AMBASSADOR PROGRAM

First offered in 2003, the Ambassador Program will again be part of the 2023 Hilton Head International Piano Competition. Competitors will visit Beaufort County schools to perform for groups of enraptured students. They play selections from their competition repertoire as well as favorite native works. There is plenty of time to interact, provide information about the pieces and composers, and to engage in conversation about their musical studies and life in their home countries. Not only do these sessions assist schools in satisfying some state curricular requirements, but they can also be quite entertaining since children often ask unexpected and humorous questions! A few years ago, the HHIPC added senior-living communities to this popular program.

The Ambassador Program is not only an opportunity for competitors to perform and share the experience of mastering their craft in a relaxed setting with young people, but it also gives them a taste of the educational possibilities they are likely to be involved with in the future. As for the students, it is the first time many will have heard classical music, or attended a LIVE musical performance of any kind.

The Hilton Head International Piano Competition believes that these visits awaken musical excitement in the students of Beaufort County and encourage our young people to strive and excel at whatever endeavors they wish to accomplish. It has been challenging the past couple of years to conduct the Ambassador Program. The HHIPC is thrilled to be able reconnect in person with students this year.

These educational visits are made possible through a generous grant from Gulfstream Aerospace.

2023 Participating Schools

JANE COOP, CANADA

Pianist Jane Coop, (www.janecoop.com), one of Canada’s most prominent and distinguished artists, has toured extensively throughout North America, Asia and Europe, performing in Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, Roy Thomson Hall, Salle Gaveau, the Singapore Cultural Center and the Bolshoi Hall of St. Petersburg, Russia. She has been soloist with the principal orchestras of Canada, as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, the Seattle and Portland Symphonies, the Hong Kong Symphony and the Radio Orchestras of Bavaria and Holland, in some forty concerti.

Ms. Coop has received international praise for her 16 releases on the Skylark, CBC and Centaur labels in repertoire ranging from Bach to Barber and beyond, and her radio broadcasts have been heard in Britain, Hong Kong, Poland, Holland, Germany, the USA and Canada.

An invited jury member for many international piano competitions in Calgary (Honens), Maryland (Kapell), Dublin, Hilton Head, Washington (DC), New York and Shanghai, she is a regular artist at both the Orford Academy in Quebec and the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Blue Hill, Maine, performing with members of the Juilliard Quartet and other eminent musicians.

Jane Coop was Professor of Piano and Chamber Music and Head of Piano at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver for over thirty years, and now devotes herself full time to performing. In 2012 she was awarded the Order of Canada for her lifetime achievement and contribution to her country in the arts.

Ms. Coop is a Steinway Artist.

DOUGLAS HUMPHERYS, UNITED STATES

Since winning the gold medal at the first Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, Douglas Humpherys’ concert career has spanned four decades across four continents. Currently listed as a Steinway Artist, he has performed solo concerts and taught master classes throughout Asia, including twenty tours of China, plus engagements in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea.

He has taught master classes at the Central Music School of the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, with concerts in Moscow, Novgorod, Berlin, Hamburg, Prague, Barcelona, Venice, Dublin, the Czech Republic, Montenegro, and Serbia. He has performed throughout the United States and Canada at numerous universities and festivals. Recently, he was a guest artist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and performed at the DiMenna Center Concert Series in New York City. He has concertized and taught in Argentina with Teachers del Norte-Pianists del Sur, a project sponsored by the U.S. Embassy.

Mr. Humpherys completed graduate degrees at The Juilliard School (MM) and the Eastman School of Music (DMA), where he served for twenty years as Chair of the Piano Department and is currently Professor of Piano. During his student days he studied with Nelita True, Martin Canin, and Robert Smith.

His students have won prizes, at among others, the Honens, Cleveland, Virginia Waring, Hilton Head, Washington DC, Poulenc, UNISA, and Sussex (UK) International Piano Competitions, as well as five national first-prize winners of MTNA Competitions. In 2016, Professor Humpherys received Eastman’s Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2021 he was inducted into the Steinway and Sons National Teachers Hall of Fame. He is Artistic Director and Jury Chair of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and has been a faculty member at the Bowdoin, Beijing, Shanghai, Gijon, and Rebecca Penneys International Piano Festivals, as well as the Philadelphia Young Pianists Academy, and the Washington DC, Interlochen, Atlantic, Northern Lights, and North Coast Festivals.

Janice Weber is a summa cum laude graduate of the Eastman School of Music. Following graduation, she was twice a fellowship student at Tanglewood. She has appeared with the American Composers Orchestra, Boston Pops, Chautauqua Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony, New Hampshire Symphony, Sarajevo Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, and the Shenzhen Philharmonic. Solo performances have been at the White House, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Weill Hall, National Gallery of Art, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and the 92nd Street Y.

