June 24, 2017 | 8 PM
AMICAFEST FACULTY CONCERT
Free entrance | Chiesa di San Leonardo, Grammichele
PROGRAM
Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868)
From Péchés de vieillesse, Book 12 (Quelques riens pour album):
1. Allegretto
5. Allegretto moderato
12. Allegretto moderato: Danse sibérienne
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Ungarian Rhapsody No. 13 in A minor, S. 244
Enrico Elisi, piano
Albéniz-Godowsky (1860-1909 / 1870-1938)
Tango, Op. 165 No. 2
Enrique Granados (1867-1916)
From Goyescas, Op. 11:
5. El amor y la muerte. Balada
Yoonie Han, piano
Muzio Clementi (1752-1832)
From Sonata in C Major, Op. 33 n. 3:
1. Allegro con spirito
Wagner-Liszt (1813-1883 / 1811-1886)
Liebestod from “Tristan und Isolde”, S. 447
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Prelude and Fugue in D-flat major, Op. 87 No. 15
Sofya Gulyak, piano
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49
Verdi-Liszt (1813-1901 / 1811-1886)
Paraphrase de concert sur Rigoletto, S. 434
Tian Ying, piano
PERFORMERS
ENRICO ELISI
Born and raised in Bologna, Italy, Enrico Elisi has been hailed for his mastery of elegance, refinement, and fantasy (La Nueva España). He regularly performs to acclaim throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia and his interpretations reveal “remarkable sensitivity, imagination and polish,” (Baltimore Sun).
In Italy he has appeared in historical settings such as La Fenice Theatre, Venice; Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Bibiena Theatre, Mantua; Pavarotti Opera House, Modena; Teatro Comunale and Sala Bossi, Bologna; Sant’Anna dei Lombardi Church, Naples, as well as Amalfi Cathedral and Museo diocesiano. He has also given recitals in various European countries including France, Germany, Slovak Republic and Spain. In Asia he performed in South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Recent engagements include recitals at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the New York Public Library, New York’s Morgan Library, Washington’s National Gallery of Art and the Italian Embassy, Lima, Peru, as well as several performances in Michigan, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee.
Elisi has appeared with the Florence Symphony, Italy; Orchestra Classica de Porto, Portugal; Bay Atlantic Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Williamsport Symphony, Pennsylvania Centre, Penn State Philharmonic, Penn’s Woods, UNLV Chamber and Johns Hopkins Symphony orchestras, USA. He also debuted as soloist/conductor with the Green Valley Festival Chamber Orchestra.
Among Elisi’s awards are top prizes in the Venice Competition (Italy) and the Oporto International Competition (Portugal). After winning nine first prizes in competitions in Italy and the US, and having garnered a dozen of other top prizes and awards, Elisi performed in Toulouse, France, and New York’s Weill Recital Hall as a La Gesse Fellow.
Via Classica, a German radio station, offered a two-hour broadcast of Elisi’s live recital in Hamburg followed by an interview (2008). Additional radio broadcasts include Montebeni Classica FM (Italy), WCLV Cleveland, UNC, KCNV Nevada Public Radio, and KGCS (USA). He also appeared in a TV broadcast for WPSU and Portuguese national TV.
An avid chamber musician, Elisi has performed at the Taos and Ravinia Festivals, and collaborated with principal players from the Baltimore, Chicago, and American Symphony Orchestras, as well as other well-known soloists. As a champion of new music, Elisi has commissioned works from composers of many nationalities and premiered Paul Chihara’s Two Images, at Weill Hall—a composition he subsequently recorded (Albany Records).
A frequent guest at music festivals, Elisi appears and performs regularly in such settings as Cincinnati Art of the Piano, Montecito, Lee University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Texas State University, and Chautauqua Institution (USA); Associazione Umbria classica and Amalfi Coast Festival (Italy); Ameri-China Foundation and Sichuan International Piano Festival (China).
Elisi recently joined the distinguished Faculty of Music of the University of Toronto as an associate professor, having previously taught at the Eastman School, the Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Nevada L.V. His current and former students include prizewinner in competitions; hold teaching posts; performed with orchestras (including the Rochester Philharmonic and Dallas Chamber Symphony); gave debut recitals from New York to Caracas, Paris and Seoul; garnered fellowships and scholarships at summer programs and have been accepted in artist diploma, MM, and DMA programs in prestigious institutions in the US and abroad.
