Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 7:30 p.m. Competition (First Prize), Tampa Bay Symphony Young Artist Competition Mixon Hall (First Prize), Bluthner Junior Piano Competition (First Prize) and the New World Symphony Young Artist Competition (Second Prize). In addition, he has been awarded scholarships from the National Chopin Foundation’s Directed by Paul Schenly Scholarship Fund for Young American Pianists. Mr. Kwoka is currently a third year bachelor’s degree student studying with Daniel Shapiro and Paul Schenly. CHOPIN Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op.60 Sergei Babayan is a member of the CIM piano faculty and the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Gilliam Artist-in-Residence. Acclaimed for the immediacy, sensitivity (1810-1849) and depth of his interpretations, Mr. Babayan’s performances reveal an Arianna Körting emotional intensity and bold energy, equipping him to explore stylistically diverse repertoire. Known for innovative programming, he often includes LISZT Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major contemporary works of composers such as Lutosławski, Ligeti and Pärt; (1811-1886) extending the boundaries of the mainstream repertoire for which he’s I. Allegro maestoso acclaimed - excelling in Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann, and such II. Quasi Adagio Russian giants as Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Prokofiev. A student of such III. Allegro vivace - Allegro animato legendary teachers and musicians as Gornostayeva, Naumov, Pletnev and IV. Allegro marziale animato Vlasenko at the Moscow Conservatory, he was not permitted to leave the I-Chieh Wang, Yu-Cheng Lin, Orchestra country to compete and study in the West. Following the collapse of the Soviet system, he was the first pianist from the former USSR able to compete without government sponsorship. Immediately following his first trip abroad, SCHUMANN Bunte Blätter, Op.99 Mr. Babayan won consecutive first prizes in several major international (1810-1856) competitions including the 1990 Robert Casadesus International Piano 1. Stücke I, A Major Competition (now the Cleveland International Piano Competition), 1990 Palm 2. Stücke II, E minor Beach International Piano Competition, 1991 Hamamatsu Piano Competition 3. Stücke III, E Major and the 1992 Scottish International Piano Competition. He is also a Laureate 4. Albumblatter I , F-sharp minor of the Esther Honens (Calgary, Canada), Busoni and Queen Elisabeth 5. Albumblatter II, B minor International Piano Competitions. Mr. Babayan has had major engagements 6. Albumblatter III, A-flat Major and concert tours throughout Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South 7. Albumblatter IV, E-flat minor Africa, South America, China and the U.S. His New York recitals at Carnegie 8. Albumblatter V, E-flat Major Hall and Alice Tully Hall, performances with The Cleveland Orchestra, 9. Novelette, B minor Baltimore and Detroit Symphony Orchestras have all been met with 10. Praludium,B-flat minor tremendous critical acclaim, as have his many subsequent recital and concerto performances throughout major cities in the U.S. His concert schedule has John Lee included performances and broadcasts throughout major European cities and extensive tours of Japan. To learn more about Mr. Babayan, please PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28 read his complete biography at www.cim.edu and click Faculty. (1891-1953) Allegro tempest Daniil Trifonov, 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition Grand Prix Winner and Philip Kwoka student of Sergei Babayan, will perform on the Mixon Hall Masters Series on November 30 at 7:30 p.m. RACHMANINOV Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 (1873-1943) I Allegro ma non tanto Sergei Babayan, John Lee, Orchestra Boston for a broadcast of NPR’s From the Top, Carnegie Hall in New York Paul Schenly is the head of the CIM piano department and holds the City, the Canadian Embassy in Prague, at the Gilmore International Keyboard Reinberger Chair in Piano. He has won the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize Festival, and St. Scholastica College in Manila, Philippines. Ms. Körting is a and holds a Master of Music degree from CIM, where he studied with scholarship student of Gerardo Teissonnière in the Preparatory Piano Victor Babin. He serves as artistic director of the Cleveland International Division at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has performed in master class Piano Competition and is the founder/director of PianoFest in the Hamp- for Cleveland Orchestra Keyboard Principal Joela Jones, David Owen-Norris, tons. Mr. Schenly has played extensively with major orchestras through- in Paul Schenly’s Pianofest (as one of the youngest pianists to appear in the out the U.S. and Europe, including the Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco