 Dr. Jose Mendez
North Western University
Described as "an artist with a polished sound and tremendous constructive power" and
hailed by the Hoja del Lunes de Madrid, as "the Spanish pianist of his generation,"
Jose Ramon Mendez is one of the most exciting Spanish pianists of today.
Recent performances include Chopin's first piano concerto with the Cuban National
Symphony Orchestra and Manuel de Falla's "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" with the
Nittany Valley Symphony, as well as numerous solo and chamber music performances in
the United States, Europe, and Asia. His playing has been featured on WQXR's "Performance
Today" and on Classical KMFA. He has been a guest performer at many music festivals,
including Caramoor Festival, Barge Music Series, Festival Internacional de Piano de
las Islas Canarias, Music at Penns Woods, Amalfi Coast International Music Festival,
"Tocando el Cielo," Musica en Compostela, the Stony Brook International Piano Festival,
and the Santander International Music Festival to name a few. As a chamber musician,
Mendez has collaborated with such distinguished artists as Karl Leister, Itzhak Perlman,
Michael Tree, Pascual Martinez-Nieto, and Pinchas Zukerman.
Mendez received his first music instruction from his father and by the age of seven
was already performing on Spanish television and radio stations. He made his solo
debut at the age of eleven at the Oviedo Philharmonic Society in Oviedo, Spain, the
youngest performer ever to do so in the history of the society. He first gained international
recognition when he performed Liszt's first piano concerto under the direction of
Sergiu Commissiona at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Since then, he has concertized
extensively in his native Spain, the United States, Italy, England, Portugal, Holland,
and Japan to great acclaim. With his poetry, intellect, and masterful technique, he
has been praised by critics and celebrated by audiences around the world.
At the age of 18, Mendez's success brought him to the United States, where he began
his studies at Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He completed his Bachelors
and Masters Degrees in piano performance with renowned pedagogue Solomon Mikowsky
and went on to finish his Doctorate of Musical Arts under the tutelage of Byron Janis
and Miyoko Lotto. During his stay in New York, he won top prizes in many international
competitions, including Pilar Bayona International Piano Competition, Hilton Head
Island International Piano Competition, Frederick Chopin Competition in New York,
and Hermanos Guerrero International Piano Competition, among others.
Mendez's professional teaching career began in 1996, when he was invited to teach
master classes at the Gijon School of Music. Since then, he has given master classes
in numerous cities in Spain, including Lugo, Aviles, Valencia, Gijon, Oviedo, Santiago
de Compostela, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, as well as in the United States at
top music schools such as Oberlin Conservatory, Northwestern University, University
of Michigan, and Columbus State University. Mendez also taught as assistant teacher
to Miyoko Lotto at the Perlman Music Program, a program for gifted young musicians
founded by the world famous violinist Itzhak Perlman. Currently in the summers, he
is the Artistic Director and on the faculty of the Gijon International Piano Festival
in Gijon, Spain, as well as frequently being invited to perform and teach at various
festivals.
For more information, visit his website.
|
 Dr. Carol Leone
Southern Methodist University
An SMU Meadows music faculty member since 1996, Carol Leone is nationally recognized
as an artist-teacher of piano. Dr. Leone has performed and taught throughout the United
States, Europe and Asia and has been a prizewinner in piano competitions such as the
National Beethoven Sonata Competition, the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition
and the International Masters Piano Competition. Her performances have been lauded
as “revelatory” (TheaterJones.com), possessing “great pizzazz … luminous in tone and nimble fingerwork … ” (Dallas Morning News) and providing “every nuance with clarity and charm … ” (Peninsula Review).
Her professional training included study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia
where she received a Certificate and was a student of the Polish pianist Mieczysław
Horszowski. Leone was also a student of Guido Agosti in Rome and holds the prestigious
Honors Diploma from the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy.
Leone has recorded for MSR Classics, the Augusta Read Thomas Label, Gasparo Records
and Crystal Records. Her solo CD Change of Keys was awarded two Silver Medals in the 2016 Global Music Awards. She performs regularly
with the Grammy-nominated contemporary music ensemble Voices of Change as well as
at universities and music conferences throughout the US.
