2024 Faculty & Guest Artists

Samuel Gingher

Yong Hi Moon

Accomplished pianist and teacher Yong Hi Moon made her solo debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at age 10 as winner of the National Korean Broadcasting Competition. Moon has won top prizes in the Elena-Rombro Stepanow Competition in Vienna, the Viotti International Competition in Vercelli, Italy, the Vienna da Motta Competition in Lisbon, Portugal, and received the Chopin Prize from the Geneva International Competition in Switzerland.

Moon performs extensively throughout Asia, Europe and the US as recitalist and soloist, having appeared with the Osaka, Seoul, and Tokyo Philharmonics, and the Korean National Symphony. In 1975, the South Korean government invited Moon to participate in a festival for the 30th anniversary of the Korean liberation, and she continues to maintain a strong performing and teaching presence in her native country. In 1991, she was invited to participate in a cycle of the complete Mozart piano concerti with the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra, commemorating the composer’s bicentennial year. In 1997, Moon performed the complete solo piano works of Schubert in six recitals in both Korea and the US. In the summer of 2000, she made her first extensive concert tour of Korea, including solo recitals in five cities, as well as performances with the orchestras of Kwangju and Daejun.

She collaborates regularly with her husband – pianist/conductor Dai Uk Lee – in duo piano concerts and has performed under his baton with the Busan, Bucheon and Ulsan Philarmonics, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Korea Chamber Orchestra, Peabody Alumni Orchestra of Korea, and the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra. In 2009 they performed Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen in both the US and Korea.  Their CD recording on the Music and Art label of Czech four-hand piano music has received outstanding critical acclaim.

Moon is in high demand as a guest master class teacher and adjudicator. In 1993, she released a popular teaching video in Korea entitled Artistic Piano Playing. Moon has been a regular faculty member at Shandelee, Aria, Prague, and Bowdoin Summer Festivals, Valencia Piano Academy, and the Art of Piano Festival at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. In addition, she has been invited to perform and conduct master classes at Chautauqua Summer Festival in New York and the International School for Musical Arts in Canada. Recently she gave master classes in Shanghai Conservatory and Korean National University of Arts.

She has served on the juries of the CCC Toronto International Piano Competition, Senigallia International Piano Competition in Italy, Gilmore International Piano Competition, Gina Bachauer International Competition as well as numerous MTNA competitions throughout the US. In 2014, she served as the chair of the jury at Seoul International Piano Competition.

Moon was a professor of piano at Michigan State University School of Music for 15 years and since 2002 she has been a member of piano faculty at the Peabody Conservatory.

Moon studied at the Vienna Academy, graduating with the highest honors. She continued her studies in London before pursuing an Artist Diploma at Indiana University in Bloomington. Her major teachers include Dieter Weber, Maria Curcio, György Sebok, Leon Fleisher, Wilhelm Kempff, and Fou T’song, who have always been inspirations in her work.

Pavel Nersessian

“His performance brought a veritable roar of approval from the audience,” wrote the Irish Times, after Pavel Nersessian received the 1st Prize in the GPA Dublin International Piano Competition in 1991. Being one of the most remarkable pianists of his generation in Russia, he is known for his ability to play equally convincingly in the whole palette of the piano repertoire. He won prizes in the Beethoven Competition in Vienna in 1985, the Paloma O’Shea Competition in Santander, and the Tokyo Competition.

Nersessian was a pupil of the famous Central Music School of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, where his teacher was Yu. Levin. Later he was a student of the Conservatoire under Prof. S. Dorensky. Upon graduating from the Conservatoire in 1987 with maximum marks he was invited to join the faculty.

 Pavel Nersessian has been touring Russia and surrounding states from the age of eight, and has given performances in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Cannes, Leipzig, Vienna, Budapest, Madrid, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Dublin, Rio de Janeiro, Belgrade, Cairo, Kiev, Beijing and many other cities.

 Mr. Nersessian, by special invitation from the Kirov and the Perm Ballet, performed solo part in Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial based on the music of Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Piano Concerto with performances in the Kirov, Bolshoi, Chatelet and Covent Garden. He also played a solo part in J. Robbins’ ballet “The concert, or The Perils of Everybody” on the music of F. Chopin.

