ian Swensen, Axel Strauss, Geoff Nuttall, and the Alexander String Quartet. An active educator, Jeffrey offers masterclasses frequently as guest artist in universities throughout the United States and coaches gifted pre-college piano and string ensembles at Young Chamber Musicians in Burlingame, California. LaDeur holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and San Francisco Conservatory of Music in piano performance and chamber music, respectively. Jeffrey counts among his teachers Mark Edwards, Douglas Humpherys, Yoshikazu Nagai, and Robert McDonald. JeffreyLaDeur.com SFPIANO.ORG Find out more.* https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/6b50b8b7-008b-44c8-bcbe-b6780eb6c972/dorman_headshots-5365.jpg.webp Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Elizabeth Dorman, piano Praised by Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle for her “elegance and verve,” pianist Elizabeth Dorman enjoys performing music both new and old as a soloist and chamber musician. A finalist of the 2018 Leipzig International Bach Competition, Elizabeth has been widely recognized as a leading performer for her inquisitive interpretations of Bach’s music on the modern piano. Elizabeth has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Louisville Orchestra, the Leipzig Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the California Symphony, the Vallejo Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Folsom Lake Symphony, the Stanford Summer Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, as a soloist for interdisciplinary projects at New World Symphony, and as a keyboardist at the San Francisco Symphony. She can be heard on Delos records as a concerto soloist with Santa Rosa Symphony’s new album celebrating the music of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and has also recorded for Navona. She has been presented as a soloist and chamber musician at venues including the Kennedy Center, Davies Symphony Hall, Herbst Theater, Merkin Hall, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Leipzig’s Hochschule für Musik, and her live solo performances have been nationally broadcast on NPR and public radio. Elizabeth is Artistic Director of the San Francisco Chamber Players and also serves as Assistant Artistic Director for Archipelago Collective, a chamber music festival in the San Juan Islands. She has appeared at other festivals including Tanglewood, Britt, Sarasota, Aspen, Toronto Summer Music, Icicle Creek, and the Banff Centre. Working with the Bridge Arts Ensemble, Stony Brook University, and as a board member of the Ross McKee Foundation, Elizabeth has produced concerts, lectures, and workshops for music students and was honored with the Father Merlet Award from Pro Musicis for her work training high school music students in community engagement. Elizabeth and was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University in 2019 where she studied with Gilbert Kalish and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was born and raised in the SF's Castro, and attended the San Francisco School of the Arts, the SF Youth Orchestra, and the SF Conservatory on Piano and Bass. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/32d4d679-ba32-4f2f-8399-1fa970aae6c3/2016Prutsman_headshot.jpeg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Stephen Prutsman, piano Stephen Prutsman has been described as one of the most innovative musicians of his time. Moving easily from classical to jazz to world music styles as a pianist and composer, Prutsman continues to explore and seek common ground and relationships in the music of all cultures and languages. In the early 2000s Stephen was Artistic Partner with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, where he wrote several new works for the orchestra, led performances of other composers as a conductor and pianist, and developed the orchestra's contemporary and world music series. Later he was the Artistic Director of the Cartagena International Festival of Music, South America’s largest festival of its kind, programming and curating concerts with themes ranging from Mozart celebrations, to eclectic evenings of folk and popular music of the Americas, to hybrid programs fusing art and dance music of multiple musical dimensions. In the early 90’s he was a medal winner at the Tchaikovsky and Queen Elisabeth Piano Competitions, and received the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since then Stephen has performed the classical concerto repertoire as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras and his classical discography includes acclaimed recordings of the Barber and McDowell concerti with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, recordings of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, and a solo jazz album entitled "Passengers". Born in Los Angeles, Stephen first began playing the piano by ear at age 3 before moving on to more formal music studies. In his teens and early 20s he was the keyboard player for several art rock groups including Cerberus and Vysion (and was a winner of