Fine Arts Department · Music Program
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The 8th Annual Piano Concerto Competition 2007 Juror Bios |
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José Ramos Santana is hailed by critics as "a big-scale pianist in the Romantic tradition." José Ramos Santana performs a wide and diverse repertoire and is an acknowledged Puerto Rican master of Spanish piano music. He has been described by music critic Milton Zapolski of the Washington Post as a "pianist whose seamless phrasing makes the music emerge as an unbroken line, a model of clarity and poise," while Allan Kozinn of The New York Times describes Mr. Ramos Santana's pianism as "powerful ...played with virtuosity and precision."
Mr. Ramos Santana has appeared as a guest soloist with such major orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, the 92nd Street Y Orchestra, the New York Virtuosi and the Puerto Rican Symphony, as well as with orchestras in New Mexico, Sioux City, Utah and Syracuse, among many others. Other performances include a tour with the Moscow Philharmonic Latino-American tour and soloist with the orchestra of L'Hermitage of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Some of the distinguished conductors under whom Mr. Ramos Santana has collaborated include: Krysztof Penderecki, Jerzy Semkow, Dmitri Kitaenko, Veronica Dudarova, Dennis Russell Davis and John Adams, and he has collaborated in chamber music recitals with the Deutschstreich Trio and pianist Vladimir Viardo. Mr. Ramos Santana was a Faculty member at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in 2004, and has toured Japan and China along with a much-lauded guest appearance with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall during the Sónidos de Las Americas Festival, marking this third Carnegie Hall appearance in one year. Last season Mr. Ramos Santana substituted for Alicia de Larrocha with the New Mexico Philharmonic. A top-prize winner of the Gina Bachauer International Competition in 1986, he has performed extensively in the United States, Latin America, Europe and the Far East. He has appeared in distinguished music festivals such as Spoleto, Caramoor, Festival Casals, Grant Park Festival, Festival De Musica Contemporanea, El Salvador, Festival ArteAntigua Guatemala, and the International Keyboard Festival and Institute at The Mannes College of Music in New York City. His performance of Roberto Sierra's 1999 Grammy-nominated concerto Glossas at the Grant Park Festival generated great public and critical enthusiasm. He has recently recorded it, along with concertos by Ravel and Saint-Saëns, with the Royal Philharmonic under Kenneth Klein for compact disc release. A frequent performer on radio and television, he has appeared in documentaries and on "CBS Sunday Morning." In 1989, he was selected from over one hundred pianists to participate in the prestigious Xerox Affiliate Artists Pianist Program. A native of Puerto Rico, Mr. Ramos Santana is a graduate of the Julliard School, where he obtained both a bachelor's and master's degree. His teachers included Adele Marcus, William Masselos, Sylvia Rabinof and Leon Fleisher. |
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Enrico Elisi has performed in Europe, America, and Asia. Recent engagements include recitals at the National University of the Arts (Taipei, Taiwan), the Red Star Theater (Hangzhou, China), the University of Texas (Austin), and the New Millennium International Piano Festival (Asturias, Spain).
Mr. Elisi has won a number of first prizes in national and international competitions. With his versatility he has garnered top awards at such diverse venues as the Venice competition - which brought him a performance at the famous "La Fenice" theatre - and the Oporto international competition - which led to a broadcast for Portuguese television. In subsequent years, he was featured as a recitalist in radio broadcasts, including WCLV Cleveland, UNC, KCNV Nevada Public Radio and Radio Montebeni, Italy. He has recently appeared as a soloist with the Florence Symphony, in Italy, the Bay Atlantic Symphony, in New Jersey, the Greeley Philharmonic, in Colorado, the Orchestra Classica of Oporto, in Portugal, and the Johns Hopkins Symphony Orchestra, in Maryland. An active chamber musician, Enrico Elisi has collaborated with many renowned artists including Baltimore Symphony concertmaster Jonathan Carney, and Chicago Symphony associate concertmaster David Taylor. He is currently a member of the Cerberus Trio. He has also performed at the Taos Chamber Music Festival and at the Ravinia Festival. His most recognized chamber collaboration has been with violinist Qian Zhou, a Long-Thibaud competition winner and Naxos recording artist, with whom he toured China. Mr. Elisi's repertoire extends from Bach to avant-garde music and includes less frequently performed works by composers such as Theodor Kirchner, Clara Wieck-Schumann, and Gioachino Rossini to cite a few. He enjoys working with composers and has premiered contemporary works dedicated to him at debut recitals in Toulouse, France, and Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. In fall 2006, Mr. Elisi will premiere a new composition at the 4th International Festival of