Meet the Judges
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Dr. Lisa Yui
Described as “a musical phenomenon” (Pianiste magazine), Canadian pianist and Yamaha Artist Lisa Yui enjoys a multifaceted musical career as performer, lecturer, teacher, author, and musical director. Since making her concerto debut at the age of seven, Lisa Yui has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia as a recitalist and soloist with orchestra. She is the top prizewinner of the Senigallia International Piano Competition in Italy, the Super Classics International Auditions in Tokyo, and has twice been the recipient of a Canada Council Scholarship.
Lisa Yui has performed as soloist with prominent orchestras such as the Tokyo
Symphony, Polish National Radio, Toronto Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, and the Krakow State Philharmonic. Her performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York), CBC (Canadian In Broadcast Corporation), CJRT-FM (Ontario, Canada), and STV (Sapporo, Japan). She has performed in Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum in Budapest, among other major concert venues around the world.
2005 Ms. Yui was chosen from over 1000 applicants as one of the few Canadian artists to participate in the World Exposition in Aichi, Japan, where she performed and hosted in English, Japanese, and French. She performed a program of works by Liszt, Ravel, and Canadian composers Francois Morel and Colin McPhee. She has been invited twice to be the featured guest artist on the 101 Days Around the World Tour of the Japanese cruise ship Nipponmaru.
As a lecturer and performer, Ms. Yui originated The Lives of the Piano, Manhattan School of Music’s first piano lecture/concert series, now in its 21st season. She has been invited as a guest lecturer to many distinguished universities and conservatories around the world. She has performed and given masterclasses in various music conferences, including the MTNA National Conference and NAMM.
Lisa Yui has worked extensively with the Yamaha Disklavier, having given numerous performances, including a solo recital of music for four hands, two pianos, and piano and orchestra, as well as long-distance “remote lessons.” A short film on her work with the Disklavier, sponsored by Cisco, was filmed in 2010.
Lisa Yui’s CD of the music of Carl Maria von Weber and Jan Ladislav Dussek was awarded the highest rating, the “Pianiste Maestro,” by the French music magazine, Pianiste. Her DVD/Blu-ray recording of four Beethoven Sonatas with commentary was released on the Aurora Classics label, garnering rave reviews.
Lisa Yui’s insightful writing on music has appeared in numerous publications such as Clavier Companion, EPTA Journal, and Listen, on a variety of topics including the life and influence of the virtuosic 19th-century pianist Marie Pleyel, on whom Dr. Yui wrote her doctoral thesis.
Lisa Yui’s principal teachers and mentors include Giovanni Valentini, Byron Janis, Marc Silverman, Oxana Yablonskaya, Edna Golandsky, David Dubal, Jean-Paul Sevilla, and Leonid Hambro. She received her bachelor’s degree at the Juilliard School, where she
received the Humanities Award, and her master’s and doctor of musical arts degrees at Manhattan School of Music, which awarded her both the Roy M. Rubinstein Award, given to a graduate with exceptional promise in piano, and the Helen Cohn Award as outstanding doctoral graduate.
In addition to producing The Lives of the Piano series at Manhattan School of Music, Lisa Yui teaches graduate piano literature, keyboard skills, Historical Recordings of Great Pianists, and The 32 Beethoven Sonatas at Manhattan School of Music, where she is also Associate Dean of Assessment and Academic Programs. She is the recipient of the School’s 2018 President's Medal for Distinguished Service.
Previously, Lisa Yui has been on the piano faculty at John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, served as department chair of the Music Advancement Program at the Juilliard School, and taught a course on the social history of the piano at Marymount Manhattan College. She has frequently served as a member of competition juries, including the National Finals of the Stepping Stone of the Canadian Music
Competition and the Canadian Chopin Competition.
Dr. Magdalena Baczewska
Hailed by the press as “One of the most innovative, even radical classical keyboardists in the U.S.” and described as “Columbia University professor by day, musical sorceress by night,” pianist and harpsichordist Magdalena Baczewska [ba-CHEV-ska] enjoys a multifaceted career as a concert artist, educator, and speaker. Having made her solo debut with the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra at age 12 in her native Poland, Baczewska performed internationally with the world’s leading orchestras: Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, China National Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, among others. She has been praised for her "magnificent, unique voice that stylistically never falters" (Classical Music Guide), “world-class playing” by the American Record Guide, and hailed as “eloquent and technically flawless” by The Washington Post.
The first pianist to play J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations twice in one evening--first on the harpsichord, then on piano--since Rosalyn Tureck’s 1977 double-bill Carnegie Hall performance, Baczewska has toured Europe and the U.S with double performances of the Variations, having also recorded them along with Strauss’ Sonata Op. 5 for her critically-acclaimed album A Tribute to Glenn Gould.