television’s “The Gong Show”!) During those years, he worked regularly as a solo jazz pianist playing in many southern California clubs and lounges and was the music arranger for a nationally syndicated televangelist program. As a composer, Stephen’s long collaboration with Grammy Award winning Kronos Quartet has resulted in over 40 arrangements and compositions for them. Other leading artists and ensembles who have performed Stephen’s compositions and arrangements include Leon Fleisher, Dawn Upshaw, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma, Spoleto USA, and the Silk Road Project. In 2010, his song cycle “Piano Lessons” was premiered by Ms. Upshaw and Emanuel Ax at Carnegie Hall (New York), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Disney Hall (Los Angeles) and the Barbican Centre (London). As a pianist or arranger outside of the classical music world he has collaborated with such diverse personalities as Tom Waits, Rokia Traore, Jon Anderson of “YES”, Sigur Rós and Asha Bhosle. He has scored for a variety of ensembles 15 silent films from the 1920s which are regularly presented at various venues throughout the world. He is a board member of several organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area promoting the well-being of people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and regularly produces and curates "Azure Concerts" musical performances tailored for individuals on the autism spectrum and their families. He was recently named Creative Director for Phenotypic Recordings, a new company specializing in recordings of contemporary music, and in January of 2023 Prutsman began a 2-year appointment as Visiting Artist at Stanford University. Find out more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/8be82b49-e47a-49d5-82d1-d19eab84e302/Barrad-HS.jpg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Simon Barrad, baritone The versatility of Grammy-nominated baritone, Simon Barrad, has been heard in genre-bending concerts across the United States and Europe. His talent for unique and innovative programming and arranging – melding new and old, jazz and drama, classical technique and heartfelt folk idioms – has led to recent features at the Metropolitan Opera, Wigmore Hall in London, the Columbus Symphony, the Ravinia Festival, Stanford Live, the Marlboro Music Festival, and Cincinnati Opera. The 2015/16 Fulbright scholar to Finland has also headlined several concerts in Europe including performances at Helsinki’s Musiikkitalo, Finland’s National Opera House, and the Berlin Philharmonie. Through his performing and as a former mentor for ArtSmart, which provides free music and singing lessons to teenagers in underserved communities, Simon strives to build a more equitable world of empathy and understanding through music. Simon is also an avid lover and performer of jazz, new music, and ensemble singing. He is a four-time Downbeat magazine national award winner for vocal jazz, and he has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, ADCA conventions across the country, and the Grammys as a member of the Grammy vocal jazz ensemble. Simon regularly performs with Austin-based ensemble, Conspirare, and was the baritone soloist for their national tour of Considering Matthew Shepard. In the realm of new music, he has consistently championed new works, giving premiere performances of works by John Harbison, David Lang, Craig Hella Johnson, Mason Bates, and others, as well as performing at the John Duffy Composer Institute under the direction of Libby Larsen. As a Jewish musician, he served as the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur soloist for over a decade at the historic Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati, and is currently the soloist at San Francisco’s Congregation Sherith Israel. He recently founded the musical group JIVE: Jewish Innovative Voices & Experiences with countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg. Mr. Barrad holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music where he studied with Kenneth Shaw. He has collaborated with artists including Mitsuko Uchida, Jonathan Biss, Awadagin Pratt, and Ignat Solzhenitsyn. Mr. Barrad also holds a BM in Voice and a French Language minor from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He has completed word for word translations and IPA transcriptions of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri, Borodin’s Prince Igor and a side by side comparison of the libretti of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District and Katerina Izmailova. Find out more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/a619a735-5464-4617-9087-eca68ec28300/EstherRayoHeadshot.jpeg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Esther Rayo, soprano Lyric Soprano ESTHER RENEE RAYO is most recognized for her passionate expression of Classical Spanish Repertoire, though her artistry spans Opera, Baroque, Oratorio, Sacred Music, and Art Song. A dedicated and versatile performer, she has received numerous awards and scholarships, including honors from the Jarvis