Contemporary Music, in Lima, Peru. In Italy, the press lauded Mr. Elisi as "young in years but with a wonderfully rich musicality, a solidly grounded technique, a precise touch, and an enduring respect in his approach to the great masters." The prophetic words of this critic on Mr. Elisi's approach as a performer - a philosophy of humility and respect for the work and its composer - foresaw the development of a stylistic path that legendary pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher further nurtured. Mr. Fleisher recognized "[an] aware[ness] of those elements that distinguish the great artist from the pedestrian performer," in the young pianist and invited him to study at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University on a full scholarship, where he served as his mentor's assistant during the Masters and Doctoral degrees. Mr. Elisi also holds two Italian degrees from the Conservatory of Florence and the International Piano Academy of Imola, where he studied with Lazar Berman, Alexander Lonquich and Boris Petrushansky. Mr. Elisi is active as a teacher and was invited to join the faculty of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2004. He also holds a guest professorship at the China Academy of Arts, in Hangzhou (China) where he is also an artistic adviser. Recent master classes paired with performances in the United States include Eastern Michigan University, St. Olaf College, University of Oregon, and the State University of New York. Internationally Mr. Elisi has recently given master classes and performed at the University of British Columbia in Canada, the Accademia delle Marche in Italy, the Women's College of Arts in Taiwan, and the National Conservatory of Lima, Peru. In 2005 Mr. Elisi directed the Piano Institute of the Las Vegas Music Festival. He later founded the Green Valley Chamber Music Festival, of which he is artistic director. |
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Dr. Victor Hugo Alvarez, Venezuelan-Cuban pianist, began his musical training at age 13 at the National School of Arts in Havana, Cuba. After moving to his native country, he continued his studies under the guidance of American pianist Harriet Serr. He also joined the prestigious choral ensemble Schola Cantorum de Caracas and studied voice with Venezuelan soprano Fedora Alemán. Under the auspices of the National Cultural Council of Venezuela, Dr. Alvarez entered the Diploma Program at New York's Juilliard School to earn a Masters Degree from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music--CUNY.
In New York, he studied under the tutelage of pianists W. Masselos, Agustín Anievas, German Diez and Arkady Aronov and orchestra conductors Vincent LaSelva and Leonard Bernstein. By 1983, he had participated in the Concert Artist Guild Competition, New York and the Ferrucio Bussoni Piano Competition Italy where he received praise for his diversity of style and musicianship. In 1989, he was invited to be Assistant Professor of Music at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico and served for one year as Professor of Piano at the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico. While there, he was guest artist at the Mostly Mozart Festival with the Orquesta de Camara de Puerto Rico and served as adjudicator and Chairman of the Jury for the Jesus Maria Sanroma and Luis A. Ferré piano competitions. In 1991, he won a stipend award to participate at the Mozart Bicentennial at Lincoln Center, New York, and a year later he received a scholarship to participate at the Curso Internacional de Musica Española in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Upon completion of his contracts in Puerto Rico, Dr. Alvarez was awarded a scholarship at the University of Miami, where he graduated in 1995 with a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree. Professionally, Dr. Alvarez has been guest pianist in solo and orchestra appearances in Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Italy, Austria, Yugoslavia and the U.S. His vast teaching experience, which includes piano master classes and clinics in Latin America and the U.S., has produced many award-winning students. Dr. Alvarez taught and lectured at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference 2000 in Las Vegas and served on the jury for the Reno Piano Festival 2001-2004 and the Rochester Piano Festival 2002-2004. In addition to solo performances, he and his wife, Damaris Morales Alvarez, are a successful piano duo. They have performed with the National Symphonic Orchestra of Santo Domingo, the Nevada Chamber Symphony, the Florida Chamber Orchestra and the CSN Studio Orchestra. Dr. Alvarez joined the music faculty at CSN in 1997 and is currently a full professor and coordinator of the piano program for the Fine Arts Department. He and his wife head the annual CSN Piano Concerto Competition for Young Pianists and the CSN Chamber Music Festival. |
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For more information and entry forms contact: Dr. Victor Hugo Alvarez, piano coordinator, CSN Music Program Phone: (702) 651-4659 Email: victor.alvarez@csn.edu For a Printable Entry Form please visit: Printable 2008 Entry Form |
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