Steven Spooner

Steven Spooner is Professor of Piano at the Peabody Institute. His compelling performances have been hailed worldwide. “Such breadth and variety of difficult pieces made me wonder at first if this (recording) was a hoax,” noted one critic. “But, no….Steven Spooner is the real deal, a pianist of apparently limitless raw technique that’s almost note perfect.” (American Record Guide.) He has released more than 40 recordings, including a project of 16 CDs honoring his pianistic heroes called Dedications. At times he daringly reinvents the solo recital, allowing audiences to vote on the spot for one of five programs he has prepared. A major prize winner at 7 international competitions, he has studied at the Paris Conservatoire, Moscow and Tbilisi Conservatories, and Indiana University.

Spooner has served on the faculty of some of the most prestigious summer festivals, and is increasingly in demand for his masterclasses across the globe. He is Artistic Director of the Chicago International Competition and Festival. A dedicated and caring teacher of students from around the world, he has formed winners of multiple prizes at important competitions. Steven Spooner is a Steinway Artist. www.stevenspooner.com.

Arthur Greene

Arthur Greene was born in New York City and received degrees from Yale, Juilliard, and Stony Brook. He studied with Martin Canin. Until recent events, he has spent summers with his extended family in Ukraine.
Mr. Greene treasures the inheritance of our rich piano repertoire, which he considers among humanity’s greatest achievements, and he is grateful for the opportunity to bring it to life and to share it with as many people as possible.

Mr. Greene was top prize winner in major international competitions. He has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco, Utah, and National Symphonies, the Ukraine National Symphony, the Czech National Symphony, the Tokyo Symphony, and many others. He has played recitals in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Moscow Rachmaninov Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Lisbon Sao Paulo Opera House, Hong Kong City Hall and concert houses in Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul, and all the major cities in Japan. He was an Artistic Ambassador to Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia for the United States Information Agency. Mr. Greene recorded the complete Etudes of Alexander Scriabin for Supraphon, and piano works of the Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko for Toccata Classics. He has made many recordings together with his wife, the violinist Solomia Soroka, for Naxos and Toccata. He has performed the 10 Sonata Cycle of Alexander Scriabin in many important international venues, including multi-media presentations with Symbolist artworks. He has performed mazurkas with the Janusz Prusinowski Kompania, a Polish folk ensemble. He has been a faculty member of many summer festivals, including the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, Perugia MusicFest and Vivace Music Foundation.

Reviews include: “Incomparable master-pianist” (Upper Austria Krone News, 2019); “A profound musician” – The Washington Post; “A masterful pianist” – The New York Times; “Intoxicating appeal” – Mainichi Daily News, Japan; “A romantic splendor of sound-colors” – Ruhr Nachrichten; “Stellar Scriabinist” – American Record Guide.

Arthur Greene is a member of the piano faculty of the University of Michigan. There he has won the Harold Haugh Award for Excellence in Studio Teaching. He and his students presented a recital series of the complete solo works of Chopin in nine concerts. He is a frequent judge of piano competitions. His current and former students include prizewinners in international competitions, and his former students hold important teaching positions throughout the United States.

Michelle Cann

“A compelling, sparkling virtuoso” (Boston Music Intelligencer), pianist Michelle Cann made her orchestral debut at age fourteen and has since performed as a soloist with numerous ensembles including The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

A champion of the music of Florence Price, Ms. Cann performed the New York City premiere of the composer’s Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in July 2016 and the Philadelphia premiere with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in February 2021, which the Philadelphia Inquirer called “exquisite.” She has also performed Price’s works for solo piano and chamber ensemble for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and the New World Symphony, among other presenters.

Highlights of her Summer 2021 activities include a repeat performance with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, a debut with The Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival, an appearance with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, and a role on the jury of the Cleveland International Piano Competition.

Ms. Cann regularly appears in recital and as a chamber musician throughout the U.S., China, and South Korea. Notable venues include the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.; and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Barbican in London with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ms. Cann regularly performs duo recitals with her sister, pianist Kimberly Cann; together their “sheer verve and evident passion is something to behold” (Mountain Xpress).

Ms. Cann has appeared as cohost and collaborative pianist with NPR’s From The Top, collaborating with actor/conductor Damon Gupton, violinist Leila Josefowicz, and violinist and MacArthur Fellow Vijay Gupta. She has also been featured on WRTI-FM and WHYY-TV in Philadelphia. Her summer festival appearances have included the Taos Chamber Music Festival, Yellow Barn, Perlman Music Program, Music Academy of the West, Geneva Music Festival, and Pianofest in the Hamptons, where she serves as artist in residence.

