Alexander Sokolov is a professor andrector of the Moscow State TchaikovskyConservatory. From 2004 to 2008 heldthe post of Minister of Culture andMass Communication of the RussianFederation. From 1964 to 1967 studiedat the Gnesins Secondary Music Schooland received a silver medal uponcompletion. In 1968 he became astudent of the Musicology Departmentat the Moscow Conservatory andreceived diploma cum laude in 1973.In 1980 he defended cum laude histhesis ‘Sounds as core material in thelanguage of music’ and received theCandidate of Art Criticism degree. In1992 Alexander Sokolov earned thetitle of Grand Doctor in Art for hisdoctoral dissertation ‘The developmentof the 20th-century music composition’.A distinguished professor in manyuniversities of Europe and Asia, he isalso a member of various Russian andinternational academies, a participantof many experts’ boards and majorcharity funds. He makes reports atscientific symposiums and conferences,in addition serves as a judge atinternational music competitions.Sokolov is engaged in the workof various cross-establishmentcoordinative and consultingorganizations in the field of cultureand art.

A regular guest artist at numerous musiccenters in the United States, he alsoperforms and teaches frequently allover the globe. Between the 2010-2015seasons, he performed over 90 concertsin America, Australia, Brazil, Colombia,Hungary, Romania, England, Taiwan,Hong Kong, The People’s Republic ofChina, Korea and Japan. Some of thehighlights of those seasons includeperformances with the SacramentoSymphony Orchestra, performing assoloist/conductor of Mozart PianoConcertos at the University of Leeds,as Artist-in-Residence and a return visitto present a solo recital and masterclass series at the Liszt Academy inBudapest. In addition to his performingcommitments, Tamás Ungár has becomeone of the United States’ best-known andmost respected teachers of the piano.He is the founder - Executive Director ofthe PianoTexas International Festival andsince 1978 has been a member of the TCUPiano Faculty. Between 2006 and 2014he was the Artistic Director of the BeijingInternational Piano Festival and continuesas a regular guest teacher at the annualZhou Guangren Summer Piano Institute.In 2010 Dr. Ungár received the prestigiousPresidential Scholar Program’s TeacherRecognition Award and in 2013 the MusicTeachers National Association namedhim “The Teacher of the Year”. The Senateof Texas has proclaimed Tamás Ungár as a“Distinguished Citizen” in recognition forhis lifetime work and achievements in thefine arts. Prior to his present position, hetaught at the Sydney Conservatorium ofMusic, the Purcell School, England and atthe University of California at San Diego.

Daejin Kim is one of the leading pianistsand pedagogues in Korea. In 1985 hewon the first prize in the prestigious 6thRobert Casadesus International PianoCompetition (presently, the ClevelandCompetition). Since then, he hasperformed in recital and with orchestrasin major cities throughout the UnitedStates, Europe, and Asia. In recognitionof his achievements, he was awarded‘the Professor of the Year’ Award by theMusic Association of Korea and recently,he received ‘the Artist of the Year’decoration by the Ministry of Culture inKorea. Mr. Kim has been on the jury forprestigious competitions such asthe Busoni, the Gina Bachauer, ClaraHaskil, the Beethoven (Vienna andBonn), the Cleveland, the Hamamatsu,the Takamatsu, the Leeds, theQueen Elizabeth, and the RubinsteinInternational competitions. After aseries of close collaborations as a soloistand a conductor for many years with theSuwon Philharmonic Orchestra, one ofthe most prestigious orchestras in Korea,he was the Music Director from 2008 to2017. Daejin Kim received a Bachelor’s,a Master’s, and a Doctoral degree fromthe Juilliard School where he studiedwith Martin Canin. He has been theDirector of the Korea National Institutefor the Gifted in Arts and is currently theDean at the Korean National Universityof Arts and the Music Director of theChangwon Philharmonic Orchestra.