Elisi also presented hundreds of master classes, both in conjunction with his performing engagements, at Northwestern University, Boston University, Cincinnati College-Conservatory, Temple University, the University of Michigan, USA; University of British Columbia, Canada; National Conservatory of Lima, Peru; Accademia delle Marche, Italy; Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan; China Conservatory, Shanghai Conservatory, China; Academy of Performing Arts, Hong Kong; Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, Singapore; Jakarta Conservatory, Indonesia; Seoul National, Yonsei, Hanyang, Ewha Woman’s, as well as most other major universities in Korea. Elisi also held a two-year guest professorship at the China Zhejiang Art School in Hangzhou, China and since 2013 he has been teaching an annual workshop in Seoul.
As an adjudicator, he has taken part in the Tremplin International and the Concours de Musique du Canada, the Iowa, the Peabody Yale Gordon, the Julia Crane International, the Fite Young Artist competitions, as well as the Nevada, Maryland, Virginia, and Texas State Music Teachers Associations’ competitions, as well as the Ameri-China Foundation Competition in Chengdu, China. In 2017 he will also adjudicate the Dallas International Piano Competition.
After studying at the Conservatory of Florence and the world-renowned Incontri col Maestro International Piano Academy of Imola, Elisi worked with Schnabel’s disciple Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. A year after graduating, at Fleisher’s invitation, he performed at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in a joint recital with his mentor. Among his teachers were pianist Lazar Berman and Boris Petrushansky, respectively pupils of Goldenweiser and Neuhaus, as well as Alexander Lonquich, Franco Scala and Giuseppe Fricelli.
Elisi’s latest CD, Mozart Piano Album, has been released in 2011.
Enrico Elisi invites his audience to interact with him on Twitter and “like” his page at www.facebook.com/enricoelisipiano.
YOONIE HAN
Praised for her “flowing tones, poetic phrasing and heavenly singing melodies” (Cincinnati Inquirer), and “musical imagination and feel for complex textures drew vivid images” (Washington Post), South Korean pianist Yoonie Han has won top prizes in distinguished international competitions and the highest accolades for her poetic performances in major concert halls in the U.S. and around the world.
In 2009, Ms. Han was honored with the Gawon Music Award as the “most brilliant pianist aged 17 to 31 of any nationality who possesses the most promising potential for global prominence.”
She is the first-prize winner of the Washington International Piano Competition, the Fulbright Concerto Competition, the World Piano Competition, the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition, Juilliard’s Gina Bachauer Piano Competition, Juilliard’s Frederich Nordmann Piano Competition, Music Teachers’ National Association, and has garnered major prizes at the Helsinki Maj Lind International Piano Competition, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Prize, Concorso Pianistico Ettore Pozzoli Internaziole, Valencia / Paterna, and Recontre International Piano Competitions. Following her 2001 grand-prize award in the Korea National Music Competition, the Korean Ministry of Culture named her its “most promising young artist.” She is the recipient of “Brava!” award given by the Italian Academy Foundation, as well as an award from London Keyboard Trust.
Having made her solo debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at Seoul Arts Center at age 13, Ms. Han has since performed with the Berlin Symphoniker, Buffalo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Banff Festival Orchestra, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milan, Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, New York Concert Artists Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Pre-College Symphony. She has played such celebrated venues as at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Frick Collections, Symphony Space, Boston University Tanglewood Festival, Harvard University, New York University, University of Florida, Embassy Series in Washington D.C., Rockefeller University’s Tri-Noon Series, Myra Hess Series, Embassy Series, Phillips Collections in the U.S., Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Bergamo Festival in Italy, Salle Cortot in France, Mozart Museum in Czech Republic, Kumho Arts Hall, and SeJong Performing Arts Center in Korea. In 2012-13, with supports from Fulbright Foundation, she has toured Steinway Halls in U.S., and Europe. Her performances have also been broadcast on WQXR- New York, NPR’s “Artist Showcases”, Chicago’s WFMT, and many other radio stations. Her debut album was released by Concert Artists Guild. Her second album, ‘Love and Longing’ on Steinway Records was “Album of the week” on WQXR and made the Top 21 on the Billboard Classical Chart. Her upcoming album, “Goyescas,” also on Steinway Records, will be released in 2017 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the composer, Enrique Granados.