Ms. Cann has won top prizes in state, national, and international competitions including the International Russian Music Piano Competition, the Blount Slawson Young Artists Competition, and the Wideman International Piano Competition. In 2019 she served as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s MAC Music Innovator in recognition of her role as an African-American classical musician who embodies artistry, innovation, and a commitment to education and community engagement.

Ms. Cann manifests this commitment through her activities in Philadelphia and as part of touring engagements around the globe. She has served as the director of two children’s choruses in the El Sistema-inspired program Play On Philly and was among the first class of ArtistYear fellows at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with community partners City Year, Teach for America, and AmeriCorps to provide arts education and access to underserved communities in Philadelphia. In 2019 she served on the faculty of the Sphinx Performance Academy during its inaugural year at the Juilliard School.

Ms. Cann holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Paul Schenly and Dr. Daniel Shapiro, and an Artist’s Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert McDonald.

Ms. Cann served as a collaborative staff pianist at the Curtis Institute of Music for several years. She joined the faculty in 2020 as the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies.

Enrico Elisi

Enrico Elisi regularly performs to acclaim throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Hailed for his “mastery of elegance, refinement, and fantasy” (La Nueva España), his interpretations reveal “remarkable sensitivity, imagination, and polish” (Baltimore Sun).

A laureate of the Porto International Competition (Portugal) and the Venice Competition (Italy), he has performed recitals in France, Germany, Portugal, Slovak Republic, and Spain. In Italy, he has appeared in historical settings (La Fenice Theatre, Venice; Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Bibiena Theatre, Mantua; Pavarotti Opera House, Modena; Teatro Comunale and Sala Bossi, Bologna; Sala dei Giganti, Padua; Sant’Anna dei Lombardi Church, Naples, as well as the Amalfi Cathedral). In addition, he has given recitals in several countries in Asia, including 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 and Morgan libraries, the Italian Embassy and National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Centro Cultural de España, in Lima, Peru.

Enrico Elisi has made numerous appearances as a soloist 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, and in 2019, he performed Beethoven Concerto No. 4 with the Jakarta Sinfonietta (Indonesia).

Among Mr. Elisi’s T.V. broadcasts are the Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (Brahms Concerto No. 1 with the Orchestra Clássica do Porto) and WPSU (USA). Other live and recorded performances appeared on radio stations such as Montebeni Classica FM (Italy), WCLV Cleveland, UNC, KCNV Nevada Public Radio, and KGCS (USA). In addition, the German radio, Via Classica, programmed a two-hour broadcast of Elisi’s live recital and subsequent interview from Hamburg.

A Yellowbarn Festival Artist-in-Residence, Elisi performed a recital and engaged the community by disseminating his work on ornamentations and articulations in selected works by Bach. He subsequently recorded selected Partitas and Preludes (the release of which is forthcoming). Previous recordings include an album dedicated to Mozart and Two Images by Paul Chihara, featured on Albany Records.

An avid chamber musician, Elisi has performed at the Taos and Ravinia Festivals, collaborated with the New Orford String Quartet, and principal players from the Baltimore, Chicago, and American Symphony Orchestras. Among the numerous partnerships, he also performed with Federico Agostini (former leader of I Musici).

During Sciarrino’s residence at the University of Toronto New Music Festival (2017), Elisi performed music by Sciarrino, Fedele, and Berio; he also premiered chamber music by Chihara at Weill Hall and Pastorale Reveries (his latest piano work) in Canada. Other commissions and premieres by living composers of diverse nationalities are testaments to Elisi’s passion for contemporary music.

A frequent guest at leading music festivals, Elisi appears in such settings as Cincinnati “Art of the Piano,” Interlochen Center for the Arts, Texas State University festivals, and the Chautauqua Institution (USA); Valencia International Performance Academy and Festival (Spain); Todi Music Masters, Associazione Umbria classica, Amalfi Coast Festival (Italy); Ameri-China Foundation and Sichuan International Piano Festival (China).