Conservatory, NATS Vocal Competitions (Redwood Empire, San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay Opera League, DePaul University Kleinman Competition, San Miguel Institute of Bel Canto, and Musica nelle Marche in Italy. Ms. Rayo earned her Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance from Sonoma State University, studying under David Burnakus and Ruth Ann Swenson, and her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from DePaul University, where she debuted the title role in Suor Angelica to critical acclaim. She made her European debut at Teatro della Fortuna in Fano, Italy, singing lead roles in Puccini’s Tosca and La Bohème. She has been featured in performances with Circa1600, Sonoma Bach, and as a soloist with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Rayo made her Herbst Theatre debut representing Lieder Alive! at InterMusic SF’s Music Day and is celebrated for her collaborations with LaMusArt, supporting underserved Latino youth in East Los Angeles. Ms. Rayo is eagerly anticipating the release of her new album, Estrellita—a collection of Classical Spanish songs with pianist Peter Grunberg. Upcoming engagements include a return to SF Music Day at Herbst Theatre this October, and her recital Sacred Joy at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere Tiburon this December. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1683910261139-TP6H3JXR765O3LK9DVQR/0122-IMZM3893.jpg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Aveta Trio Sarah Yuan, piano Eunseo Oh, violin Elliott Kim, cello The Aveta Trio is the 2021 Gold Medal winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (Junior Division). Formed in 2020 through Young Chamber Musicians, the Trio is coached by Susan Bates and Jeffrey LaDeur. They have performed at the San Francisco International Piano Festival (2021 & 2022), the Rossmoor Chamber Music Society – Next Generation series, the New Millennium Series at Sacramento State University, and SF Music Day at the War Memorial Veterans Building in San Francisco. They also appeared on NPR’s From The Top in October 2022. Sarah studies computer science, Chinese language, and piano performance at Princeton University, where she is under the tutelage of Francine Kay. Elliott, also at Princeton, studies computer science and finance while continuing cello studies with Julia Lichten at the Manhattan School of Music. Eunseo is pursuing degrees in physics and mathematics at Columbia University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/77b67aa0-550a-4cb4-bdf1-94405bd3d274/Sandra_PC_FengChao_thumb.jpg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Sandra Wright Shen, piano Steinway Artist Sandra Wright Shen has been described as a classical pianist of the first order. With her passion, musicality, and inspiration, she aims to move hearts through music. Sandra has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in 14 countries and throughout US, at prestigious venues such as the Kennedy Music Center in DC, the Chicago Cultural Center, Monte Carlo Opera House, Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Frankfurt Cultural Center in Germany, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Taiwan National Concert Hall, Korea Seoul Arts Center, Hong Kong City Hall, Granada Intl Music Festival, Recontres Musicale de Chaon in France, Brevard Music Festival, Tanglewood BUTI, Chelsea Music Festival and Masterworks Music Festival. As a guest artist, she has appeared with Charleston Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony, Redlands Symphony, Brevard Festival Sinfonia, New Millennium Orchestra, Greater San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Formosa Philharmonic Orchestra, Taiwan National Symphony, Taipei Symphony and others. Shen was the Artist-In-Residence of the Charleston Symphony for the 2017-18 season. She has played chamber concerts with Vesselin Paraschkevov, former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and with Amos Yang, Assistant Principal Cello of San Francisco Symphony, Brinton Smith, Principal Cello of Houston Symphony and bassoonist Sergio Azollini. She has also performed on tour in Asia with cellist Nina Kotova. Shen has received several first prizes in several major piano competitions, including the 2012 France International Piano Competition, 1997 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the 1996 Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition, and the 1990 Taiwan National Piano Competition. Her recordings include her debut CD featuring Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, and the Saint-Saëns “Carnival of the Animals”, both released on the Taiwan Rolling Stone Music label. "Momentum", with cellist Miriam Smith, was released in 2022 on Azica Records. As an educator, Shen is the Piano Chair of San Francisco Conservatory of Music PreCollege, Piano Lecturer at Stanford University starting Fall 2025, and Faculty at Masterworks Festival. She served as guest faculty for Tanglewood BUTI Young Artist Piano Program, and on the piano faculty at the Brevard Music