Piano Faculty
** before faculty name in bios below denotes EMF alumni

** JAMES GILES regularly performs to acclaim in important musical centers in America, Europe, and Asia. Recent seasons have included a tour of several Chinese cities, performances in Italy and Bosnia, and a recital at Warsaw’s Chopin Academy of Music. During a trip to Russia in 2007, he appeared with St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in historic Glinka Hall and played a recital of new American music. 2009-2010 will see the release of a new CD featuring the music of Schubert as well as appearances in England and France.

In an eclectic repertoire encompassing the solo and chamber music literatures, Giles is equally at home in the standard repertoire as in the music of our time. He has commissioned and premiered works by William Bolcom, C. Curtis-Smith, Stephen Hough, Lowell Liebermann, Ned Rorem, Augusta Read Thomas, Earl Wild, and James Wintle.  Most of these new works are featured on Giles’ Albany Records release entitled American Virtuoso.

His Paris recital at the Salle Cortot in 2004 was hailed as “a true revelation, due equally to the pianist’s artistry as to his choice of program.” After a recital at the Sibelius Academy, the critic for Helsinki’s main newspaper wrote that “Giles is a technically polished, elegant pianist.” And a London critic called his 2003 Wigmore Hall recital  “one of the most sheerly inspired piano recitals I can remember hearing for some time” and added that “with a riveting intelligence given to everything he played, it was the kind of recital you never really forget.”

He has performed with New York’s Jupiter Symphony, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra in Queen Elizabeth Hall; the Kharkiv Philharmonic in Ukraine; and with the Opera Orchestra of New York in Alice Tully Hall. After his Tully Hall solo recital debut, critic Harris Goldsmith wrote: “Giles has a truly distinctive interpretive persona. This was beautiful pianism – direct and unmannered.” Other tours have included concerts in Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Series, Salt Lake City’s Assembly Hall Concert Series, and in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Musikhalle in Hamburg, and the Purcell Room at London’s South Bank Centre. He has given live recitals over the public radio stations of New York, Boston, Chicago, and Indianapolis. His compact disc of works by Schumann and Prokofiev is available on England’s Master Musicians label. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with members of the National and Chicago symphonies and with members of the Pacifica, Cassatt, Chicago, Ying, Chester, St. Lawrence, Essex, Lincoln, and Miami quartets, as well as singers Aprile Millo and Anthony Dean Griffey. 

A native of North Carolina, Dr. Giles studied with Byron Janis at the Manhattan School of Music, Jerome Lowenthal at The Juilliard School, Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music, and Robert Shannon at Oberlin College.

The pianist received early career assistance from the Clarisse B. Kampel Foundation and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Florence with the legendary pianist Lazar Berman. He was the recipient of a fellowship grant and the $25,000 Christel Award from the American Pianists Association and now serves on the APA’s National Advisory Board. He won first prizes at the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, and the Music Teachers National Association Competition. As a student he was awarded the prestigious William Petschek Scholarship at The Juilliard School and the Rudolf Serkin Award for outstanding graduate at the Oberlin College Conservatory. He has written for Piano and Keyboard magazine and has presented lecture-recitals at the national conventions of the Music Teachers National Association, the College Music Society, and Pi Kappa Lambda. He has served on the juries of several international piano competitions, including the Cleveland International Piano Competition (screening jury), New Orleans International Piano Competition, the MTNA National Competitions, and the Oberlin International Piano Competition.  He has also been conference artist for the music teachers associations of Oklahoma, Arizona, and Nevada.

Dr. Giles is on the piano faculty at Northwestern University. He frequently gives master classes and lectures at universities nationwide and has taught during the summers at Brevard, ARIA, and the Schlern Festival in Italy. He has been a guest professor at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and at Indiana University, where he has twice taught the students of Menahem Pressler. He has formerly served on the faculties of the University of North Texas and the Interlochen Arts Academy. He is the chair of the piano department at the Eastern Music Festival during the summers and returns for his 15th season in 2010. More information may be found at www.jamesgiles.net.

YOSHIKAZU NAGAI has performed as soloist and chamber musician internationally in such venues as the Shanghai Concert Hall in China, National Recital Hall in Taiwan, Carnegie Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York, Kennedy Center's Terrace Theatre, Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall in Canada, and Seattle's Benaroya Hall. His extensive recital schedules in recent seasons have included performances in Taipei, Hong Kong, Italy, San Francisco, San Antonio, New York, Seattle, New Orleans, and Washington, DC, among others. Mr. Nagai has also appeared at the Aspen Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Spoleto Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, the Phillips Collection, and in collaboration with Robert Mann, Anthony Marwood, and Yi-Bing Chu. In addition, he is a frequent soloist with orchestras throughout the U.S., and his performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio's "Performance Today,” RAI (Italian National TV), Hong Kong National Radio, KUHF-Houston, KBYU-Salt Lake City, WCLV-Cleveland, and worldwide over the internet. Mr. Nagai won first prize at the 2002 Washington International Piano Competition and has also won major prizes at the San Antonio International Piano Competition, Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, New Orleans International Piano Competition, and the Concert Artists Guild International Music Competition (inaugural SVCCS performance prize). Mr. Nagai is currently professor of piano and chamber music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he teaches both piano and chamber music. He is also on the piano faculty at the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy at Central Conservatory in China, as well as a former faculty member at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where he taught piano, chamber music, and piano literature. Recognized by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) for excellence in teaching, he frequently gives master classes and serves as juror throughout the United States and Asia. Current and former students of Mr. Nagai are top prizewinners of national and international competitions including the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, Music Teachers National Association Piano Competition, Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, Vladimir Viardo International Piano Competition, Lennox International Young Artists Piano Competition, and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Mr. Nagai studied with John Perry at Rice University and received his Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was awarded the Malvina Podis Prize in Piano upon graduation with Paul Schenly. Other teachers include Sergei Babayan and Duane Hulbert. Mr. Nagai returns for his eighth season at EMF. www.yoshinagai.com