Leone is also active in national and international keyboard festivals and conferences
as a teacher, lecturer and adjudicator. She has been named Texas Music Teachers Association’s
Collegiate Teacher of the Year and was one of 10 teachers selected nationwide to serve
as Mobil Ambassador to the 9th Van Cliburn Competition. She has served on the piano
faculty of numerous summer programs, including the Bösendorfer International Piano
Academy in Vienna, the Cliburn Piano Institute, the International Fine Arts Institute
in Moscow, the International Piano Master Class in Bojano, Italy and the Tong-Il Han
International Music Festival in South Korea. Her students have been top prizewinners
in international competitions such as the Virginia Waring, the Bradshaw and Buono,
the Chopin Foundation Scholarship Program and the Center for Musical Excellence International
Young Artist Awards.
Leone has presented at the Music Teachers National Association Conference, the National
Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference, and the
European Piano Teachers Association Conference (Czech Republic), among others. Her
articles on performance topics have appeared in American Music Teacher, Clavier Companion, Piano Today, Keyboard Companion, The Texas
Music Teacher, and the Piano Professional (UK).Considered the world’s leading artist-teacher on ergonomic piano keyboards to
promote a pianist’s wellness, she has been invited to write on the topic by several
of the world’s leading piano journals.
Dr. Leone is chair of the Department of Piano Studies at SMU.
|
 Dr. Steven Spooner
Peabody Institute
At the very forefront of American pianists, critics and audiences have unanimously
hailed the distinctive and compelling performances of pianist Steven Spooner. “A pianist in the tradition that many believe died with the likes of Horowitz, Arrau,
Bolet, Cziffra, and Wild. His talent, to my ears, is easily the equal of most major
pianists of today and far superior to a large number of those “most exciting and dynamic
pianists of their generation” (Fanfare). “Such a breadth and variety of difficult
pieces made me wonder at first if this recording was a hoax. But, no, Steven Spooner
is the real deal, a pianist of apparently limitless raw technique that’s almost note
perfect.”(American Record Guide). Steven has been engaged at many of the world’s most prestigious
venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Great Hall of the Liszt Academy (Budapest), Salle
Cortot (Paris), and Shanghai Concert Hall, among many others as soloist with orchestra
and recitalist. During the past seasons he has daringly reinvented the solo recital
by allowing audiences to vote on the spot for one of several programs and like golden-age
pianists, his concerts often feature his own compositions and virtuoso transcriptions.
Steven is a prizewinner at all seven international piano competitions he entered and
top prizewinner at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition and First Prize
and recipient of the Niekamp Career Grant as most outstanding pianist in French music
at the Paris Conservatory. In 2008, he was awarded the Ivory Classics Foundation Prize
that enabled him to study Liszt with the legendary virtuoso, Earl Wild. Following
this, Steven underwent a period of serious self-study and emerged as one of the most
comprehensively equipped pianists of our time embracing a gargantuan repertoire of
solo works and concerti by a host of diverse composers.
Steven has released more than 30 recordings on Naxos, A Life of Music, and other record
labels including a monumental project of 16 albums honoring his heroes called Dedications.
His latest 10-volume recording project, Aspects of Liszt, exploring the many facets
of the Liszt repertoire, will be released in 2022.
Steven Spooner is Professor of Piano at the Peabody Institute, and he has studied
at the Tbilisi Conservatory, Moscow Conservatory, and Indiana University.
Spooner has served on the faculty of many of the most prestigious summer festivals
and is increasingly in demand for his insightful masterclasses at leading conservatories
across the globe. He is Artistic Director of the Chicago International Competition
and Festival and often serves on juries of international competitions. A dedicated
and caring teacher of students from around the world, he has formed winners of multiple
prizes at important international competitions. Steven Spooner is a Steinway Artist.
Further info: www.stevenspooner.com.
|
Dr. Igor Resniaski
Dr. Andrew Brownell
