Aug 30th 2015

Oberlin-Como partnership appoints two young pianists

by Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is a music critic with particular interest in piano. 

Johnson worked as a reporter and editor in New York, Moscow, Paris and London over his journalism career. He covered European technology for Business Week for five years, and served nine years as chief editor of International Management magazine and was chief editor of the French technology weekly 01 Informatique. He also spent four years as Moscow correspondent of The Associated Press. He is the author of five books.

Michael Johnson is based in Bordeaux. Besides English and French he is also fluent in Russian.

You can order Michael Johnson's most recent book, a bilingual book, French and English, with drawings by Johnson:

“Portraitures and caricatures:  Conductors, Pianist, Composers”

 here.

Two outstanding young pianists – one from Hungary, one from Italy – have been selected to become the first Oberlin-Como Fellows, two tuition-free years of study in a new partnership of the International Piano Academy Lake Como and the U.S. Oberlin Conservatory of Music. They begin their intensive courses in late September.

Their teacher, William Naboré, artistic director of the Italy-based Academy, describes them as “two exceptional pianists – brilliant and uncontested. They are very excited at beginning their American experience.” 

Naboré, who negotiated the partnership with Oberlin last spring, plans to be on the Oberlin campus, near Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 20 “to help put things in place”. He will conduct master classes while there, and is committed to making three campus visits for master classes each year.

The Italian laureate is Luca Burrato, a graduate of Milan Conservatory and earned his master’s degree at Bolzano Conservatory with Davide Cabassi. In 2013, after studies with Naboré, he received his Master of Advanced Studies from the Conservatory of Lugano.

The Hungarian selectee is David Bekker, who graduated from the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music in Budapest, followed by the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, also in Budapest, where was a student of Jenő Jandó and András Kemenes. Since 2013 he has studied with Russian pianist Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia. Bekker is a winner of the Hungarian National Piano Competition, International Piano Competition of Kosice and the Béla Bartók International Piano Competition of Vienna. 

Oberlin and the Como Academy will combine their European and American styles -- a natural partnership that they say broadens the cultural base of both parties.  For the academic year beginning in September 2016, young pianists will be selected from worldwide applications to implement the program which will merge Como’s teaching concept with Oberlin’s established conservatory methods.

Naboré has built the Academy’s reputation from scratch while also conducting frequent master classes in China, Japan and Korea. He was recently lauded in Beijing for his methods, and a large outdoor poster was erected describing him as a “Magical Teacher”.


Naboré says his Como culture instills a belief in close relationships between renowned master class teachers and students so that the harsh realities of the music world will be clearly understood – notably “what you have to sacrifice to succeed”. 

Places for Fellows will be boosted to six or seven pianists in year two. Oberlin-Como Fellows will be resident at Oberlin, near Cleveland, Ohio. Applications are now being accepted by post at Oberlin Conservatory for the 2016-2017 academic year.

The program will be launched September 27 with a gala concert in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel featuring three stars from the Como talent pool – the Italian Alessandro Deljevan, the Shanghai pianist Ran Jia, and Cuban virtuoso Marcos Madrigal. 

The Oberlin-Como Fellows will work under a structured program focusing on solo performance, chamber music and collaborative piano projects. Studies outside the music department will be made available and graduates will be awarded an Artist Diploma.

Oberlin Conservatory Dean Andrea Kalyn believes the combination of academic and music studies “will stretch these students beyond technical prowess as they engage in ideas bigger than themselves.”

Naboré is equally sanguine. He says his “eyes lit up” when he realized the potential of the Oberlin liberal arts program combined with the music school. “All the greats – Richter, Busoni, Rubenstein, Arrau – were broadly educated. They knew that to be a real pianist you can’t be just a racehorse.” Today, he laments, the art of the piano has suffered because too many young artists “have gone astray by specializing too soon”. 

The ascendance of piano technique for its own sake has prompted a rethink in many conservatories. Como and Oberlin share the belief that depth of understanding behind a composition brings a special richness to interpretation, separate from pure technique. Alvin Chow, chair of the Piano Department at Oberlin, welcomes Naboré’s like-minded approach.