Baczewska collaborates extensively with the Oscar and Grammy Award-winning composer Tan Dun, performing his music internationally. Performance highlights include a debut at the Tanglewood Music Festival, soloist appearances with the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, China National Symphony, and a Canadian premiere of Tan Dun's Piano Concerto with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. At the invitation of the composer, Baczewska also recorded his chamber music and the Sonata for Piano Solo in Shanghai’s famous Water Heavens Hall.
Baczewska is Professor of Music and Director of the Music Performance Program at Columbia University. She is a recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Bogdan Zdrojewski, for promoting Polish culture abroad.
The Palm Beach Arts Paper writes "Baczewska enlightens.” As an avid educator, she has given master classes and lectures around the world: Beijing Central Conservatory, New York University, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Manhattan School of Music, International Keyboard Institute, to name a few. As a Yamaha Artist, Baczewska has used the technology pioneered by Yamaha Disklavier, to give remote master classes at the Microsoft School of the Future, Elon University, and Hartt School of Music. In her spare time she volunteers through Selfhelp, Inc., teaching music appreciation online at the Virtual Senior Center. During the COVID-19 pandemic Baczewska produced a video series Bach@Home, available on YouTube, containing piano and harpsichord performances and analysis of works by J.S. Bach, and other composers. While in lockdown she partnered with the Grand Piano Series in Florida, and the Chopin Society of Atlanta, designing and delivering an interactive series of online music appreciation lectures and discussions for seniors, and separately for small children, under the title "The Enjoyment of Music." Her musical mission, in addition to sharing the timeless beauty of the music itself, is to educate her audiences in each performance, by giving them tools to enjoy music more profoundly.
Baczewska’s discography encompasses a variety of styles, ranging from classical to hip-hop. Together with composer/DJ Gene Pritsker, Baczewska released an album for the harpsichord and samplestra Hip-Hopsichord. She also collaborated with Pritsker on a remix of Music for Dreams - a crossover between classical style and chillhop. Baczewska has also collaborated with the BlueSleep medical team specialized in research and treatment of sleep disorders. Among her releases are three best-selling albums Music for Dreams, and music for MetroNaps’ EnergyPod®, popularized by Google.
Baczewska holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Mannes College The New School for Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music. Her doctoral dissertation, In Search of Bach’s Cantabile: The Role and Aspects of Oratory and Singing in Keyboard Interpretation was published by Lambert Academic Publishing.
For more information and discography, visit MagdalenaNYC.com.
Dr. Ivona Kaminska
Polish-born pianist, Dr. Ivona Kaminska Bowlby, is among the most versatile artists and pedagogues of the Pacific Northwest. Aside from an engaging career as an instructor for gifted students, Dr. Kaminska also serves as president of the Seattle International Piano Festival and Competition, and the artistic director and co-founder of the Chopin Academy of Music in Washington State. Together with her husband, Dr. Christopher Bowlby, she has developed one of the most original international piano competitions of today, the “SIPC”, which was recognized by the Wall Street Journal in 2010 as one of the world’s most inclusive of such events in today’s music scene.
Dr. Kaminska maintains a busy concert schedule as a soloist and chamber musician, having performed in such venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, and Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Atherton Recital Hall in Hawaii, the Mozarteum Festival in Austria, the Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Castello Visconteo Sforzesco di Galiate, Italy, Salle Cortot, Paris, and many others. Sought-after as an adjudicator, she has judged several MTNA competitions and local festivals, as well as the 2014 and 2016 Thalberg International Piano Competition in Naples, Italy. As an established educator and lecturer, she presents often for MTNA chapters. Her lecture on the “Secrets of Winning a Piano Competition” was featured at the Music Teachers’ National Conference in New York City in 2012. The lecture recital on a the topic of Polish national dance music of Chopin has been featured in many summer programs and MTNA regional conferences.
Dr. Kaminska regularly lectures on performance issues of the music by Frederic Chopin and J. S. Bach, and was interviewed several times by the Polish music journal “Twoja Muza”. Dr. Kaminska has been invited throughout her career to teach and perform in numerous summer master classes and festivals, such as the Ashland International Piano Institute in Oregon, Tsar’s Village International Master Courses in St. Petersburg, Russia, Puget Sound Chamber Music Workshop and Cornish College Summer Institute, Seattle, and Barcelona Piano Academy, Spain.
Dr. Kaminska’s versatile musical background stems from her international and extensive studies. She has been awarded post-graduate degrees and diplomas from prestigious institutions of three different countries: Masters of Arts and Post-Graduate Performance Diploma from the Frederic Chopin University of Music, Warsaw, Poland (1992 and 1993), Masters of Music from University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1998), and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada (2003). During her studies in both North America and Europe, she received numerous scholarships and fellowships, and was a prize winner of several concerto competitions in the USA as well as a prize winner of the Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in 1993 in Warsaw.