series’ history), Gerardo Teissonnière, Virginia Weckstrom and Paul Wirth. Symphonies, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Los Angeles and New Arianna was a member of the Junior Jury in the 2009 Cleveland International York Philharmonics. He has performed with many of the world’s leading Piano Competition. An avid chamber musician, she was pianist of the Zingaro conductors, including James Levine, Erich Leinsdorf, Christoph von Doh- Quartet and earned the 2009/2010 Rembrandt Young Artists title from the nányi, Edo de Waart, Mstislav Rostropovich, Robert Shaw and Aaron Rembrandt Chamber Music Competition in Chicago. Copland. Mr. Schenly has appeared in many summer festivals, including the Hollywood Bowl, Ravinia Festival, Blossom and the Mostly Mozart Festival. He has toured Europe with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Twenty-six year-old I-Chieh Wang, from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is enrolled in appeared at the Great Performers Series at Lincoln Center, as well as in the Artist Diploma program at CIM as a piano student of Paul Schenly and acclaimed recitals at Carnegie Hall. He serves on the advisory board of Kathryn Brown. Ms. Wang made her debut in 2000 with the Kaohsiung the American Pianists Foundation and on the nominating committee for Municipal Youth Orchestra, performing Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No.2 the Gilmore Piano Foundation. Mr. Schenly has recorded for Sine Qua in D minor. A winner of the third annual "Elite Award" in Taiwan, Ms. Wang Non and RCA and was artist-in-residence at the Ravinia Festival and a has performed in master classes with André Watts, Richard Goode and Yefim faculty member at the Music Academy of the West. Born in Munich, he Bronfman. In addition to music, she enjoys Chinese history and cooking. lived in South America before coming to the U.S. at age five. Twenty-five year-old Yu-cheng Lin, from Taiwan, is enrolled in master's program at CIM as a piano student of Paul Schenly and Kathryn Brown. Ms. Lin was awarded an outstanding scholarship from KHS in 2003. In 2007, she made the Dean’s List at the National Taiwan Normal University, where she Since her debut as soloist with orchestra at the age of seven, Arianna was awarded the Wooden Clapper Bell Prize and the Outstanding Körting has performed in important concert venues throughout the world in Performance Scholarship from Kawai. She has won several prizes in both recital and with orchestra, in radio and television, winning top prizes in piano and Erhu, including the first place at the National Taiwan Erhu regional, national and international competitions. She has appeared as soloist Competition in 2006, and Seidof Piano Competition in 2008. In addition to with the Peace Philharmonic Philippines, the International Music Festival music, she also enjoys Chinese literature and swimming. Orchestra, the Duquesne University Orchestra, The Firelands Symphony, the Solon Philharmonic and the Lakeland Civic Orchestra. Seventeen-year-old Twenty-eight year-old John Lee, from Bothell, WA, is enrolled in the DMA Arianna is the winner of a unanimous First Prize in the 5th Julia Crane program at CIM as a piano student of Sergei Babayan. Mr. Lee has performed International Piano Competition, First Prize winner in the 2011 Heidelberg with the CIM Orchestra, where he performed John Corigliano's Piano Performance Pacesetter Competition, First Prize winner of the Bradshaw & Concerto. Finalist in the MTNA Competition and winner of the Darius Buono International Piano Competition, David D. Dubois International Piano Milhaud performance prize, Mr. Lee has performed in master classes with Competition, Duquesne Young Artists National Piano Competition, Richard Goode and Jerome Lowenthal. In addition to music, he enjoys playing Heidelberg Pacesetter Piano Competition, the Solon Philharmonic Orchestra video games and team sports. Young Artists Competition, the Firelands Symphony and Lakeland Civic Orchestra’s Young Artists Competitions, the Ohio Music Teachers Born in New York City, Philip Kwoka began piano studies at the age of five. Association’s Regional and State Scholarship unanimous First Prize awards and Five years later his family moved to Florida and he started studying at the Third Prize in the Cleveland International Piano Competition’s PIANO/OHIO Lynn University Conservatory of Music with Roberta Rust and Philip Evans. Competition for High School Pianists. Arianna was selected to perform in Kwoka made his orchestral debut at the age of 13 with the Warminsko- opening ceremonies for the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Mixon Hall, at Mazurskie Philharmonia in Olsztyn, Poland. He has been a prize winner in Blossom Music Center, in Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory in many competiitions including the Bardshaw and Buono International Piano .