“Young pianists can sometimes be inspired by the note-perfect performances they see on the internet but they might not grasp what an artist has gone through” to reach the summit. “We agree with Como that the journey is what it’s all about.” 

Chow says Como’s multinational faculty will add a dimension to Oberlin by attracting “piano legends” as master class teachers, although the school has long been known for its inclusiveness. “Opening up to different cultures is part of our DNA,” says Chow.

Como’s faculty over the years has included the elite of the piano word – Dmitri Bashkirov,  Malcolm Bilson, Peter Frankl, Tomas Vasary, Menahem Pressler, Leon Fleischer and Fou Ts’ong.  Recent additions include Stanislav Ioudenitch (gold medal winner at the Van Cliburn Piano Competition), Katherine Chi (winner of the Honens Competition in Calgary, Canada) and Vladimir Mischouk, (silver medalist in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition).

Oberlin expects to benefit by encouraging the Fellows to mingle with its music degree candidates. “They will inspire our young people not only with their performances but with their work ethic and professional standards,” says Chow. 

The Oberlin-Como Fellows will study with Oberlin faculty as well as participating in master classes organized by Como. Naboré’s unique concept of week-long master classes alternating with free study and practice time has proven effective over the years. He is also noted for his astute selection of students from the thousand-plus applications he receives annually.

Como has been turning out talented young pianists since 2002 and benefits from the honorary presidency of Martha Argerich. A dynamic administrator, Turid Hjelmstad Johansen Prestinari, is an essential organizer and contact at the Academy headquarters in Dongo, Italy. 

Naboré is American but has lived his adult life in Italy and Switzerland. He represents an approach that accepts serious music as part of everyday life. Europeans are naturally closer to the 19th century repertoire, most of which originated in their culture.

About 75 young pianists from Europe, Asia and the Americas have studied at Como.  Graduates come from more than 20 countries and have won an array of top competition honors. An outstanding young Russian, Yulianna Avdeeva, took top prize at the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2010. Others have won the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Brussels).

Another version of this article appears in the September-October edition of International Piano magazine, London.

 


This article is brought to you by the author who owns the copyright to the text.

Should you want to support the author’s creative work you can use the PayPal “Donate” button below.

Your donation is a transaction between you and the author. The proceeds go directly to the author’s PayPal account in full less PayPal’s commission.

Facts & Arts neither receives information about you, nor of your donation, nor does Facts & Arts receive a commission.

Facts & Arts does not pay the author, nor takes paid by the author, for the posting of the author's material on Facts & Arts. Facts & Arts finances its operations by selling advertising space.

 

 