She received many other prestigious national awards, including the Batory Foundation Scholarship, Poland, among others. She has participated in the Salzburg Music Akademie, Austria, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Germany, as well as the music program in Duszniki-Zdroj, Poland. Some of her most influential teachers were Tatiana Shebanova, Andrzej Stefanski, Dr. James Cook, Dr. Mark Clinton, Dr. Henri-Paul Sicsic, Marek Jabłonski, and Boris Bloch.
Aside from her in-depth studies of the music by Chopin and Schumann, Dr. Kaminska devoted a large part of her North-American studies to the issues of Baroque Performance Practice on organ, harpsichord, and its applications to the modern piano. During her studies of J.S. Bach’s Performance Practice issues, she worked with such eminent Bach-scholars in the discipline as Dr. George Ritchie, Quentin Faulkner, Igor Kipnis, and Gregory Butler.
Currently, Dr. Kaminska shares her passion and knowledge with many talented students of the Chopin Academy of Music, in Issaquah, Washington and promotes the art of piano playing as an Artistic Director of the Seattle International Piano Festival.
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Dr Ivona Kaminska Bowlby (DMA, MM, MA, Post-Grad Performance Diploma.)
Director: Chopin Academy of Music, Issaquah
President: Seattle International Piano Festival and Competition
Dr. Kaminska maintains a busy concert schedule as a soloist and chamber musician, having performed in such venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, and Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Atherton Recital Hall in Hawaii, the Mozarteum Festival in Austria, the Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Castello Visconteo Sforzesco di Galiate, Italy, Salle Cortot, Paris, and many others. Sought-after as an adjudicator, she has judged several MTNA competitions and local festivals, as well as the 2014 and 2016 Thalberg International Piano Competition in Naples, Italy. As an established educator and lecturer, she presents often for MTNA chapters. Her lecture on the “Secrets of Winning a Piano Competition” was featured at the Music Teachers’ National Conference in New York City in 2012. The lecture recital on a the topic of Polish national dance music of Chopin has been featured in many summer programs and MTNA regional conferences.
Dr. Kaminska regularly lectures on performance issues of the music by Frederic Chopin and J. S. Bach, and was interviewed several times by the Polish music journal “Twoja Muza”. Dr. Kaminska has been invited throughout her career to teach and perform in numerous summer master classes and festivals, such as the Ashland International Piano Institute in Oregon, Tsar’s Village International Master Courses in St. Petersburg, Russia, Puget Sound Chamber Music Workshop and Cornish College Summer Institute, Seattle, and Barcelona Piano Academy, Spain.
Dr. Kaminska’s versatile musical background stems from her international and extensive studies. She has been awarded post-graduate degrees and diplomas from prestigious institutions of three different countries: Masters of Arts and Post-Graduate Performance Diploma from the Frederic Chopin University of Music, Warsaw, Poland (1992 and 1993), Masters of Music from University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1998), and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada (2003). During her studies in both North America and Europe, she received numerous scholarships and fellowships, and was a prize winner of several concerto competitions in the USA as well as a prize winner of the Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in 1993 in Warsaw.
She received many other prestigious national awards, including the Batory Foundation Scholarship, Poland, among others. She has participated in the Salzburg Music Akademie, Austria, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Germany, as well as the music program in Duszniki-Zdroj, Poland. Some of her most influential teachers were Tatiana Shebanova, Andrzej Stefanski, Dr. James Cook, Dr. Mark Clinton, Dr. Henri-Paul Sicsic, Marek Jabłonski, and Boris Bloch.
Aside from her in-depth studies of the music by Chopin and Schumann, Dr. Kaminska devoted a large part of her North-American studies to the issues of Baroque Performance Practice on organ, harpsichord, and its applications to the modern piano. During her studies of J.S. Bach’s Performance Practice issues, she worked with such eminent Bach-scholars in the discipline as Dr. George Ritchie, Quentin Faulkner, Igor Kipnis, and Gregory Butler.
Currently, Dr. Kaminska shares her passion and knowledge with many talented students of the Chopin Academy of Music, in Issaquah, Washington and promotes the art of piano playing as an Artistic Director of the Seattle International Piano Festival.
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Dr Ivona Kaminska Bowlby (DMA, MM, MA, Post-Grad Performance Diploma.)
Director: Chopin Academy of Music, Issaquah
President: Seattle International Piano Festival and Competition
Dr. Stephen Pierce
South African-born pianist Stephen Pierce enjoys a multi-faceted career as a respected teacher, presenter, performer, adjudicator and scholar. At the USC Thornton School of Music, he oversees the secondary piano and keyboard pedagogy programs and teaches applied piano, courses in piano pedagogy and keyboard literature. Pierce also teaches piano privately in Pasadena, CA, and at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan each summer. His students range in age from 8 to adult and have won awards for their playing at the local, state and national levels.
