Seonghyang Kim, born in South Korea, accomplished his bachelor’s degree in Music education and Piano Performance in South Korea and master’s degree in Piano performance from Professor Michael Salmirs at State University of New York at Binghamton. Under Dr. Jack Winerock at the University of Kansas, he earned a doctoral degree in piano performance and studied piano pedagogy from Dr. Scott Smith.
Seonghyang’s extraordinary sense of rubato technique, various colors of sound and wide dynamic range make his interpretation more “artistic”. His expressive playing in virtuosity makes audiences impressive. He also has been accompanying for voice, choir and instrumental ensemble including piano ensemble over 20 years. In South Korea, Seonghyang won in many competitions, he appeared and performed on the KBS (Korea Broadcasting System) Changwon, a radio channel FEBC, and performed at many concerts.
As he wrote his doctoral dissertation “Seymour Fink’s Mastering Piano Technique: Understanding Basic Technical Movements”, Seonghyang has huge interests in the piano pedagogy, particularly in the “how to avoid injury for pianists'. He usually focuses on improving piano technique without injury and he uses various pedagogical ideas for each student appropriately. Currently, he is a faculty at the California Arts University and teaches many young pianists who won many competitions such as IPPA Conero, SYMF, Piano League-Piano Star, IAPC, American Protege and AIPC.
Greek American concert pianist Spyros Karavias started to play the piano when he was 9 years old, performing his first solo recital a year later with works of Bach, Mozart and Chopin. Early musical training includes the violin, french horn, and conducting. Spyros is the recipient of many scholarships, prizes and awards from around the world. He has performed solo and collaborative recitals in Austria, Germany, Italy, France, England, Czech Republic and Spain. Recent American performances in Texas, Kentucky and Antigua, Guatemala. Spyros has taken lessons and participated in masterclasses and piano festivals around the world with famous pianists and renowned pedagogues such as Misha Dichter, Eliso Virsaladze, Leonid Margarius, Pavel Gililov, Andrej Jasinski, Rolf Plagge, and Alan Feinberg among others. He earned his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Piano Performance & Pedagogy (summa cum laude), at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria studying with Prof. George Kern, distinguished pianist and student of the legendary Rosina Lhevinne. Currently he pursues a Doctoral degree in Piano Performance at the University of North Texas. Recently, pianist Spyros Karavias won first prize from 31st Annual International Chopin Piano Competition in 2023 January and will perform in various places as solo recitals, and concertos in advance.
Hailed as “poetic and colorful,” pianist Yuta Sugano is rapidly gaining international recognition for his performances that not only display great facility of the hands, but come straight from the heart. He is known for interpretations that integrate his experience in historical performance practice and piano technology. An avid performer, he has appeared as soloist in Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Spain, and the United States, among others.
Yuta began his piano studies at the age of five, and by age eleven he made his concerto debut performing with the Kansai Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Japan. He has since been a recipient of numerous prizes and scholarships including Meiko Miyazawa Award, Yamaha President’s Award (Japan), Glenn E. LeClair Graduate Piano Award (USA), and Zodiac Music Academy’s Chamber Musician Award (France). An active chamber musician, Yuta Sugano has collaborated with notable clarinetists Boris Allakhverdyan, Stanislav Golovin, and Emil Khudyev, cellists Emanuel Gruber and Kenji Sasaki, and violinist-conductor Farhkhad Khudyev. His recently released solo CD Romanticism in 1828, published by Rose Planet label in Japan, has won glowing reviews from multiple critics and media outlets. Yuta Sugano is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy. As a recipient of the Conservatory Dean Scholarship Yuta attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music and received his Bachelor of Music degree. He earned his Master’s degree in Music from the University of Michigan on a full merit scholarship, and Doctor of Music Art degree with a cognate field in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Kansas, where he served as a graduate teaching assistant. Former teachers and mentors include Kazuko Akiya, Yoshikazu Nagai, Arthur Greene, Steven Spooner, and Meiko Miyazawa. While at the University of Michigan, Yuta also studied historical performance practice and the fortepiano extensively with renowned fortepianist, Penelope Crawford. When he is not performing, Yuta enjoys all things piano. He apprenticed with the piano technology department while at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. There he was trained to tune, service, and rebuild keyboard instruments including the harpsichord, fortepiano, as well as the modern piano. At the University of Michigan, he worked as an assistant piano technician, overseeing the practice room pianos. He has served as guest artist and speaker at the yearly C. F. Theodore Steinway Technical Academy at Oberlin Conservatory since 2009.
As a member of the Music Teachers National Association, Yuta has appeared as presenter and performer at both state and national conferences. He is currently on the faculty at the Arts Academy at the Steinway Gallery of Detroit and is a visiting lecturer of piano and music theory at the Illumine Star Academy in Ontario, Canada.