 He is known for his collaboration with chamber music groups and other musicians, such as Borodin and Glinka Quartets, National Symphony Orchestra in Russia, Thomas Sanderling, Tugan Sokhiev, Alexandr Chernushenko, Valeriy Polyansky, Mikhail Agrest, Pascal Moragues, Julius Milkis, Evgeny Petrov, Pavel Kogan, Abel Perreira, Benjamin Schmid, Stepan Yakovich, Ani Kavafian, Andrei Gridchuk, Alena Baeva, Zlatomir Fung, Filip Kopachevsky, Yana Ivanilova, Nina Kogan, Mikhail Bereznitsky, Maxim Emelyanychev, Diana Vishneva, Philippe Cassard, Alexandre Lazarev, Gaik Kazazyan, Lukas Geniushas, Richard Young, Valentin Uriupin, Itamar Zorman, and many others. He has recorded numerous disks with compositions of Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Shostakovich, and he has given masterclasses in the USA, Russia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Korea, Brazil, and Japan.

 In 2005 he became a merited artist of the Russian Federation.

For more than 25 years P. Nersessian has been assisting his teacher, professor S. Dorensky. He has worked with such talented pupils as N. Lugansky, D. Matsuev, V. Rudenko, O. Kern, A. Shtarkman, Yu. Stadler, I. Tasovats, F. Amirov, M. Amara, A. Dossin, V. Igoshina, A. Mamriev, V. Korchinskaya-Kogan, S. Simonian, Z. Chochieva, G. Chaidze, N. Pisareva, A. Sychev, F. Kopachevsky, P. Kolesnikov, A. Tarasevich-Nikolaev, L. Bernsdorf, P. Elisha, A. Malofeev, A, Kliuchko and many others.

Pavel Nersessian served as a jury member in many international piano competitions: Dublin, Hamamatsu, Sendai, Maria Canals in Barcelona, Hilton Head, Almaty, Valencia, Tbilisi and other competitions.

In 2013 he started to work as a professor of piano in Boston university, in 2022 as a professor of piano in New England Conservatory.

Daria Rabotkina

Born in Kazan, Russia, into a family of musicians, Daria Rabotkina gave her first solo recital at the age of ten. Her education started at the Specialized Music School under the guidance of her parents, and Nora Kazatchkova. Later, it continued in Kazan State Conservatory and Mannes College of Music in New York City under the tutelage of Vladimir Feltsman. In addition, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Natalya Antonova.

Concerto highlights include San Francisco and New World symphonies, Kirov (Mariinsky) Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Hudson Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Concepción and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Rabotkina has collaborated with Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Feltsman, Julian Kuerti, JoAnn Falletta, Benjamin Shwartz, and Giancarlo Guerrero. As a soloist, she has given recitals at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Kennedy Center,  Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Ravinia’s Rising Stars, and Dame Myra Hess in Chicago. Her appearances abroad include Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, France, Mexico and Japan.

Winner of the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Rabotkina received top prizes at several international competitions and participated in Russia’s White Nights, Finland’s Kuhmo, and Copenhagen’s Summer festivals. In the United States, Rabotkina has appeared at the Rockport Chamber Music, International Keyboard Institute,  PianoSummer at New Paltz, and San Francisco International Piano festivals.

Rabotkina has released CD’s every three years. Her first three recordings were done with CAG Records as part of the Victor Elmaleh Collection. The debut recording features the Tchaikovsky Grand Sonata and Prokofiev’s Ten Pieces from “Romeo and Juliet”. Her second CD contains Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and Schubert’s Moments Musicaux. Rabotkina’s third project involved live recording of three concerti. The latest CD (MSR Classics) with humoresques by Dvořák, Reger, Rachmaninov and Schumann was released to critical acclaim in 2018.

Rabotkina an Associate Professor of piano at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX and will join the piano faculty of Cleveland Institute of Music in fall 2024.

Keiko Sekino

Pianist Keiko Sekino enjoys an active career as a solo recitalist and chamber musician in the United States and abroad, having performed at such venues as Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall, Bennett-Gordon Hall at Ravinia Park, and Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria in Santander, Spain. She has participated in festivals including Ravinia, Norfolk, and Yellow Barn in the United States and Kuhmo, Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander, La Gesse, and Pontino in Europe.

In 2006, Keiko Sekino was one of four pianists invited to participate in the Carnegie Hall Professional Workshop with Thomas Quasthoff. As a duo with soprano Awet Andemicael, she worked with baritone Thomas Quasthoff and pianist Justus Zeyen on Lieder by Schubert, Wolf, and Strauss in public masterclasses and was presented in a recital at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Her performances have also been featured on WFMT (Chicago)’s From Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute series and on WDAV (Davidson, North Carolina).

An accomplished chamber musician, Ms. Sekino has shared the stage with violinists Ana Chumachenko and MinJung Kang, and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Daedalus Quartet, and Enso Quartet. In 2016, her recording of Schumann’s complete works for cello and piano with cellist Emanuel Gruber was released from Delos label.

Keiko Sekino completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and holds additional degrees from Yale University in economics and music. Among her teachers are Peter Frankl and Robert McDonald. She has also worked closely with Elisso Virsaladze, Claude Frank, Boris Berman, and Margo Garrett. She serves as Associate Professor of Piano and Director of Applied Piano Studies at the East Carolina University School of Music.