A sought-after pedagogue, Enrico Elisi was a featured artist-teacher at the Florida and Oklahoma Music Teachers Association State Conferences and performed for the American Liszt Society Festivals at Northwestern University and the University of Georgia (during the Lisztian bicentennial anniversary). Moreover, he presented hundreds of masterclasses, both in conjunction with his performing engagements, at Northwestern University, Boston University, Cincinnati College-Conservatory, Temple University, the University of Michigan (USA); Taylor Academy, University of British Columbia, University of Western Ontario (Canada); National Conservatory of Lima (Peru); Royal Academy (Denmark); Accademia delle Marche (Italy); Taipei National University of the Arts (Taiwan); China Conservatory, Shanghai and Xinghai conservatories (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.

Dr. Elisi is currently on the piano faculty at the University of Toronto. Previous teaching positions spanning nearly two decades include the Eastman School, Hanyang University, the Pennsylvania State University, and UNLV. His current and former students are prizewinners in competitions (Cleveland and Paderewski among many), hold full-time teaching posts in the U.S. and abroad, and performed with the Cleveland Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Dallas Chamber Symphony, as well as other orchestras.

As an adjudicator, he has been on the jury of several competitions: the Ameri-China Foundation Competition (China); the Stepping Stone, CMC finals, RCM’s Glenn Gould School Concerto, Fred Pattison Award, Toronto-Calgary-Vancouver Steinway, (Canada); the Peabody Yale Gordon, Iowa, Julia Crane, Fite Young Artist, SMU Concerto and Dallas International, as well as the Nevada, Maryland, Virginia, and Texas State Music Teachers Associations’ (USA); the Pacific Rim competition (Australia and New Zealand). Finally, he chaired Osimo’s Nuova Coppa Pianisti (2013) and Palma d’Oro (2021) in Italy.

Dr. Elisi holds degrees from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Before immigrating to the United States in 1996, he graduated from the Conservatory of Florence and the International Piano Academy of Imola. His primary teachers include Leon Fleisher (with whom, at his invitation, he felt honored to share the stage at the 2007 World Piano Pedagogy Conference), Lazar Berman, Alexander Lonquich, Boris Petrushansky, Franco Scala, and Giuseppe Fricelli.

Born in Italy, Enrico Elisi became a citizen of the United States of America in 2012 and is a Steinway Artist.

For more information: www.enricoelisipiano.com.

Washington García

Ecuadorian-American pianist Washington García Eljuri began his musical studies at the age of 6. Among his teachers have been Genoveva Granja, Toshko Stoyanov, Ann Schein, Yoheved Kaplinsky, and Julian Martin. Dr. García holds a bachelor of music from the National Conservatory of Music in Ecuador, and master’s and doctoral degrees from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he graduated at the age of 25 as the youngest Latin American to have received a doctoral degree in piano performance from that prestigious university. He is the recipient of the “Condecoración Dr. Vicente Rocafuerte”, the highest Cultural Achievement Award given by the Ecuadorian National Assembly to individuals who have demonstrated excellence in the arts. This award is equivalent to the Presidential Medal of Freedom or Congressional Gold Medal in the United States.

The success of his first public performance at the age of 6 led Dr. Garcia to perform at the most important cultural centers in Ecuador. He was awarded first prizes at the Guillermo Wright-Vallarino National Piano Competition held in Quito, the Elizabeth Davis Memorial Piano Competition and the 19th International Young Artist Piano Competition in Washington D.C., the 2004 Baltimore Music Club Piano Competition, and the Harrison Winter Piano Competition. As the winner of the Harrison Winter at the Peabody Institute, Dr. García was selected to perform with the Peabody Concert Orchestra. He was also a top prizewinner at the Yale Gordon Piano Competition and the Russell Wonderlic Piano Competition.

From a very early age, Dr. García became a seasoned veteran of the concert platform, performing extensively throughout his native country. Since his debut with the Ecuadorian National Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15, he has been an active recitalist, soloist, and lecturer in prestigious venues in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Japan, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States. In the United States, he has offered solo recitals and master classes in almost 30 states.