Ms. Han received her Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music studying with Eleanor Sokoloff, her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School as a pupil of Robert McDonald, and her Doctorate at SUNY Stony Brook. Her mentors are Eduardus Halim, Philippe Entremont, and Anton Kuerti. She is currently a member of the Piano Performance and Chamber Music faculty at Bilkent University inTurkey. She has given lectures and masterclasses at Harvard University, New York University, Baruch College of City University of New York, Boston University, College of William & Mary, San Francisco Conservatory, Steinway Hall in New York and Washington D.C., California State University in Sacramento and Northridge, Juilliard School, Stony Brook University of the State University of New York, Fulbright College of the University of Arkansas, the University of North Dakota, and the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy.
As an avid Chamber Musician, Yoonie Han is the founder of the Gloriosa Piano Trio, with which it had a sold-out debut at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida. The Trio has taught and performed at New Jersey City University, the University of North Florida, Shorter University, and Georgia South Western University. She has collaborated with Canadian Brass, the Alexander String Quartet, the Attacca Quartet, the Aeolus Quartet, Anthony McGill, the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program, and the Kronberg Academy in Germany.
Ms. Han has also enjoyed special sponsorships from Roche Bobois, the Paris-based international retailer of fine furniture; Breguet, Switzerland’s leading maker of luxury timepieces, and Dolce & Gabbana, the Italian fashion house, which has supplied gowns for her concerts.
She has performed private concerts for the American Cancer Society, the Philippines Cancer Society, the Legal Aid Society, the American Friends of London Philharmonic, the Els Foundation, and New York Asian Week.
She is a Steinway Concert and Recording Artist, recording for the Steinway & Sons record label as well as for Steinway’s new Spirio player piano.
SOFYA GULYAK
In September 2009 Sofya Gulyak was awarded the 1st prize and the Princess Mary Gold Medal at the Sixteenth Leeds International Piano Competition – the first woman in the history of the competition to achieve this distinction. Since then she has appeared all over the world to great acclaim.
Her recital programmes are frequently reviewed in superlatives, and her concerto appearances with major orchestras are noted in glowing terms by the world’s music press. Sofya has been praised for her “tremendous precision and colouration…exquisite soft playing …with delicacy” and described as a “Rach star”(Washington Post).
Sofya Gulyak’s resume includes prizes from many prestigious piano competitions: she is a 1st prize winner of William Kapell International Piano Competition in the USA, Maj Lind Helsinki International Piano Competition, Tivoli Piano Competition in Copenhagen, Isang Yun International Piano Competition in South Korea, San Marino Piano Competition, winner of Busoni Competition in Italy and prize winner of Marguerite Long Piano Competition in Paris.
Recitals and concert appearances have been numerous, with Sofya Gulyak having performed all over the globe in such venues as La Scala Theatre and Sala Verdi in Milan, Herculessaal in Munich, Salle Cortot, Salle Gaveau and Salle Pleyel in Paris, Tokyo Opera City Hall, Osaka Symphony Hall, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Kennedy Center in Washington, Hungarian National Opera, Palais de la Musique in Strasbourg, Hong Kong City Hall, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Musashino Cultural Centre in Tokyo, Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Teatro Municipal adn Cidade des Artes in Rio de Janeiro, Auditorium Manzoni in Bologna, Aberdeen Music Hall, Salle Molière in Lyon, Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, King Theatre in Rabat, Kursaal in Bern, Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen and many others.
Sofya Gulyak appeared as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony, Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic, Rio de Janeiro Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,Budapest Philharmonic, Orchestra dell’ Arena di Verona, Orchestra Filarmonica di Bologna, Enescu Philharmonic, Stavanger Symphony, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Slovak Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Copenhagen Symphony, Ulster Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Shanghai Philharmonic, Oulu Philharmonic, Leipzig Philharmonic, Pensacola Symphony, Tatarstan Symphony, Philippines Philharmonic, Morocco Philharmonic.
She collaborated with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sakari Oramo, Mark Elder, David Hill, Donald Runnicle, Vasily Petrenko, Alexander Lazarev, Alan Buribayev, Eiving Gullberg, Jensen, Theodor Guschlauer, Rory McDonald, Tamami Nishimoto, Danail Rachev, Fabio Mastrangelo, Michele Mariotti, Fuat Mansurov, Alexander Sladkovsky, Mario Kosik, Jesus Medina,Tomomi Nishimoto, Istvan Denes, Peter Rubardt and others. The festivals in which Sofya Gulyak participated include Klavier Ruhr Festival, Chopin Festival in Duzniki-Zdroj, Festival du Sceaux, International Keyboard Festival in New York, International Strasbourg Festival, Busoni Festival, Harrogate Festival, Krakòv Piano Festival, New Zealand Piano Festival, Ravello Festival, Festival Chopin in Paris, Shanghai International Piano Festival and many others.