GIDEON RUBIN has a multi-faceted career that encompasses performing as a soloist, as a chamber musician, as an orchestral keyboardist, and as a composer. As soloist, he has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston’s Symphony Hall, with the Boston Classical Orchestra, with the Mannes Orchestra, several times with the New World Symphony (once conducting from the keyboard), with the New England Conservatory Youth Orchestra on a tour of Israel, with the Longy School Orchestra, and at the Eastern Music Festival where he teaches and performs in the Summers.  His performance as soloist in John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music (with the composer conducting) in San Francisco’s Davies Hall in 2000 was featured on the “Jim Lehrer News Hour”.   He has also performed on live radio broadcasts in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and in Israel.

He has performed solo and chamber music recitals throughout the United States and in Europe.  During the 2001-2002 season, he was the pianist for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet, performing concerts in Virginia and on tour in Sicily, Italy.  From 1997-2000 he was the pianist/keyboardist for the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, performing in Miami, New York’s Alice Tully Hall, and major venues in Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Vienna. In recent seasons, he has performed chamber music with Julia Fischer, David Jolley, Lynn Harrell, Corey Cerovsek, Timothy Fain, and William De Rosa.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from Harvard University, a Master of Music from Boston University’s School of the Arts, and a doctorate from the University of Southern California. He also spent time at Mannes School of Music as a visiting scholar.  His main teachers have been Edward Aldwell, Russell Sherman, Benjamin Pasternack, and Norman Krieger.  He has served as visiting professor at Pomona College and now serves as music director and as piano faculty member at the Los Angeles Music and Art School where he won the award for “Teacher of the Year” in 2005 and 2008. 

He is the founder and director of the LAPCA Youth Orchestra, which was chosen in 2009 to be a Los Angeles Philharmonic Youth Orchestra Partner.  This affiliation makes possible regular coachings from members of the LA Philharmonic, which will culminate in 2011 with a 40-minute concert in Walt Disney Concert Hall (home of the LA Phil). In 2009 the orchestra performed at the Hollywood Bowl for Gustavo Dudamel as part of the celebration welcoming him as the new director of the LA Phil.

Dr. Rubin is an active supporter of new music.  As a pianist, he has performed with new music ensembles in New York, Los Angeles, Fresno, at Harvard University, at Boston University, and with the New World Symphony.  He has performed many new works in premieres, including some of his own compositions.  His own works include compositions for voice, cello, chamber orchestra, piano, and electronic media.  He has recorded a solo CD of 20th century American music (available on cdbaby.com), and a CD of orchestral music by Steven Mackey on the RCA-BMG label as a member of the New World Symphony.  His recording of piano quartets of Dvořák and Martinu with the Garth Newel Piano Quartet won “Best Classical Album of 2004” in the Just Plain Folks Music Awards.

In recent seasons, Dr. Rubin has performed at the American Church and American Cathedral in Paris, Symphony Space in New York City, the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, at the Myra Hess Foundation Concerts in Chicago, and on the Los Angeles County Museum’s “Sundays Live” Radio Broadcast Series.  In the summer of 2010, in addition to being a regular faculty member at the Eastern Music Festival, he will be a faculty member of the Beverly Hills Music Festival and a visiting artist at the Garth Newel Music Center in Virginia. www.gideon-rubin.com

2010 Pianists in Residence

MARIAN HAHN has been a member of the faculty at the Peabody Conservatory since 1987 and currently holds the Singapore Conservatory of Music chair in piano. During the fall semester of 2007, she was a faculty member in residence at Peabody’s sister conservatory, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore. As a liaison with Yong Siew Toh, she has performed and given master classes in Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, and Thailand. She has also given master classes throughout the United States and has frequently served as a competition juror. Hahn’s career as a performer, evenly balanced between solo and chamber music appearances, has taken her to 48 states. Her solo career was advanced by prizes in the International Leventritt Competition and in the Concert Artists Guild auditions, which led to her New York debut and “Encore” recitals. She was also a top prizewinner in the University of Maryland and Kosciuzko competitions and has appeared in recital at Merkin Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Among the orchestras with which she has given solo performances are the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Pops, and the Jacksonville Symphony (five times). Hahn has also appeared in prestigious recital series in Washington, DC, Boston, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Critically acclaimed European tours have taken her to England, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium, and Germany.  As a chamber musician, Hahn has participated in the Marlboro, Sedona, Grand Canyon, and Aria festivals and was a long-time faculty artist at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Maine. A founding member of the Amabile Piano Quartet, recording on the Summit label, she also toured extensively as a member of the Amadeus Trio, recording on the Kleos label. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College with a major in Comparative Religion, Hahn received her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. Her teachers have included John Perry, Leon Fleisher, and Benjamin Kaplan.