Browse articles by author

More Music Reviews

Oct 7th 2024
EXTRACT: "Oppens stands apart from today’s keyboard virtuosos by her four decades of discovering and commissioning new works. These contributions to the repertory ensure her a permanent place in pantheon of modern music. But she is also recognized as a powerful performer who tackles the thorniest of new pieces. As she said in our interview, she remembers hearing the difficult works of Julian Hemphill for the first time and thinking 'This is for me!'  Composers who have been commissioned by her or who have written works for her include such leading lights as Frederic Rzewski, William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, John Harbison, Julius Hemphill, Peter Lieberson, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Christian Wolff  and Charles Wuorinen.”
Jul 5th 2024
EXTRACTS: "The Conservative Party, which was finally pronounced dead from multiple unnatural causes on July 5 2024, was born in 1832." ---- " Strange as it might now appear, the party was once very popular and respected, even by its opponents. Educated at Eton and Oxford, it established a reputation for governing competence which allowed it to bounce back from serious setbacks, notably the landslide Labour victory of 1945." ---- "The end of the cold war debunked the notion that the Conservatives had restored Britain’s former global status. Unwilling to acknowledge their country’s subservience to the United States, the party’s dominant nationalist faction could now only rage against reality by identifying the European Union, and post-war immigration, as the twin culprits for the depletion of British political influence and cultural uniformity." ---- "The Conservative party has presented a sorry spectacle to sympathetic observers in its undignified post-Brexit dying days. It became prone to hallucinations, first believing that Boris Johnson could be a successful prime minister then replacing him with Liz Truss."
Jun 17th 2024
EXTRACT: "Question: Isn’t piano study a big problem in the USA, with all the electronic games and distractions from music lessons? ---- Answer: The problem is also in Europe. We have lost a lot of quality, in terms of knowledge behind the music. The schools do not make the transmission from the composers to us. We owe that to the composers. And it’s very sad because now we focus on goals and competition, and competition does not go well with art.
Jun 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "Question: Isn’t it true, as the musicologist Kyle Gann says, that one cannot judge immediately what’s good or bad in contemporary music? We must wait 20 years. Answer: Yes, look at Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”. It caused a scandal. It was booed and rejected by everyone. Now it’s standard in the concert hall. In jazz, I think it’s not 20 years, but more like 50 years before we know what has worked or not. One has to step back and reflect on whether we have brought something new."
Mar 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "In a way, every experience you have, every book you read, every movie you watch, every place you visit, every encounter you have, every moment you spend with friends or family, they leave a mark on you and direct you indirectly and therefore leave their mark on your playing.", says Boris Giltburg in Michael Johnson's and Frances Wilson's new book 'Lifting the Lid: Interviews with Concert Pianists', now available on Amazon.
Feb 27th 2024
EXTRACT: "Question: Some pianophiles say the CD could be useful for meditation, therapy or even healing. ---- Answer: Indeed, that is the kind of feedback I am getting. But this music doesn’t belong to me any more, therefore I cannot label it with any purpose. It has taken on a life of its own. I can’t say how it affects the life of other people. Will it be therapeutic or will it have another effect? Time will tell."
Dec 4th 2023
EXTRACT: "Seated in a quiet corner of a Bordeaux hotel last week, we had an interview – more a casual chat – about her life, her Soviet Russian origins, her career, her future."
Nov 27th 2023
EXTRACT: "Schiff creates an atmosphere that we 'seniors' remember from the old days. No clowning, no bouncing on the bench, no outlandish clothing. He dresses in a black smock, black trousers, black shoes, topped off with a mane of pure white hair. His manners, his grateful bowing, are très Old Europe. ---- Schiff keeps control of his two hours onstage. He believes that dignity goes with the great music on the program and he scarcely moves as he plays."
Nov 19th 2023
EXTRACT: "  Boston-based guitarist, band leader and composer Phil Sargent is not about churning out endless CDs. In fact his ten-year recording gap, just ended, had his fans wondering where he was. But in New York and Boston, he tells me, he has never stopped working with other groups while composing and actively teaching young and mature talent. Although not always visible, he seems to be a confirmed workaholic, even practicing five hours a day. Yes, virtuosos also need to practice. ---- And now he is back. His new CD, 'Sons'....."
Nov 19th 2023
EXTRACT: "There is a renewed fascination with the memory-stimulating and healing powers of music. This resurgence can primarily be attributed to recent breakthroughs in neuroscientific research, which have substantiated music’s therapeutic properties such as emotional regulation and brain re-engagement. This has led to a growing integration of music therapy with conventional mental health treatments."