She has performed at summer festivals in Newport, Bard, and Husum and has toured Yugoslavia, Turkey, and the Baltic States under the auspices of the US Information Service. She has concertized and given master classes in Shenzhen, Kunming, Chengdu, Shenyang, Xian, Beijing, and Gulong Yu, China.

Her eclectic recordings include the complete transcriptions of Rachmaninoff (IMP); with the Lydian Quartet, Leo Ornstein’s vast Piano Quintet (New World Records); waltz transcriptions of Godowsky, Rosenthal, and Friedman (IMP); the world premiere recording of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes in the notorious 1838 version (IMP); solo piano music of Leo Ornstein (Naxos), and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (Ongaku Records). Seascapes, her most recent recording, is a collection of virtuoso pieces depicting the ocean.

An Associate Professor (retired) of the Boston Conservatory piano faculty, Miss Weber has also taught at MIT and New England Conservatory. She is currently Artistic Director of South Coast Chamber Players, an ensemble based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She is the author of eight novels.

ALVIN CHOW, UNITED STATES CHAIR

Alvin Chow has appeared throughout North America and Asia as orchestral soloist and recitalist. In addition, he has performed extensively in duo-piano recitals with his wife, Angela Cheng, and his twin brother, Alan. A native of Miami, Florida, he graduated summa cum laude and Co-Valedictorian (with his brother) at the University of Maryland, where he was a student of Nelita True. Mr. Chow received the Victor Herbert Prize in Piano upon graduation from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Sasha Gorodnitzki, and held the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship at Indiana University as a student of Menahem Pressler.

Mr. Chow has won top prizes in numerous competitions such as the National Symphony Young Soloists Competition, Civic Orchestra of Chicago Young Soloists Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, and the New York Piano Teachers Congress International Piano Competition. He has been presented as recitalist in such cities as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Vienna, Montreal, Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, and has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Pan-Asia Symphony in Hong Kong, Shanghai Philharmonic, and Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, among others. He has also been Convention Artist for the state MTNA conferences in California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, and Tennessee. With Angela Cheng, he performed as Conference Artist for the 2019 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and in 2023 they will present the Advanced Piano Master Class at the National Conference of MTNA. In 2011, a CD of music for four and six hands, recorded with Angela Cheng and Alan Chow, was released by Arioso Classics. It features music by Brahms, Dvořák, Ravel, Milhaud, Corigliano, and Copland.

Mr. Chow has presented numerous master classes and lectures at music institutions throughout the United States and abroad, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Taichung University in Taiwan, Colburn School in Los Angeles, Eastman School of Music, University of Michigan, and Indiana University. He has taught and performed at numerous summer festivals, including the Shanghai Piano Festival, Banff Piano Master Classes, North Coast Piano Festival, Southeastern Piano Festival, New Orleans International Piano Festival, Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, Lake Como Summer Piano School in Italy, and the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria.

Mr. Chow has been a member of numerous competition juries, including the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Iowa International Piano Competition, the Jacksonville International Piano Competition, MTNA Student Competitions, the International Piano e-Competition, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and the Cooper International Piano Competition at Oberlin.

Mr. Chow was the first Fulbright Visiting Artist in Piano at the University of Arkansas, and also taught at the University of Colorado. Mr. Chow has been a member of the artist faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music since 1999, where he serves as Chair of the Piano Department. Mr. Chow was named the Ruth Strickland Gardner Professor of Music from 2011-2014, and also received Oberlin’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016.

ETERI ANDJAPARIDZE, GEORGIA/USA

Eteri Andjaparidze is an acclaimed multifaceted artist and insightful pedagogue. Her discography on Naxos, Marco Polo, and Melodia labels includes Grammy and Deutsche Schallplatten awards-nominated solo albums. She has appeared around the globe in solo recitals, chamber programs, and as a guest soloist with major orchestras and conductors. Her festival engagements include Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival, Mannes Sounds Festival, NYU Summer Piano Intensive, Los Angeles International Piano Symposium, Piano Festival Northwest, Apollo Music Festival, Villa Sandra Piano Academy, Todi International Music Masters, Festival International de Colmar, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Duszniki-Zdroj International Chopin Festival, Neuhaus Piano Festival, and Autumn Tbilisi Music Festival among many others. A Steinway Artist, Andjaparidze has founded and directed special projects and festivals including The United Sounds of America, PianoTheatre, and AmerKlavier, the first piano performance studio named to the International Steinway Artists roster.

She teaches on the piano faculties at NYU Steinhardt and Mannes School of Music and has served as Head of the Keyboard Program and Professor of Piano at DePaul University, the State University of New York, and the Moscow and Tbilisi State Conservatoires, and as Visiting Professor at several conservatories in China.