One of Korea’s foremost pianists,studied at the Curtis Institute of Musicin Philadelphia under MieczyslawHorszowski and Rudolf Serkin. In 1967after completing her studies at theCurtis Institute of Music, she went on towin prizes at the Philadelphia OrchestraAuditions and the Geneva InternationalMusic Competition.Performed with many internationalorchestras including the PhiladelphiaOrchestra, L’Orchestre de la SuisseRomande, Hong Kong PhilharmonicOrchestra, Royal PhilharmonicOrchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra,Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, andTokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Inrecognition of her remarkable musicalachievements, she was awardednumerous prizes and accolades overthe years. Among them are, ‘Musicianof the Year’ (Donga Music, 1985), ‘Artistof the Year’ (Korea Critics Association,1987), Nanpa Music Award (1988), Orderof Ok-Kwan Culture (1994) and KoreaCulture & Arts Award (1995) both fromthe Ministry of Culture, and NationalAcademy of Arts Award (2007).She has served on the jury of the MunichInternational Piano Competition,Takahiro Sonoda Piano Competition,International Tchaikovsky Competitionfor Young Musicians, Seoul InternationalPiano Competition and many others.She was awarded an honorary doctoratefrom The Gnesins Russian Academy ofMusic, Russia (2016). Currently, Kyung-Sook Lee is professor emeritus at YonseiUniversity - College of Music, MusicalDirector of the chamber group ‘Curtisand Friends’, a member of Korea’sNational Academy of Arts, and a chairedprofessor at Seoul Cyber University -Department of Music.

Vladimir Ovchinnikov is the People’sArtist of Russia. Award-winningpianist and a graduate of the MoscowConservatory where he studiedunder Aleksey Nasedkin. Professorat the Moscow Conservatory andguest professor at Sakuyo University(Japan). The only pianist ever to winthe top prizes at both the InternationalTchaikovsky Competition in Moscow(1982) and the Leeds International PianoCompetition (1987). The principal of theCentral Music School at the MoscowConservatory (2011-2016).Worked as a chairman and jury memberat major international competitions(International Tchaikovsky Competition,Busoni International Piano Competition,etc.). Professor Ovchinnikov appearsregularly with such leading orchestrasas the Moscow Philharmonic, MoscowRadio Symphony, St. PetersburgPhilharmonic, Russian State SymphonyOrchestra, Grand Tchaikovsky SymphonyOrchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra,and others. Actively performs in Russiaand abroad.

Liu Shih Kun is a world-renowned Chinesepianist. When he was seventeen he receivedthe special prize at the Liszt InternationalPiano Competition in Hungary. In 1958,Mr. Liu won the second prize at theFirst Tchaikovsky International PianoCompetition in Moscow at the age of 19 (thefirst prize was given to the famous Americanpianist, Van Cliburn). Mr. Liu has performedin England and many other countries withprestigious orchestras under the batons ofKirill Kondrashin, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel,and others. Mr. Liu’s recording of the LisztPiano Concerto No.1, performed with theBoston Symphony Orchestra under thebaton of Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa,was a bestseller around the world. Since1964, Mr. Liu has been the Representativeof the National People’s Congress and theDeputy Chief of the Art Council of China’sCultural Department, where he has servedfor many years. Currently, he is a memberof the National Committee of the ChinesePeople’s Political Consultative Conference,Standing Director of the Chinese CulturePromotion Society, President of the HongKong Literature & Arts Association, andHonorary Professor in over 30 conservatoriesand music universities around the world. Mr.Liu has performed for many Chinese leadersincluding Mao Ze Dong to Xi Jin Ping as wellas the Queen of the United Kingdom andforeign presidents such as former Russianpresidents, U.S. presidents, and Frenchpresidents just to name a few. During thelast two decades, Mr. Liu not only devoteshimself to his performance career but alsodedicates himself to the musical educationof China’s youth. There are over twohundred Liu Shikun Piano & Arts Centersaround China, which altogether includeapproximately eighty-thousand students.

