2026 Faculty & Guest Artists

Stephen Beus

Described as “strikingly original… an interpretive voice all his own” (Fanfare Magazine), American pianist Stephen Beus is a concert artist and pedagogue of international renown. Within just four months, he garnered first prizes in both the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition and the Vendome Prize International Competition (Lisbon), and was named the Max I. Allen Fellow of the American Pianists Association (Indianapolis).

Mr. Beus made his Carnegie Hall debut performing Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra under James DePreist, following his win in the Juilliard School Concerto Competition. Since then, he has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras including the Gulbenkian Symphony (Lisbon), Oxford Philomusica, Tivoli Symphony (Copenhagen), Tbilisi National Opera Orchestra, and numerous symphonies across the United States. As a recitalist and chamber musician, he has performed in major venues such as Wigmore Hall, Salle Gaveau and Salle Cortot (Paris), Teatro San Carlo (Naples), Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, and the Central Conservatory in Beijing. His concert tours have taken him to over 20 countries across Europe, Asia, North Africa, and the Americas, with performances at notable festivals and series including the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts (Chicago), the International Keyboard Institute and Festival (New York), and the Fazioli Piano Series.

Born and raised on a farm in eastern Washington, Mr. Beus began piano lessons at age five and debuted with orchestra by age nine. His playing—praised for its effortless technique, tonal richness, and artistic individuality—has earned accolades throughout his career. Fanfare Magazine writes: “Beus doesn’t fit the mold of the typical competition winner… Above all, his playing is so natural as to seem effortless.” The Fort Worth Star-Telegram declared: “We had just about given up hope that America would ever again produce a great native-born pianist. Then… Stephen Beus stepped on stage to present a remarkable performance of one of the most beautiful and difficult works in the piano literature, Rachmaninov Concerto No. 3.”

In addition to his performance career, Mr. Beus is a passionate and highly sought-after teacher. His students have achieved remarkable success, winning prizes at both national and international piano competitions. Many have gone on to perform around the world, gain admission to prestigious institutions such as The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music, and secure teaching positions at respected universities and conservatories.

Mr. Beus holds degrees from Whitman College, The Juilliard School, and Stony Brook University. His principal teachers include Leonard Richter, Robert McDonald, Gilbert Kalish, Christina Dahl, and Paulette Richards. He has recorded for Endeavor Classics, Harmonia Mundi, and Centaur Records, including a complete recording of the solo piano works of Samuel Barber. A Steinway Artist, Stephen Beus is Professor of Piano at Brigham Young University.

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.

Boris Slutsky

Since his orchestral debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony in 1980, Boris Slutsky has appeared on nearly every continent as soloist and recitalist. He has collaborated with eminent conductors and major orchestras including the London Philharmonic; Stuttgart State Orchestra; Bern Symphony Orchestra; Korea’s KBS Symphony Orchestra; the Baltimore, Florida, Utah, and Toronto Symphonies; and major orchestras in Norway, Italy, Spain, Russia, Colombia, Brazil, and South Africa. Slutsky has been heard on recital series throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the Far East, making appearances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Kaufmann Concert Hall, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, National Concert Hall in Taipei, Performing Arts Center in Seoul, and the Teatro Colon in Bogota, among many others.

Slutsky has won first prizes in the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, the San Antonio International Keyboard Competition, and the William Kapell International Piano Competition, where he also received the Audience Prize and the William Backhaus Award. In addition he has won major prizes at the Busoni, Pozzoli, Gina Bachauer, and Glenn Gould/Bach competitions.

An avid chamber musician, Slutsky’s collaborations include the critically acclaimed recording of Schumann’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Ilya Kaler on the Naxos label, as well as performances with many renowned artists.

Slutsky has served as a jury member of many international piano competitions and presented master classes throughout North and South America, Israel, Europe, and Asia. His students have won prizes at numerous important international events.

Slutsky joined the piano faculty of the Peabody Conservatory in 1993 where he taught until 2021, returning in 2024 as Distinguished Professor of Piano. He was visiting faculty at Bienen School of Music of Northwestern University (2017-2018) and Visiting Professor of Piano at Eastman School of Music (2018-2019). In the fall of 2019 Slutsky was appointed to the faculty of The Yale School of Music where he is currently a Professor in the Practice of Piano.

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 Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, and Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra.

Woo’s recent engagements include solo recitals throughout the US, Brazil, Europe, and Asia. He 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. As chamber musician, he has made appearances at the New York Philharmonic Ensembles, Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta, Lake George Music Festival, Chamber Music Athens, Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, and La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest series, among others.

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 an assistant professor of piano, having previously held positions at Elizabeth City State University and Peabody Institute.

Wei-Yi Yang

Pianist Wei-Yi Yang has received worldwide acclaim for his captivating performances and imaginative programming. Winner of the gold medal at the San Antonio International [now ‘The Gurwitz’] Piano Competition, he has performed at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and across America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. His debut at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium as the soloist in Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie was hailed by The New York Times as “sensational.”

In demand as a dedicated educator, Wei-Yi Yang has performed and taught in Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Mexico, Serbia, and Montenegro, among other countries around the world. Most recently, his master class teaching has taken him to Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and Drake Universities, Manhattan School of Music and New England Conservatory, Conservatorio Superior de Música de las Islas Baleares in Spain, Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Boccherini in Italy, Tsinghua University and China Conservatory, among many other esteemed institutions on four continents.

A dynamic musician with a diverse repertoire, Mr. Yang is a frequent guest artist at festivals in Lucca, Italy; Mallorca, Spain; Novi Sad, Serbia; Monterrey, Mexico; Konstanz, Germany; Kotor, Montenegro; Bergen, Holland; and La Jolla and Napa, California; as well as a regular residency at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. He enjoys frequent collaboration with such beloved ensembles as the Imani Winds, the Brentano, Miró, Dover, Pacifica, and Tokyo string quartets. Mr. Yang’s performances have been featured on NPR, PBS, RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana), ARTE (Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne), the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company), and on recordings for Genuin (Leipzig), Hyperion (London), Naxos (Hong Kong), Albany Records, Renegade Classics, and the Holland-America Music Society labels.

Mr. Yang has been steadfast in his interests and efforts in advocating interdisciplinary projects; these include confluence of music with poetry/theatre in collaboration with the illustrious English actress Miriam Margolyes, lecture-recitals on the intersection of Czech music and literature, and multimedia performances of Granados’ monumental piano suite Goyescas under the influence of Goya’s visual art. A keen advocate for the performance and education of newer music, Mr. Yang has worked with several notable composers, including Martin Bresnick, George Crumb, and Ezra Laderman, to prepare their works for premiere and recording.

Born in Taiwan of Chinese and Japanese heritage, Mr. Yang studied first in the United Kingdom and then in America with renowned Russian pianists Arkady Aronov at the Manhattan School of Music and Boris Berman at Yale. Mr. Yang has also worked with eminent pianists Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Vera Gornostaeva, Byron Janis, Lilian Kallir, and Murray Perahia. In 2004, he received his doctorate from Yale University, where he joined the School of Music’s faculty in 2005 as Professor of Piano.

Samuel Gingher