Sofya Gulyak’s recording of Russian piano music (Medtner, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev) was released on Champs Hill Records in 2013 and received a 5 stars review in Diapason magazine (“What a pleasure to hear the piano blossoming and projecting in the most vivid of ways when played by Sofya Gulyak. The singing sound alongside dazzling and powerful execution distinguishes an outstanding natural pianist”) and praising reviews in Gramophone (“This is a stunning debut album…”) and Guardian magazines (“Sofya Gulyak is a fearless pianist, never afraid to scale the most technically demanding heights of the repertoire and equally proud to wear her heart on her sleeve”). Her CD with Brahms music was released on Piano Classics in the spring of 2015 and got glowing reviews from American Record Guide (“The Handel Variations is among the top contenders on record. From the very first notes she takes charge and envelops us in a thrilling sequence of variations that will send goose bumps to susceptible listeners. Not only does she perform with arresting contrast and lovely, soft floating tone. She keeps you on the edge of your seat, as the music presses ever forward. Sometimes I was reminded of the young Argerich..”) and Fanfare magazine (” Her musicality is beautifully attuned to the spirit of Brahms…I must praise Kazan-born Russain pianist Sofya Gulyak, whose impressive reading places a stronger emphasis than Perahia’s in the continuity of the variations… She is a natural Brahmsian whatever his moods.”)
Sofya Gulyak is a native of Kazan (Russia) where she studied in a Special Music College under Nailya Khakimova, and then in Kazan State Conservatoire under Professor Elfiya Burnasheva. After that she continued her studies at the Piano Academy “Incontri coi Maestri” (Imola, Italy) with Boris Petrushansky and at the Royal College of Music in London with Vanessa Latarche.
Sofya Gulyak attended as a jury member the International Piano Competitions in Italy, Serbia, France, Greece, USA, and was invited to teach master classes in China, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Mexico, USA, and Germany. She is presently a professor of the piano at the Royal College of Muisc in London.
Her playing has been broadcast on radio and TV in Russia, Poland, France, Italy, Germany, USA, Finland, Denmark, Serbia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, and the United Kingdom (BBC 3 and BBC 4).
TIAN YING
Praised by the Boston Globe as “one of the finest pianists active in America,” Tian Ying, winner of many prestigious awards, including high honors at the Eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1989, has become well-known for his eloquent, poetic, and dramatically intense performances. Ying’s reputation for unusually searching and profound interpretations played at the highest level of virtuoso accomplishment has earned him a distinguished place among today’s most exciting, original and accomplished artists of his generation.
Tian Ying has appeared with numerous orchestras, such as the Rochester Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta at Orchestra Hall, and the symphonies of Atlanta, Fort Worth, Toledo, Columbus, Colorado, Hartford, Jacksonville, Spokane, Oakland, Madison, Wichita, Ann Arbor, Shanghai, and Hong Kong Philharmonic, among others. Solo recitals have taken Tian Ying across North America, Europe, and from Casablanca to Seoul; he has performed at Jordan Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Mondavi Center, Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Woodruff Arts Center, Shanghai Grand Opera Theater, Taipei National Theater, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, and among others.
During the 2003-04 season alone, Tian Ying performed 9 different concerti with orchestras across the U.S. The Boston Globe chose Tian Ying’s Bank of Boston Celebrity Series concert as one of the Top Ten in classical music events; The Miami Herald chose Tian Ying’s performance of Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 at the Opening Concert at the 2009 Festival Miami as the Top Five performances of the year. There have been many articles written about Tian Ying, including profiles in The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, and People Magazine.
Recent and upcoming engagements include recitals at Universities of Louisville, Wisconsin, Alabama, South Carolina, Coker College, Lee University, and festivals at Southeastern, Eastern Music, Pine Mountain and many others. International performances also brought Tian Ying abroad to Bangkok, Thailand for the 2011 inaugural concert of the “C-Clef” Concert Series.
Tian Ying is currently professor of Keyboard Performance at University of Miami’s Frost School of Music in Coral Gables, Florida, a position he has held since 2002. Tian Ying records for Centaur Records and DeMA Records.