Pianist REBECCA PENNEYS leads a distinguished career as a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, educator, and adjudicator. For five decades her passionate and insightful performances have held audiences spellbound. Hailed as a pianist of prodigious talent, she possesses a daredevil technique, the sort of charismatic stage presence that demands attention, and an interpretive gift that make her performances revelatory. Ms. Penneys concertizes in the United States, East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Europe, Israel, and Canada.  She is a popular guest artist, keynote speaker, and teacher at national and international music conventions. Her artistry and deeply poetic insight have won her a large and loyal following. In 2002, she officially became an exclusive Steinway Artist and has performed many concerts for Steinway & Sons since then. Ms. Penneys’ playing leaves an indelible impression. Her ten current CDs on Fleur De Son Classics and Centaur Records are eloquent testimonies of a major artist of intelligence, originality, massive technique, and bravura temperament. Born in Los Angeles, Ms. Penneys made her recital debut at the age of nine and performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra when she was eleven. At seventeen, after winning many young artist competitions in the USA, she was awarded the unprecedented Special Critics' Prize at the Seventh International Chopin Piano Competition (Poland). Critics there described her as a genius of the piano.  Subsequently, she won the Most Outstanding Musician Prize at the Fifth Vianna da Motta International Piano Competition (Portugal) and was top prizewinner in the Santander Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition (Spain). In 1974, she founded the acclaimed New Arts Trio, which won the prestigious Naumburg Award for Chamber Music (New York) on two separate occasions. The trio has been trio-in-residence at the Chautauqua Institution since 1978. Fanfare magazine praised the recent New Arts Trio CD as the most interesting and exciting disc of piano trios, or any chamber music, or any classical music the reviewer ever heard. Ms. Penneys’ teachers include Aube Tzerko, Leonard Stein, Rosina Lhévinne, Artur Rubinstein, Menahem Pressler, György Sebök, and Janos Starker. Combining a busy concert schedule with seminars and master classes worldwide, Ms. Penneys teaches a large class of international students at Eastman and Chautauqua. Her students are successful professionals on every continent. She has been professor of piano at the Eastman School of Music since 1980 and chair of the Chautauqua Institution piano department since 1985. A resident artist at the Chautauqua Festival since 1978, she celebrated her 25th anniversary season by performing Beethoven's Emperor Concerto with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in 2003. In 2001, she was appointed visiting artist at St. Petersburg College, Florida. The October 2001 issue of Clavier magazine features an interesting interview with her. A renowned pedagogue, Ms. Penneys has received extensive recognition for her ability to teach keyboard technique (motion and emotion) that allows pianists to achieve individual performance goals without physical strain or injury. At the Chautauqua Festival, she has created an extremely popular summer program combining traditional and innovative methods that is unique in the world of piano instruction. An annual four-day residential pedagogy workshop for teachers (Pedagogy As Art & Craft) inaugurated in August, 2004 is part of the exhilarating piano events that conclude each season's activities. Audiences everywhere are drawn to her keen musical intelligence, effortless technique, and seemingly endless imagination.

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, dramatically intense performances. With his reputation for unusually searching and profound interpretations played at the highest level of virtuoso accomplishment, Ying has earned 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, symphonies of Atlanta, Fort Worth, Toledo, Columbus, Colorado, Hartford, Jacksonville, Spokane, Oakland, Madison, Wichita, Ann Arbor, Shanghai, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, among others. Solo recitals have taken Tian Ying across North America, Europe, and from Casablanca to Seoul, and he frequently conducts master classes in universities and colleges around the country.

During the 2001-02 season alone, Tian Ying performed nine different concerti with orchestras across the U.S.  The Boston Globe chose Tian Ying’s 1993 Bank of Boston Celebrity Series concert as one of the top ten in classical music events. There have been many articles written about Tian Ying, including profiles in The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, and People magazine.

With the release of Tian Ying’s 2007 solo album on Centaur Records, AllMusic wrote: “Don't let the hushed opening bars of the ‘Appassionata’ fool you: pianist Tian Ying is a first-rate virtuoso and a grade-A showman who plays Beethoven with the kind of power and panache that most pianists bring to bear on Liszt. For some listeners, Ying's nervous intensity and agitated tempos may recall Horowitz, while his astoundingly clean textures and astonishingly clear colors may remind others of Brendel, yet Ying is ultimately his own man with his own interpretation and he tears into the ‘Appassionata’ with a barely restrained frenzy but complete technical control….”  “…for sheer super virtuoso thrills, few pianists can match what Ying does with the Toccata, and his recital is well worth hearing for that alone.”

Tian Ying is currently chair of the keyboard performance department at the prestigious Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.