Festival, Steinway Society Summer Music camp, Music @Tetauchi, American Fine Arts Festival in Europe and others. She also served as piano faculty at Southern Illinois University and has been frequently invited to be Distinguished Guest Faculty at Furman University. Her students have received top prizes from various competitions including International Piano Competition of Orléans for the youth in France, the Chopin Foundation, American Virtuoso International and others. Sandra performed live for WCQS radio station in Asheville, filmed a 4-part series titled “The Movements of the Master composers” for Hong Kong TV, and “Inspiration From Above” featuring spiritual lives of the composers for US Creation TV. She also hosted a classical music program on Taiwan IC broadcast radio station. Mixing music and philanthropy, Sandra has played benefit concerts for disaster victims, foster children, firefighters, and music education for underprivileged children. Sandra was born in Taiwan and received her Bachelor and Master of Music with a piano performance major and organ minor from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she studied with legendary pianist, Ann Schein and organist Donald Sutherland. Her teachers include Zalina Gurevich and Oleg Barsov, Raymond Hanson, Dr. Michael Dellinger, Jorg Demus, Ruth Slencynska, Thomas Laratta, Erna Gulabyan, and Haggai Niv. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/77f05a7e-cd83-4c36-8dde-b20ef098484f/Tristen_Chen_Headshot_2025.jpg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Tristen Chen, piano Sixteen-year-old pianist Tristen Chen began his musical journey at the age of five. He currently attends the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College, where he majors in piano under the tutelage of Sandra Wright Shen. Tristen has garnered numerous accolades in piano competitions. Most recently, he was awarded the silver medal at the 2024 San Francisco International Piano Competition (Junior Artist) and was named the Northern California 1st Alternate in the 2024 MTAC Concerto Competition. In 2023 and 2022, he received 1st prizes at the US Open Music Competition in both solo and duo categories. In 2024, Tristen was featured on NPR’s “From The Top,” performing Liszt's La Leggerezza. He also won 1st prize in the MasterWorks Festival Concerto Competition in 2024, leading to a performance of Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Masterworks Orchestra. Tristen has been invited to perform at various prestigious events and venues, including San Jose NoonArts & Lectures in 2024 and 2025, as a guest artist for a Cadence Collective Foundation fundraising concert in 2025, at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2018, and at the opening ceremonies of the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2019 and 2018. His musical development has been further enriched through chamber music studies at the California Music Preparatory Academy (2023-2024) and participation in the John Perry Academy of Music Summer Festival (2017, 2018) and the MasterWorks Festival (2021-2024). Tristen has had the opportunity to participate in masterclasses led by renowned artists such as Jon Nakamatsu, John Perry, Ning An, Slava Gryaznov, Wael Farouk, Melinda Lee Masur, Xun Pan, Siheng Song, Lishan Hung, and Heidi Williams. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1e592e04-98e9-442f-91fd-4be0b7152058/Ariel+Chien+headshot.jpg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Ariel Chien, piano Eighteen-year-old Ariel Chien began her piano studies at the age of 8 with Megan Chen and continued with Daniel Cheng. Since 2021, she has studied with Sandra Wright Shen. She recently graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College and will attend Stanford University in the Fall. Ariel is a 3-time Scholarship Recipient of the Chopin Foundation of the United States and a winner of the 2024 National YoungArts in Classical Music/Piano. She is the prizewinner of numerous piano competitions, including Laureate of the 2023 Ross McKee Foundation Piano Competition, third prize of the 2023 Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, second prize of 2022 Marilyn Mindell Piano Concerto Competition, first prize of 2022 piano showcase of United States Open Music Competition, and honorable mention and best Bay Area contestant of 2021 San Jose International Piano Competition. She was the top prize winner of the 2018-2020 and 2023 United States International Music Competition (USIMC). She was selected as the First Alternate Contestant for the 2025 National Chopin Piano Competition. Ariel has performed in numerous events. In 2023, she performed three solo recitals with all Chopin programs, including a performance and lecture at NoonArts and Lectures and solo recitals at SFCM and Luzhou KHS Concert Hall in Taiwan. As the winner of the Golden State Youth Orchestra Piano Concerto Competition, she performed Chopin Concerto No. 1 with the Camilla Kolchinsky Orchestra in the 2022-23 season. She was invited and performed at the San Francisco Symphony Silicon Valley League