Soyoung Yoon received a Bachelor’s andMaster’s degrees in Piano Performancefrom Hanyang University (Seoul) as astudent of Chung Yoon Park.She continued her studies in theUnited States at the University of Texasat Austin where she completed herDoctor of Musical Arts degree in 2003as a student of Anton Nel. By 2008 shefurther received her Artist Diploma fromthe University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music under FrankWeinstock.Dr. Yoon is the recipient of top prizesin several international competitions.Extensively performs as a recitalist andcollaborative artist in the Republic ofKorea through performances at theKorean National Arts Center, Seoul ArtsCenter, Kumho Art Hall, and the SejongCenter for the Performing Arts.She has also been featured in the U.S. atCarnegie Hall, Indiana University, TexasState University, the University of SanAntonio, the Texas Piano Festival and theSteinway Society. Having been featuredas a soloist around the world, Dr. Yoonhas made concerto appearances withthe Nova Vista Symphony, Universityof Texas, Gyeonggi Philharmonic,Sungnam City Philharmonic, SeoulSymphony, Moldova National, theRumania Timishuara and otherorchestras. Currently, Dr. Yoon is aprofessor of piano performance at SeoulCyber University and is the ArtisticDirector of the “WE Soloists” chamberensemble.

Born in 1949, the son of Akeo Watanabe,a renowned conductor and founderof the Japan Philharmonic SymphonyOrchestra. After graduating fromthe composition department of theMusic High School of the Tokyo ArtsNational University, he studied at theNew England Conservatory of Musicin Boston. There he earned a Bachelorof Music Degree and the prestigiousArtist’s Diploma in piano, studying withTheodore Lettvin. He then went to theJuilliard School in New York where hestudied with Sascha Gorodnitzki andearned a Master’s Degree in pianoin 1975. Yasuo made his debut as aconcert pianist in 1972 in Tokyo. Sincethen he has performed countless pianoconcertos with numerous symphonyorchestras throughout the world. Hemarked his formal debut as a conductorin September 1992, conductingthe Japan Philharmonic SymphonyOrchestra at the renowned Suntory Hallin Tokyo in the presence of Her Majestythe Empress and His Highness theCrown Prince of Japan. Since then hehas conducted many orchestras, suchas the Tokyo Metropolitan SymphonyOrchestra, the Kyoto SymphonyOrchestra, the Kyushu Symphony, andthe National Symphony Orchestraof Dublin, just to mention a few. Inaddition, he is the Music Director of theTsuyama International All-Round MusicFestival. After serving as the Dean (2008-2010), he works as a professor of theFaculty of Music at the Kurashiki SakuyoUniversity.

Pascal Nemirovski is recognized asone of the most sought-after pianopedagogues in the world with many ofhis students winning top internationalprizes (Leeds, Ettlingen, YCA New York,YCAT London, BBC New GenerationArtist…) and are now successfulrecording artists represented by majorconcert artist management companies.He studied at the Juilliard School withNadia Reisenberg and Adele Marcuswhere he was awarded a full scholarship(Steinway & Freundlich Fund) and thenstarted to give concerts in Europe, theUnited States, and Asia.At the early age of 28, his vocationfor teaching was already recognizedand since then he has been invitedto most of the major institutions inChina (Shanghai, Beijing Central, andChina conservatories, Shenzhen ArtsSchool…), Finland (Sibelius Academy),France (Conservatoire Supérieur deParis), Ireland (Royal Irish Academy ofMusic), Israel (Buchmann-Mehta Schoolof Music, The Jerusalem Music Centre),Russia (Moscow Conservatory andCentral School of Music), and the UK(Royal College of Music, Purcell School,Oxford University...).In 2004, he recorded a CD “Entre Cielet Terre” devoted to Chopin, Prokofiev,and Scriabin which was unanimouslyacclaimed by the press.From 2006 to 2016 he has taught at theRoyal Academy of Music in London andwas awarded Honorary Associate of theRoyal Academy of Music. Since 2016,he holds the position of “InternationalChair in Piano” at the Royal BirminghamConservatoire. Pascal Nemirovski is aSteinway Artist.