Pierce holds degrees in Piano Performance from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM) and the University of Pretoria, South Africa, as well as two licentiates of music from the University of South Africa (UNISA). At the University of Pretoria, he graduated as the top student in the Faculty of Humanities and was honored with the Vice-Chancellor and Principal’s medal for academic excellence. At CCM, he won the award for teaching excellence for graduate teaching assistants. Pierce’s mentors include Joseph Stanford, Frank Weinstock and Michelle Conda.
Pierce has performed in the USA, Canada, Czech Republic and throughout South Africa with artists such as Carol Wincenc and the flutists of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. During his studies in Cincinnati, Pierce performed with the CCM Philharmonia as a result of winning the CCM Piano Concerto Competition. In South Africa, he has performed with orchestras such as the Natal Philharmonic, the National Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. He has won prizes and awards for his playing including second prize and two special prizes at the UNISA National Piano Competition in South Africa. He has also received awards for his teaching including the D.J. Rhoode Overseas Scholarship for Piano Pedagogy from the University of South Africa (UNISA). In addition, his performances have been broadcast on South African television and radio.
A regular speaker and clinician throughout the US and South Africa, Pierce has presented masterclasses, workshops and lectures in South Africa and the United States. He has also given innumerable pedagogical sessions at institutions throughout the country, at conferences such as the MTNA National Conference and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP), as well as for arts entities such as The Gilmore. His articles, reviews and other written contributions have appeared in journals such as American Music Teacher, Piano Pedagogy Forum, The California Music Teacher, and The South African Music Teacher, as well on the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) Online Teacher Portal and the Yamaha Educator Suite. At present, Pierce serves as editor of CAPMT Connect, the official journal of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT).
Pierce is also a proud member of the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) College of Examiners, an RCM Certified Teacher and a RCM Academic Ambassador. At USC, he helped co-found the Musician’s Wellness committee, is the co-faculty advisor for the MTNA USC Collegiate Chapter and previously served as the Pi Kappa Lambda Eta Chapter Secretary for eight years. At the state level, Pierce is the current Collegiate Chapter State Chair and District 9 Director for the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAMPT), while formerly serving as the CAPMT Vice President for Conferences. At the national level, Pierce has been a member of the planning committees for both the MTNA National Conference and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP), while previously serving on the prestigious MTNA e-Journal Editorial Committee, the MTNA Teacher Enrichment Grant Committee.
Pierce holds degrees in Piano Performance from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM) and the University of Pretoria, South Africa, as well as two licentiates of music from the University of South Africa (UNISA). At the University of Pretoria, he graduated as the top student in the Faculty of Humanities and was honored with the Vice-Chancellor and Principal’s medal for academic excellence. At CCM, he won the award for teaching excellence for graduate teaching assistants. Pierce’s mentors include Joseph Stanford, Frank Weinstock and Michelle Conda.
Pierce has performed in the USA, Canada, Czech Republic and throughout South Africa with artists such as Carol Wincenc and the flutists of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. During his studies in Cincinnati, Pierce performed with the CCM Philharmonia as a result of winning the CCM Piano Concerto Competition. In South Africa, he has performed with orchestras such as the Natal Philharmonic, the National Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. He has won prizes and awards for his playing including second prize and two special prizes at the UNISA National Piano Competition in South Africa. He has also received awards for his teaching including the D.J. Rhoode Overseas Scholarship for Piano Pedagogy from the University of South Africa (UNISA). In addition, his performances have been broadcast on South African television and radio.
A regular speaker and clinician throughout the US and South Africa, Pierce has presented masterclasses, workshops and lectures in South Africa and the United States. He has also given innumerable pedagogical sessions at institutions throughout the country, at conferences such as the MTNA National Conference and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP), as well as for arts entities such as The Gilmore. His articles, reviews and other written contributions have appeared in journals such as American Music Teacher, Piano Pedagogy Forum, The California Music Teacher, and The South African Music Teacher, as well on the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) Online Teacher Portal and the Yamaha Educator Suite. At present, Pierce serves as editor of CAPMT Connect, the official journal of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT).
Pierce is also a proud member of the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) College of Examiners, an RCM Certified Teacher and a RCM Academic Ambassador. At USC, he helped co-found the Musician’s Wellness committee, is the co-faculty advisor for the MTNA USC Collegiate Chapter and previously served as the Pi Kappa Lambda Eta Chapter Secretary for eight years. At the state level, Pierce is the current Collegiate Chapter State Chair and District 9 Director for the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAMPT), while formerly serving as the CAPMT Vice President for Conferences. At the national level, Pierce has been a member of the planning committees for both the MTNA National Conference and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP), while previously serving on the prestigious MTNA e-Journal Editorial Committee, the MTNA Teacher Enrichment Grant Committee.