opening concert in 2022. Ariel participated in several renowned piano and chamber music summer festivals and programs, including the 5th and 6th Frost Chopin Festivals in Miami, the 2023 Southeastern Piano Festival, the 2022 and 2023 Young Performers Program at Music@Menlo, and the 2022 Piano Texas International Festival and Academy. Ariel has performed in masterclasses with acclaimed pianists, including Yuja Wang, Emanuel Ax, Jon Nakamatsu, Tamas Ungar, John Perry, Ann Schein, Ning An, and Sasha Starcevich. She received instruction from Dang Thai Son, Katarzyna Popawa-Zydroń, Kevin Kenner, Edward Auer, Ruth Slenczynska, Olga Radosavljevich, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and Wu Han. As a versatile pianist, Ariel is an active chamber musician and performed in the Contemporary Music Ensemble at SFCM. In addition to her music studies, Ariel enjoys playing badminton, table tennis, and hanging out with her friends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/a3f5affe-b5ed-4f41-ab81-026216a5e9cc/Sarah_Yuan_Fall+%2724+%28small%29.jpg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Sarah Yuan, piano Sarah Yuan, age 19, is a sophomore at Princeton University. She began piano studies at age seven and is now a student of Dr. Francine Kay at Princeton, having previously studied with Dr. Sharon Mann at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Sarah is the winner of the Princeton 2024-25 Concerto Competition, the 2022 and 2023 National YoungArts competitions, and the 2023 John Cron Career Development Award from the Ross McKee Foundation. Over the past several years, she has performed in masterclasses for artists such as John Perry, Ida Kavafian and Peter Wiley, James Giles, Támas Ungár, and the Gryphon Trio. Sarah is currently the pianist for the Aveta Trio, the Gold Medal winner 2021 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (Junior Division). In high school, she was a five-year participant of the Young Chamber Musicians program based in Burlingame, California; at Princeton, she is the assistant music director for Opus Chamber Music. Sarah has performed for the San Francisco International Piano Festival for several consecutive seasons as well as the Noontime Concert series in San Francisco, and has also attended international summer music programs such as Aspen, Bowdoin, and PianoTexas. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/54c01daa-efe9-48b3-91ca-0179a32b54d3/Screenshot_20250812_124129_Gmail.jpg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Yiting Han, piano Yiting was the Grand Prize winner of the 2017 Korea Times Competition, 1st place winner in the 2020 Young Artist Music Competition from Image International Music Festival, 1st place in 2019 California Association of Professional Music Teachers Romantic/Impressionistic Competition, and 1st place in 2018 New York Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition. In addition to her numerous awards at piano competitions, she has also performed with Image International Music Festival's (IIMF) String Quartet and the Antelope Valley Symphony Orchestra at Bach in the Subway. Yiting is currently pursuing BM in San Francisco Conservatory of Music under Yoshikazu Nagai's studio. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/85ab3f14-8a9b-4399-b7b3-d28bfc3df9ca/Claire+Chang+Headshot+.jpg Meet the Artists - Make it stand out Claire Chang, piano Claire Chang is a junior at Henry M. Gunn High School and started piano at 5. She is currently studying with Stanford Professor Elizabeth Schumann. Over the past five years, she has been a pre-college student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), where she studied with Professor Corey McVicar. Claire is passionate about chamber music and has been an active chamber musician. She will be joining Young Chamber Musicians this fall. She has achieved numerous awards throughout her early career. In 2024, she earned first place in the Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Competition and was named a Laureate with a scholarship in the 2023 Ross McKee Foundation Piano Competition. In 2022, she was a finalist in the Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany. Claire has also won first place in several other competitions, including the ENKOR International Music Competition, the United States International Music Competition, and the United States Open Music Competition. Additionally, she has been a top prizewinner in the San Francisco International Piano Competition, the International Grande Music Competition, the LA International Liszt Competition, where she received the Best Performance Award, and the LA Young Musician International Competition. Claire has performed in masterclasses with renowned pianists such as Marc-André Hamelin, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Ursula Oppens, Garrick Ohlsson, Angela Cheng, Jon Nakamatsu, Joseph Patrick, Sharon Mann, and Hie-Yon Choi. During the summer of 2024, she joined the Music@Menlo festival as a young performer and took part in a masterclass at the San Francisco International Piano