Dr. García’s international debut took place in Santiago, Chile, where he performed for former President Patricio Aylwin at the Claudio Arrau International Piano Seminar. Subsequently, he was chosen from a large field of contestants from 33 countries by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. to receive one of two $25,000 grants awarded to pianists in its Fellowships of the Americas Program. As a result, he came to the United States to begin intensive piano studies with Professor Julian Martin at the Peabody Institute. Under the auspices of the Fellowships of the Americas Program he was invited to play at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, the Organization of American States, the World Bank, the Inter-American Bank, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Department of State and the Mexican Cultural Center in Washington D.C., among others. He was also invited to perform at the National Library and Archives in Ottawa, Canada, where he performed on Glenn Gould’s piano. Dr. Garcia has performed in Ecuador with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Cuenca Symphony Orchestra and the Loja Symphony Orchestra. Other engagements as guest soloist include concerto performances with the Green Valley Chamber Orchestra in Las Vegas and the Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra in Maryland. He also toured Italy with the Texas State University Chamber Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and most recently he was featured as guest soloist with the Austin Symphony in Texas, the Springfield Symphony in Massachusetts and the Omaha Symphony, under the batons of maestros Peter Bay, Kevin Rhodes and Thomas Wilkins, respectively. Garcia has performed and recorded for Radio Television Hong Kong, Opus Classical Radio in Mexico City, WFMT in Chicago, TV Spain, Rogers Broadcasting Company in Canada, and worldwide broadcasts through Univision. He has also been featured in several journals and magazines including the Austin and Texas Monthly, Time Out Jakarta, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, The Washington Post, and several others in Asia, North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East.

In addition to awards granted by the Peabody Institute and the Ecuadorian government, including the prize “Monseñor Leonidas Proaño” and the award “Al Mérito Laboral,” Dr. García received sponsorship by United Airlines. He was also named a Presser Scholar and grant recipient by the Presser Music Foundation. Additionally, he was awarded the Texas State Quarterly Team Award in recognition of outstanding service and the Friends of Fine Arts Awards for Scholarly/Creative Activities and Service. Dr. Garcia was a recipient of a full scholarship by the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in addition to scholarships by The Lloyds Bank, The Zaldumbide Rosales Foundation and the British Embassy in Ecuador.

Dr. García served on the faculty of the Peabody Preparatory of the Johns Hopkins University and Texas State University, where he was a Professor of Piano, coordinator of the Keyboard Area, and the Assistant Director of the School of Music. Dr. García is currently the Dean of the School of Music at Stetson University in Florida. Prior to his appointment at Stetson, Dr. Garcia was the founding Director of the School of Music at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where he held the Robert M. Spire Professorship as a full Professor of Piano.

Washington García became a Steinway Artist in 2014 and a citizen of the United States on March 2013. He lives with his wife Valeria and sons Mateo and Nico in Lake Mary, Florida.

Christopher Guzman

Pianist Christopher Guzman enjoys an international performing career, showcasing a broad range of styles from the Baroque era to the avant-garde. Since winning top prizes in international competitions such as the Walter M. Naumburg Competition (USA), the Seoul International Music Competition (S. Korea) and the Isang Yun Competition (S. Korea), Mr. Guzman has performed across Europe, North and South America, and Asia. As a result of winning the top prize at the Concours International de Piano d’Orléans in Orléans, France, he has toured France extensively, giving performances and teaching masterclasses.

Mr. Guzman has appeared in concert in major international venues as Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, Buenos Aires’s CCK, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall and others. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the classical music world’s most exciting soloists, including Ilya Gringolts, Antoine Tamestit, David Fray, and Jeremy Denk, among others. He continually performs with members of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. He appears regularly on the New York Philharmonic’s chamber music series “Philharmonic Ensembles,” and recently performed with musicians of the Chicago Symphony at their home in Orchestra Hall.

While Mr. Guzman has won multiple international prizes for his performances of traditional repertoire, much of his career has been centered on music written after 1900; his performances have included world premieres by Donald Martino, Nico Muhly, and Paul Schoenfield. The New York Times hailed his performance of Christopher Theofanidis’s Statues as “coiled” and “explosive.” His CD of German and Austrian music from the past one hundred years, Vienne et après, is available on the Tessitures label; his CD of music of Paul Reale on the Naxos Label, “Chopin’s Ghosts,” was included in Fanfare magazine’s Top Five releases of 2018. He has subsequently recorded two additional albums of Reale’s music, including chamber music and concerti, to much critical acclaim. In the spring of 2022, Mr. Guzman will research works of Mexican composer Carlos Chávez and release a video recording of his representative works for piano.

Born in Texas, Christopher Guzman began studying piano at age nine and violoncello two years later. He worked primarily with Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald at the Juilliard School, Anton Nel at the University of Texas at Austin, and the late Patricia Zander at the New England Conservatory. In addition to performing, he is also Professor of Piano at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit christopherguzmanpiano.com.