Xavier Aymonod


Xavier Aymonod studied piano at Aix-en-Provence conservatory and obtained unanimously a gold medal. He was laureate of international piano competition for outstanding amateurs in Paris from 1998 to 2000, and won 15th international piano competition for outstanding amateurs of Ecole Polytechnique. He was also semi-finalist of international piano competition for...

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Dale Backus


Dale Backus is a Project Engineer/Manager for KBR in Colorado Springs, CO. He has worked for KBR (formerly Honeywell) for 26 years and enjoys the challenge of helping maintain and improve a United States Air Force (USAF) satellite communications system that has been in service for over 60 years. Dale...

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Ian Bothma


Ian started playing piano at the age of 8 and passed the UNISA Pianoforte Grade 8 exam with distinction in 2014. He is currently in the 4th and final year of his BMus Performance degree studying piano with Francois du Toit at the South African College of Music (UCT). He...

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Henri Delbeau


Dr. Henri Delbeau began his piano studies at 7. He soon after made his orchestral debut with a New York City area orchestra as a soloist, as well as winning several prizes in national and international competitions. Since then, he has had many solo, chamber and orchestral performances, both in...

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François Du Toit


Acknowledged as one of South Africa’s leading concert pianists and musicians, FRANÇOIS DU TOIT is an Associate Professor of Piano and Head of Practical Studies at the University of Cape Town. Receiving his early musical training from Merryl Preston, he went on to complete an Honours degree at the University...

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Mikhail Dubov


A promising piano student in his teens, Mikhail Dubov had eventually chosen a career in tech over being a concert pianist. He still kept performing and in 2014, won the 3d prize and the Press award at the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Paris. Since then, he has...

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Olivier Dupont


Olivier Dupont is a financial engineer. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in 2010, and then started working for the HSBC bank as a financial analyst. He also studied piano at the Tourcoing conservatory, where he received his first Prize in piano performance and Chamber music....

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Theresa Dwyer


Theresa began her piano studies under Prof Catherine Foxcroft at Rhodes University and then moved to Cape Town to continue studying under Prof Francois du Toit. She graduated with a BMus degree in 2015, majoring in piano performance, chamber music and music theory. Theresa is passionate about music education and...

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Matthias Fischer


Matthias Fischer from Germany got his first piano lessons from his parents. He won prizes at German youth-competitions for piano solo and duo. He studied piano in Munich but switched to medicine after one year (1994). Currently he works as a consultant at the university-clinics of psychiatry in Rostock, dealing...

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Philip Fowke


".........Claudio Arrau was to have been the soloist in tonight’s Promenade Concert. The virtuosity and acute musicianship of Philip Fowke, who took his place, repaired the omission in no uncertain terms." The DailyTelegraph Philip Fowke, known for his many BBC Promenade Concert appearances, numerous recordings and broad range of repertoire,...

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Johannes Gaechter


Johannes Gaechter - pianist and computer-scientist, living in Germany near Stuttgart, was born in Alsace (France). His father, Michel Gaechter is a pianist and teaches piano at the conservatory in Strasbourg and his mother is a piano-teacher as well. Johannes learned to play piano at the age of four -...

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Thierry Goldwaser


French pianist Thierry Goldwaser began music studies in Paris at age 10. In 2005, Thierry receives first prize at the International Competition for Outstanding Piano Amateurs in Paris. In 2010 he also gets a special prize at the International Piano Amateur Competition in Berlin. Thierry has made recital appearances in...

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Jay Gottlieb


The NEW YORK TIMES has hailed Jay Gottlieb's "adventurous brilliance" and described his playing as "beautifully colored and technically formidable". Pierre Boulez has said of him: "extremely interesting, he gives evidence of a sure originality and the best qualities in the domain of execution." Born in New York, Gottlieb studied...

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Kevin Kim


Kevin started playing piano at the age of 7, and moved to South Africa in 2004, when he was 9 years old. He received lessons from Sandra Kettle-Loubser during his school years in South Africa. He’s at the beginning stages of his music career and has enrolled to study a...

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Julien Kurtz


Julien Kurtz started learning piano at age five and got his initial training with Catherine Silie, a former assistant of French pianist Pierre Sancan. Later on, while pursuing his studies in Humanities and Social Sciences in “Classes préparatoires BL”, and then at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Cachan to become...

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Ethan Lawson


Ethan Lawson (17 years old) completed his homeschool matric certificate in March this year. He started playing cello at the age of 8 and is currently mentored by Rina Schutte and Peter Maartens. Ethan attended master classes with Anmarie van der Westhuizen and Saeun Thorsteinsdóttir and also ensemble master classes...

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Lana & Slava Levin


The Levins were born in Soviet Union and graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where they studied with Yakov Milstein, Lev Vlasenko and Michael Pletnev. The family came to the United States in November 1989 and have since resided in Overland Park, Kansas. From 1989 to 1995 the couple...

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Bernard Linde


Born into a family of musicians, Bernard began his piano studies before starting school, and during his school years excelled in UNISA piano examinations as well as local and regional eisteddfodau. He also participated in various national piano competitions such as the Hennie Joubert competition and the UNISA Grade 8...

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Julien Lombardo


Julien Lombardo started practicing the piano at the age of six. His meeting with the pianist and pedagogue Jean-Claude Oleon at the Conservatory of Bastia revealed soon his passion for classical music and the instrument. Julien then studied at the Conservatory of Marseille in the class of the internationally renowned...

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Patrick McDonald


Patrick McDonald instantly found a passion for the piano after his singing voice broke at the age of eleven. He was awarded a music scholarship to Diocesan College and then studied piano with Professor Lamar Crowson at UCT. Physical and emotional trauma got in the way of succeeding beyond this...

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Polina Rendak


Polina Rendak was born in the northern Russian city of Petrozavodsk. At home everyone played the piano, and Polina was no exception. She did not stop playing when she moved to Moscow to study economics at Higher School of Economics, and then - to Paris to study finance at HEC...

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Christophe Strassel


Christophe Strassel was born in Metz (France) in 1971. He started playing the violin at the age of 6 and got a « First Prize » in violin at the Conservatoire national de Région of Metz at the age of 12. He also studied the violin and chamber music at...

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Geoffroy Vauthier


As a French civil engineer, Geoffroy Vauthier, born in 1974, is in charge of the construction the Grand Paris Express transport project. He was before in charge of the design and construction of the Paris Philharmonia Hall. He has previously worked on the French Embassy in Berlin (Pariser Platz) and...

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June Wu


June Wu is Chief of Staff to the President of Google Marketing Solutions at Google and a pianist who has performed in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Moscow, and Paris. Recent highlights include solo recitals in Bayreuth, Germany, and Shanghai, a concerto performance with the Newark Symphony Orchestra in Delware,...

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Thomas Yu


Dr. Thomas Yu has redefined what it means to be an amateur pianist, owning a busy periodontal practice while performing with the BBC Orchestra of Wales, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. He has appeared as a guest soloist at Berliner Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Munich...

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