Festival. In 2025, she participated in the Southeastern Piano Festival and the Vivace International Music Festival. https://sfpiano.org/support/toms-circle daily 0.75 2024-05-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1534012753796-6NYT2HC1VKTVI1IMCZU6/abstract-art-background-image-251603.jpg Tom's Circle https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1534012585059-1YBOQ03ER8FLAALMUMJ8/Tom+LaDeur Tom's Circle https://sfpiano.org/acknowledgements daily 0.75 2024-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/6dc13d96-9053-417d-bf78-1ed4e3c82bfe/Staples+Postcard.jpg Gratitude https://sfpiano.org/bonus daily 0.75 2021-11-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1635880669113-EXOY2X21LF817ED9AF4S/faculty-award-gwendolyn-mok-dschmitz-021616-8382-16a5boq.jpeg Belle Époque Bonus - Gwendolyn Mok, piano Gwendolyn Mok was destined to be a piano prodigy. As is custom in Chinese-American families, her parents gave her a Chinese name before she was born. Her name Ko-Chin translates to “Can Play Piano.” Her parents discovered that she had perfect pitch as a toddler and she began playing the piano at the age of two. “It is inevitable that the more you learn, the more you pass on.” “At four, my parents thought maybe it would be good to put me in a school like Juilliard,” she says. “I got to my audition and they thought I was too little and said to come back when I was six.” Mok is currently professor and coordinator of keyboard studies in the College of Humanities and the Arts, School of Music and Dance—and a leading expert in the music of French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). However, she did return to Juilliard as a youth and studied there on Saturdays for 12 years before going to Yale University and graduate school at SUNY Stony Brook, where she first discovered Ravel’s music. In 1993, Mok received a grant from the French Ministry to study in Paris with Vlado Perlemuter, one of Ravel’s former students. She returned this fall fresh from a sabbatical that took her to back to Paris—and to Amsterdam, Vienna and London, where she visited historic keyboard collections and performed concerts. She also visited Taiwan, where she taught students from middle school to graduate school. The director of the music department’s Historic Keyboard Collection, Mok’s latest CD, “LEGACY: The Spirit of Beethoven” was recorded on two historic keyboards from the School of Music and Dance and one from SJSU’s Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies. The CD was produced with support from SJSU and the Stuart Hughes Fund for a series called “The Composer’s Pianos.” Mok has appeared with the London Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Symphony Silicon Valley, and among many others in many prestigious venues. Here at San Jose State, she says people are driven by their work. “We are all passionate about what we do and that’s what really keeps me going.” Surrounding herself with inspiration also helps keep her going. On a trip to Amsterdam, Mok happened across a historic piano, an Erard, from the time period of Ravel and was able to play a piece on it. It brought out nuances in the music she had been unable to create on a modern piano. The Erard now resides in a special room next to her office. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1635878773765-I5J5EYOH41E7HEZ371VB/Lien_Blue_72dpi.jpg Belle Époque Bonus - Jennifer Lien, soprano Soprano Jennifer Lien, lauded for her “sonorous, clear voice” and her dramatic range, has been seen on opera and concert stages in California, Florida, New York, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Singapore. She is a keen collaborator in chamber music, a proponent of contemporary music, and is known for her innovative recital programming. In February 2020, Ms. Lien appeared as soprano soloist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in Joe Hisaishi’s East Land Symphony. During the pandemic season, her performance in Poulenc’s one-woman opera La Voix Humaine, originally performed in 2018 to wide acclaim with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s chamber series, was streamed internationally. Ms. Lien has appeared in operatic roles with companies including Mission City Opera, West Bay Opera, Oakland Opera Theater, West Marin Music Festival, Berkeley Opera, Solo Opera, and San Francisco Lyric Opera. Oratorio engagements include Haydn’s The Creation and The Seasons; Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio; Handel’s Messiah; Vivaldi’s Gloria; Haydn’s Mass in Time of War; and Mozart’s Requiem. Ms. Lien has premiered numerous works by contemporary composers, and has performed in recital series in New York state, California and New Hampshire, and at the prestigious Esplanade arts center in Singapore. Ms. Lien made her operatic debut in the role of Papagena (The Magic Flute) with Singapore Lyric Opera, where she also appeared as Princess Stephanie in The Student Prince. She received further operatic training as a resident artist with Central Florida Lyric Opera, a young artist with the Seagle Music Colony, an