On Saturday, March 28, the Suffolk Piano Teachers Foundation annual piano competition will be taking place at Steinway Gallery . 505 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, Ny from Noon - 5 pm and on Sunday, March 29, at Faust Harrison Pianos, 277 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, New York 11747. We have a nice line up of judges and they are excited to be judging at our competition!
Below is some information about our judges for this year's piano competition.
- Marjean Olson, teacher and pianist in New York City, is emerging as one of the most unique voices of her time. Marjean has devoted much of her life to educating people in the art of piano pedagogy. Dr. Olson has enjoyed teaching at The Manhattan School of Music for over a decade where she is currently the Assistant Dean of Academics and the Director of Keyboard Skills. Olson develops curriculum, supervises teaching fellows, and leads a doctoral seminar entitled Teaching Piano in Higher Education. She also teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in piano pedagogy and keyboard skills. She has taught and mentored pianist-teachers who enjoy international careers.
- Originally from North Dakota, Olson began her musical studies at the age of two with her oldest sister Janet Johansen as instructor. She went on to study with David Worth at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN where she obtained a Bachelors of Music degree. Olson completed her graduate work at The University of Michigan under Arthur Greene where she received a Doctor of Musical Arts.
- Nelson Ojeda Valdés (pianist) has been a soloist with the Southeast Symphony playing Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in C Minor, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra playing Saint-Saens “Carnival of the Animals” and California State University Fullerton Wind Ensemble playing Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” on a tour of Japan. His solo recitals include Debussy’s 150th Anniversary at Symphony Space in New York City, the concert series at St. John the Divine (NYC), Steinway Hall in Los Angeles and Fundación Juan March (Madrid,Spain). He recently performed at the Earle Voorhies Memorial Concert in Meng Hall at California State University, Fullerton. His chamber concerts include a recital with pianist Hyangmee Kim at Yon Sei University in Seoul, Korea, a duo piano recital of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt (Austria), a concert of American composers in Alcalá de Henares (Spain), a tour playing Stravinsky’s two piano version of Rite of Spring with Susan Svrcek in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the work’s premiere and Brahms Quintet Opus 34 with Cuarteto Assai broadcast live on RTVE Spanish Radio. Mr. Ojeda has premiered works by composers Tom Lidell and David Meckler at Voces Novae New Music Festival and works by Carlos Carillo and Desmar Guevara at Pregones Theate in the Bronx, NY and at MACLA (Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana) in San José, California. He is featured in the recordings of composers Greg Lawrence and Paul Bailey. His solo album “España” has been released under the label Louis Ferdinand Productions.
- Nelson Ojeda Valdés holds degrees from California State University, Fullerton and Manhattan School of Music with additional studies at the Juilliard School and Mannes College of Music. His primary teachers have been Earl Voorhies, Susan Svrcek and Constance Keene. Mr. Ojeda has been on the faculty at Mt. San Antonio College, Rio Hondo College and Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts and has taught masterclasses at CAMDA (California Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts), Escuela de Música Adora Calvo (Madrid, Spain) and Pasadena Conservatory. For more information please visit www.nelsonojeda.com
- Lisa Kim came to America as a recipient of the Kresge International Scholarship to study piano at Interlochen, Michigan in 1963.
- She continued her piano studies with the legendary Sascha Goridnitzki at the Juilliard School where she received Bachelor's and Master's degree in Music.
- Her solo, orchestral and chamber music performances included a live full length recital on WQXR and the world premier of the Ross Lee Finney's Piano Trio at the congregation of the Arts at Dartmouth College.
- She has devoted the past 40 years in private piano teaching where her former and present students include winners of the Van Cilburn International competition, the Stravinsky International Piano Competition, Philadelphia orchestra student competition, the Juilliard concerto competition, Long Island Philharmonic Young Artist competition, Suffolk Music Guild competition, Sound Symphony solo competition and NYSSMA All State Piano Showcase.
- She served as director of Instrumental Music at the Stony Brook School until her retirement in 2010, co-directed the Grazioso Music Institute in Switzerland, England and Austria and served as a judge for the National Guild of Piano Teachers Auditions.
- World-renowned pianist Jörg Demus often referred to her as “the silent giant” and “richly gifted.” Since her studies in his home in Gastof, Austria, Stephanie D. Watt , pianist, has become one of the most sought-after performers/teachers in the Long Island and metropolitan New York areas. She received degrees in performance, composition, and computer science from Long Island University and also studied extensively at the Vienna and Haydn Conservatories with Jörg Demus, Hans Kann, Marialena Fernandez and Paul Badura Skoda. As a soloist, collaborative and chamber artist, she has performed in major concert halls throughout the U.S. and in five continents with renowned organizations such as the Kennedy Chamber Players, Long Island Philharmonic and Masterworks choruses; Camerata Pro Musica of Hungary; Leo Duo, Melete; Communidad de Palermo Symphony Orchestra; Musica Viva of New York and many others.
- She has been hailed as a “Master Artist” in Vas Nepe, Hungary; “Unanimous!...” in Strings Magazine and “…consistently marked with warmth, verve, and excitement: in the Lynbrook Express. In 2013 she received an Honorary Degree from the renowned National Academy of Tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she will return in May 2015 to perform as a soloist and conduct an educational tour with her students. She is the founder/director of the EASTWEST Conservatory of Performing and Meditation Arts. Her discography includes the prized Duo for Cello & Piano written by noted composer, Allen Brings released on Capstone Records. Her biography has been published in the prestigious Marquis Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Women, and Who’s Who in the World. She is Professor of Music, Director of Piano and Theory Studies and has also served as Chair of the Department of Music at LIU Post.