Sep 28th 2023
EXTRACT: "British psychotherapist, Michael Lawson, who has worked with several prodigies and former prodigies, calculates there may be as many as 200,000 piano prodigies active in the world today. “In a sense, they are not that rare,” he says in our interview below. Lawson is author of International Acclaim: The Steinfeld Legacy a new novel of the great pianists of the 19th and early 20th centuries in which the prodigy phenomenon is described in some detail."
Sep 17th 2023
EXTRACT: "Like so many stories about relationships told over an extended time, Past Lives uncovers the twists and turns, the “what ifs” and the manifold choices that lead to two people wondering whether they were meant to be together."
Sep 12th 2023
EXTRACT: " OrpheusPDX, a new company founded by Christopher Mattaliano in Portland, Oregon, concluded its second season with a brilliant and thought-provoking production of Nico Muhly’s “Dark Sisters,” at Lincoln Hall (August 24), exploring and exposing relationships in a polygamous sect and the courage of one sister-wife to leave it. With Stephen Karam’s libretto inspired by memoirs of women who have left the FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) and the 2008 raid of the YFZ Ranch by the FBI, “Dark Sisters” was delivered with spot-on directing by Kristine McIntyre and riveting performances by an exceptional cast."
Aug 30th 2023
EXTRACT: "Wagner’s operas are well known to be budget busters, and lack of funds is probably one of the main reasons that Seattle Opera has not mounted the Ring Cycle in since 2013. After Speight Jenkins retired from his post as General Director in 2014, the company delivered The Flying Dutchman (2016) and Tristan und Isolde (2022), the latter under its current General Director, Christina Scheppelmann. Now starting its 60th season, Seattle Opera celebrated with Das Rheingold, but that can be seen as a bittersweet moment since Scheppelmann is moving on to take over La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels at the end of the 2023-2024 season."
Jul 6th 2023
EXTRACT: " More than a hundred recordings have been made of his suite of 14 light pieces he called “The Carnival of the Animals”, and a range of his other works remain in the standard repertoire."
Jun 18th 2023
EXTRACT: "Conservatories and university music departments are filling up with fee-paying Asians as their parents pressure them to succeed in the West. Piano competitions around the world, now numbering about 800, are open to this new wave of Asian players. They are winning top prizes and they are building careers in Europe and the U.S.  Too often, according to some teachers, young Americans prefer computer games, the latest movies, rock bands, sports, or other less-demanding activities. The Asians are happy to fill the vacuum."
May 30th 2023
EXTRACT: "Three of Europe’s longtime leaders in contemporary jazz, now in their senior years, have just launched a CD of twelve  pieces that shows what a lifetime of sharing ideas in music can really produce." “New Stories” (Frémeaux et Associés) by the French trio of pianist and composer Hervé Sellin, bassist Jean-Paul Celea and drummer Daniel Humair is remarkable for improvisations so synchronized that the listener can feel the music come together from three angles in real time. The tracks were mostly composed or improvised by Sellin."
Mar 28th 2023
EXTRACT: "The young ex-dancer from Italy first burst upon the piano scene three years ago with 20 of her hand-picked Scarlatti sonatas. Now comes her second CD (Academy Classical Music) even more original and powerful, performing six of Baldassare Galuppi’s 18th century sonatas. Margherita Torretta‘s early training as a dancer gives her playing a swaying, graceful air while she maintains Alberti bass for control of the rhythm, momentum and especially continuity. Her ornamentation is boosted with some of her own improvisations, producing a fresher feel. It’s a magic combination."
Mar 24th 2023
EXTRACT: "Driven by a sense of mission and determination over several years, French pianist Lydia Jardon has completed a rare cycle of nine piano sonatas by Nikolai Miaskovsky. Her new CD  of numbers 6, 7 and 8 completes the task and offers a particularly rich sample of Russian experience in the worst of times. Miaskovsky may be only vaguely remembered today but he was a leader in the Soviet music world until the end of World War II. He left a wide range of engaging sonatas that have been brought back to life by Mme. Jardon on her own label AR Ré-Sé (AR 2022-1)."
Mar 16th 2023
EXTRACTS: "The most ambitious application yet of Steinway’s new digital piano, Spirio r, delivers stunning levels of sound and color in the new CD release of The Richter Scale, an hour-long keyboard drama written by well-known German composer and pianist Boris Bergmann." ----- "For the first time, the Spirio has been configured on a Steinway D grand to enable four-hand pieces to be played by two hands. The secondo score is first recorded in playback mode then combined with the live primo part. Liu is the live player who has to coordinate and fuse the two."---- "I took Bergmann’s advice and listened to the full composition from start to finish to best feel the gathering emotional turbulence. I was gripped by the melodies, harmonies, rhythms and percussive explosions along the way."