Born to a family of musicians in Tbilisi, Georgia – her father, Zurab Andjaparidze, the leading tenor with the Bolshoi Opera and mother, pianist Yvetta Bachtadze, a student of Alexander Iokheles – she studied at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire with Vera Gornostaeva. As the youngest participant, Andjaparidze received Fourth Prize at the Fifth Tchaikovsky International Competition and was the first Soviet pianist to win Grand Prix at the Montreal International Piano Competition. Honors include Order of People’s Friendship, Order of Honor, and People's Artist of Georgia.

LUCILLE CHUNG, CANADA/USA

Born in Montréal, Canadian pianist Lucille Chung (www.lucillechung.com) has been acclaimed for her “stylish and refined” performances by Gramophone. Since her debut at age 10 with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra, she has toured with Charles Dutoit in Asia and performed with over 70 leading orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, UNAM Philharmonic (Mexico), St. Louis Symphony, Dallas Symphony as well as all the major Canadian orchestras, including Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver among others.

Ms. Chung has given solo recitals at the finest concert halls in over 35 countries including New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Washington’s Kennedy Center, the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, and Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional. Festival appearances include the Verbier, Dresden, Incontri and Santander festivals.

She graduated from both the Curtis Institute and The Juilliard School before the age of 20. She furthered her studies in London with Maria Curcio, at the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, and in Weimar and Imola, Italy with Lazar Berman.

Chung has received excellent reviews worldwide for her discs of the complete works of Ligeti as well as Scriabin piano works on the Dynamic label. Her extensive discography includes Saint-Saëns Piano Transcriptions and “Mozart & Me” for Universal Canada. For Signum Records, she recently released Poulenc Piano Works, Liszt Piano Works as well as a piano duo CD with Alessio Bax. She is fluent in French, English, Korean, Italian, German and Russian. She and husband, pianist Alessio Bax are coartistic directors of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation and live in New York City with daughter, Mila.

ARNALDO COHEN, BRAZIL

Arnaldo Cohen was born in Brazil and began his musical studies at the age of five, graduating from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro with an honors degree in piano and violin while also studying for an engineering degree. He became a professional violinist in the Rio de Janeiro Opera House Orchestra to earn a livelihood while continuing piano studies with Jacques Klein. At the urging of Klein, Mr. Cohen pursued further training in Vienna with Bruno Seidlhofer and Dieter Weber.

He won first prize at the 1972 Busoni International Piano Competition and has performed with the Cleveland and Philadephia orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and many others. He has played under eminent conductors like Kurt Masur, Kurt Sanderling, Klaus Tennstedt, and Yehudi Menuhin, who described Cohen as “one of the greatest pianists I have ever heard.” In addition to his recital and orchestral appearances, Mr. Cohen has dedicated himself to the art of chamber music. He was a member of the prestigious Amadeus Trio for five years with violinist Norbert Brainin and cellist Martin Lovett.

Mr. Cohen is a Distinguished Professor of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and is the recipient of an honorary fellowship awarded by the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Until 2004, he held a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is a frequent recording artist and has released several recordings on the Naxos, Vox, and BIS labels. Professor Cohen has given numerous master classes in some of the most distinguished academic institutions worldwide and served as a jury member of many prestigious International Piano Competitions such as Chopin in Poland, Van Cliburn in the USA, and Busoni in Italy.

Praised by audiences and critics alike for his fresh interpretations and dramatic presentation style, Yoshikazu Nagai has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout Asia, Europe and America in such venues as Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Concert Hall in China, National Concert Hall in Taiwan, Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall in Canada, Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre, The National Gallery in Washington D.C., and in collaborations with the Ives Quartet, violinists Robert Mann, Anthony Marwood and with orchestras across the country.

He has appeared at many international music festivals and his live performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” RAI Italian National TV, Hong Kong National Radio RTHK4, and on public radio stations in San Francisco, Houston, Cleveland, and Salt Lake City. He is the winner of numerous international piano competitions, including first prize at the 2002 Washington International Piano Competition.

Currently chair of the piano department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Visiting Professor of Piano at the Peabody Conservatory, Nagai has been recognized by the National Foundation for Advancements in the Arts for excellence in teaching and his students are top prizewinners of numerous national and international competitions. Mr. Nagai gives master classes throughout the United States and Asia and has been juror of the Seoul International Piano Competition, Gina Bachauer, World Piano Competition, and E-Piano International Competition among others. Nagai studied with John Perry at Rice University; Paul Schenly and Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was awarded the Malvina Podis Prize in Piano upon graduation; and Duane Hulbert at the University of Puget Sound, with whom he recorded the Glasunov Fantasie for two Pianos, Op. 104.