Yukiko Sekino

Praised for her “thrilling, inspirational performance” (Florida Sun-Sentinel) and “elegance of line, leaping energy” (San Jose Mercury News), pianist Yukiko Sekino has forged a career that encompasses a wide range of interests. A soloist noted for her performances of Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Scriabin, she frequently collaborates in chamber music and performs some of the most challenging twentieth and twenty-first century works.

Sekino is the Gold Medalist of the 2006 International Russian Music Piano Competition and a winner of the S&R Foundation’s Washington Award. She has performed as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, and Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra. Recital highlights have included the Jordan Hall in Boston, Overtures Series in Washington, D.C., Dame Myra Hess Concerts in Chicago, Hitomi Memorial Hall in Tokyo, Japan, Northeast Asia International Piano Festival in China, and U.S. college campuses such as Eastman School of Music, MIT, and Ithaca College.

With an extensive repertoire spanning five centuries, Sekino has undertaken various performance projects. Recent projects include performances of Chopin’s complete Op. 10 and Op. 25 Etudes and the Four Ballades, late works by Alexander Scriabin, and world premieres of compositions by David Rakowski and Ross Bauer. In 2023, she undertook a commissioning project with support from the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation. In this project, composers Mari Kimura and Joseph Di Ponio wrote new works for piano and electronics for Sekino, taking inspiration from the music of Scriabin and Debussy. Committed to the music of our times, Sekino has performed as a soloist in major 20^th century works such as Elliott Carter’s Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano, Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques, and Xenakis’ Eonta and Palimpsest at venues including Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Theatre in Miami, and Tanglewood Music Center.

Active as an educator, Sekino has given masterclasses at universities and conservatories in the United States and serves as an adjudicator in various competitions. Her prize-winning students regularly participate in festivals and competitions and continue further studies at top schools. During the summers, she has been faculty and guest artist at East Carolina Piano Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, and Northeast Asia International Piano Festival (China). Having previously taught at Colby College, she is currently an Affiliate Artist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and serves as piano faculty at New England Conservatory Prep School and School of Continuing Education.

Sekino is a graduate of Harvard University and the Juilliard School and holds a doctoral degree from State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her principal teachers were Gilbert Kalish, Seymour Lipkin, and Robert Levin.

Alan Woo

Praised by the New York Times as a pianist with “assurance and vitality,” Alan Woo made his Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall performing with the Juilliard Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He has since collaborated with conductors Daniel Hege, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Tito Muñoz in solo appearances with the Houston and Fort Worth Symphonies, and the Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra. Other recent performances include solo recital engagements throughout the US, Europe, and Asia.

Woo has been featured on The McGraw Hill Financial Young Artists Showcase broadcasted on WQXR in New York and has performed in venues such as Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel Recital Halls. An avid chamber musician, he has made appearances at the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and Juilliard’s ChamberFest. Other accolades include prizes at the High Point University, Ima Hogg, Iowa and Juilliard’s Gina Bachauer piano competitions.

Born in Arlington, Virginia, Woo is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Peabody Conservatory where he completed degrees in piano performance under Robert McDonald and Yong Hi Moon. He currently teaches at the University of Georgia as Lecturer in Piano, having previously held positions at Elizabeth City State University and Peabody Institute.

Kwan Yi

Pianist Kwan Yi has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kimmel Center, Kennedy Center, Chicago Symphony Center, Mann Performing Arts Center, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, Library of Congress, Metropolitan and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museums, Großer Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks, Auditorium du Louvre, Suntory Hall, and Seoul Arts Center. 

Yi has appeared as a soloist with the Russian National Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the Brevard Festival Orchestra under the batons of Hans Graf, Julian Kuerti, and Mikhail Tartanikov. As a recitalist and masterclass instructor, he has completed residencies at Bowling Green State University, University of Georgia, and Michigan State University. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Miriam Fried, and Roberto Diaz on national tours and was invited to perform at the Kronberg, Ravinia, Trondheim, and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festivals and Carnegie Hall Presents, Curtis Presents, CIM Mixon Hall Masters, and Peoples’ Symphony Concert Series. He has recorded for FHR and Hänssler labels with violinist Itamar Zorman.  

A recipient of many honors and prizes, Yi’s awards include Mieczyslaw Munz Prize, National Federation of Music Clubs Award, and prizes in the Sendai International Piano Competition. 

Yi is a graduate of the Curtis Institute, Juilliard School and the Peabody Institute where he worked with Leon Fleisher and Robert McDonald. He currently serves as assistant professor of piano at the ECU School of Music.