apprentice artist with Bel Canto at Caramoor, and as a member of the OperaWorks Advanced Accelerated Singer program. Returning to music after a career as a newspaper journalist, Ms. Lien first began her vocal studies at Dartmouth College, where she was an English major. Under the guidance of soprano Erie Mills, she later received her Master of Arts in Music at San José State University. Ms. Lien holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice and an M.A. in Historical Musicology from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. A seasoned vocal educator, Ms. Lien taught voice to majors and non- majors at UW-Madison and at Beloit College before assuming her current role at the College of Saint Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1635878884065-LZVD7D95GSROIXZWLTCP/omri0090-web.jpeg Belle Époque Bonus - Omri Shimron, piano Omri Shimron is Associate Professor of Music at Cal State, East Bay where he is Piano Area Coordinator. He teaches applied piano, group piano, piano ensemble, as well as courses in musicianship. His debut solo album, featuring Frederic Rzewski's iconic 36 Variations on "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!” was released in July 2014 on New Focus Records. Dr. Shimron is active with local and national music organizations and is currently the Concerto Competition Chair and Board Member At-Large (NorCal) for the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT). Also a member of the Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC), Shimron was one of three adjudicators for the 2020 Panel auditions. He frequently adjudicates and presents for CAPMT, MTAC and has done so previously, with sister organizations, in North Carolina. A seasoned piano pedagogue, he was on faculty at the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival from 2013-2017 where he taught an international group of students from elite music schools worldwide. Prior to CSUEB, he taught at Elon University (NC), Hillsdale College (MI), and Eastern Mediterranean University (Cyprus). In his piano teaching, Shimron embraces a holistic approach to music that integrates expression and physical awareness with an historically informed approach to style and sound. Dr. Shimron holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Performance and Literature (Piano), a Master of Music (Piano) and a Master of Arts in Music Theory Pedagogy from the Eastman School of Music. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music (Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude) from the University of Rochester. In addition to his academic credentials he also trained at the Chautauqua Institution, the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, the Banff Center for the Arts, and the Jerusalem Music Center. Born in the United States but raised in Israel, he appeared at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and the Tel Aviv Museum. In the US, he won prizes from the Hoffman Competition and the Chautauqua Institution. Collaborative and solo concerts also included appearances at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, and live radio broadcasts for WBFO, WXXI, and WUSF stations. Dr. Shimron is frequent guest artist and clinician at universities across the U.S. and abroad. Outside the U.S., Shimron has participated in the Felicia Blumental Festival (Tel Aviv) and has presented recitals at Wolfson College (Oxford, UK) and the Bursa State Conservatory (Turkey). In 2008, he performed ‘anisotropie’, a work for prepared piano by Michael Quell, at SoundsCAPE—a contemporary music festival in Italy. As a musician in academe, Dr. Shimron presented multiple lectures and lecture-recital for the College Music Society (CMS), where he also briefly served as President-Elect of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter. His work as a performer-scholar focused on traditional and contemporary piano music by Liszt, Stravinsky, Larsen, Chen Yi, Crumb, Dietz, and Rzewski. Shimron also pursued several projects in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) as it relates to flipped-classroom methodologies (in foundational music theory courses) and faculty-student partnerships on course design. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1635882022243-QLEKUL1GQ59SAYAEZQ1B/DavidGoldblatt.jpeg Belle Époque Bonus - David Goldblatt, cello David Goldblatt, occupant of the Christine & Pierre Lamond Second Century Chair, joined the SFS cello section in 1978, having previously played in the Pittsburgh Symphony. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Mr. Goldblatt has also been a cellist with the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia (now the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia) and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. He is currently a coach for the SFS Youth Orchestra. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1635879202296-R5EYWNI5WJ2CW6IZVS0G/Diane_Nicoleris_violin_SFSymphony.jpg Belle Époque Bonus - Diane Nicholeris, violin Diane Nicholeris has been a member of the SFS since 1984. She studied violin with Joseph Silverstein and Sylvia Rosenberg and graduated from the Eastman School of Music. Ms. Nicholeris has appeared as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Esplanade Orchestra, and the Monterey Symphony Orchestra, where she was also concertmaster. She has served as an SFS Youth Orchestra coach for many years, and she has also coached at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, UC Berkeley, the New World Symphony, and the Greater Boston Youth Symphony. She was previously on the faculty of San Jose State University. Learn more about Diane Nicholeris at sfsymphony.org/dianenicholeris. (February 2019) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1635879500782-SA9WQE6K1CWMRQ0UKS36/Jeff-LaDeur_Carlin.Ma-4944+l+wm+resized+for+social+media.jpg Belle Époque Bonus - Jeffrey LaDeur, piano Jeffrey LaDeur is known for his for his rare blend of insight, spontaneity, and approachable, communicative stage presence. Having inherited a rich tradition of pianism and interpretation from Annie Sherter, student of Vlado Perlemuter and Alfred Cortot, LaDeur has established himself as a compelling exponent of classic and new repertoire. In March of 2018, LaDeur made his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall on the centennial of Claude Debussy’s death. He appears regularly with orchestra and maintains a repertoire of over 40 concerti. LaDeur is the founder and artistic director of the San Francisco International Piano Festival and president of the American Liszt Society, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. The 2021-2022 season includes LaDeur's San Francisco Performances debut, joining the Alexander String Quartet in two concerts devoted to Dvorak's chamber music. Other season highlights include appearances with the Vallejo Symphony and Marc Taddei in Rachmaninoff's Concerto in F-sharp Minor, recitals with mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich for Neskowin Chamber Music, Four Seasons Arts, and Lieder Alive!, and the release of new solo album of music by Liszt on the Music & Arts label. A chamber musician of distinction, Jeffrey’s collaboration with mezzo soprano Kindra Scharich has produced To My Distant Beloved, an album exploring the connections between Beethoven and Schumann through cycles in song and solo piano works. LaDeur has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Robert Mann, Bonnie Hampton, Ian Swensen, Axel Strauss, Geoff Nuttall, and the Alexander String Quartet. An active educator, Jeffrey offers masterclasses frequently as guest artist in universities throughout the United States and coaches gifted pre-college piano and string ensembles at Young Chamber Musicians in Burlingame, California. LaDeur holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and San Francisco Conservatory of Music in piano performance and chamber music, respectively. Jeffrey counts among his teachers Mark Edwards, Douglas Humpherys, Yoshikazu Nagai, and Robert McDonald. JeffreyLaDeur.com SFPIANO.ORG https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1635879960184-KAVUAREXUQ7AIDPTJAUY/Alex+Etherington+Photo.jpg Belle Époque Bonus - Alexander Etherington, piano Originally from Toronto, Canada, Alexander Etherington obtained his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from San Jose State University, under the instruction of Dr. Gwendolyn Mok. In the fall of 2016, he was admitted into the Chamber Music Silicon Valley (CMSV) young artist program led by Dr. Ray Furuta, a program that promotes the performance of chamber music throughout the Bay Area. From 2017 to 2019, Alexander studied under the guidance of Dr. Namiq Sultanov. From 2019 to 2021, he studied under the direction of Dr. Jacques Despres at the University of Alberta, during which time he completed his Master of Music in Piano Performance (MM Piano Performance). Alex now makes his home in San Jose and has opened up a music school. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c503fde4fcb59389ef7cbf/1635954926210-AKK68TPSVRBMXVOI4L99/image0.jpeg Belle Époque Bonus - Rafael Maldonado, clarinet Clarinetist Rafael Maldonado is an active performer and educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. Based in the South Bay, Rafael has collaborated with local groups, such as Quinteto Latino, Chamber Music Silicon Valley, and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. An avid educator, Rafael was awarded a teaching assistanship at San Jose State University where he taught Woodwind Fundamentals, Clarinet Pedagogy and Clarinet Ensemble (for a semester). Rafael is passionate about woodwind pedagogy and is proficient on flute and saxophone, in addition to his clarinet studies. He maintains a studio of clarinetists, ranging from beginning to advanced levels. Rafael received his bachelors and masters degrees in clarinet performance at San Jose State University under the tutelage of Dr. Janet Averett. He also earned a Professional Studies Diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the studio of Jeffery Anderle. https://sfpiano.org/about daily 0.75 2022-07-21