HaeSun Paik

Ms. Paik seemed every bit the major talent her advance billing suggested.
-- The New York Times


HaeSun Paik has performed throughout the world following her triumphs at major international piano competitions including a gold medal in the 1989 William Kapell International Competition, a silver medal in the 1991 Queen Elisabeth International piano Competition and bronze medal in the 1994 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition as well as a prize in the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition.
Ms. Paik has received critical acclaim for her "sublime musicianship" and "stunning virtuosity." Following her New York recital debut, The New York Times stated: "in programming as well as performance, one could hardly have asked more from a debut recital. Ms. Paik seemed every bit the major talent her advanced billing suggested." Following her Los Angeles debut in the Wilshire Ebell Theater critics noted that, "she was a sensitive and thinking musician first and an awesome technician second."
Ms. Paik has appeared with leading orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra ,the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the KBS Symphony Orchestra, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, The National Symphony of Belgium, the city of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic and the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to concerto performances, she has appeared frequently
in recital including New York's Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. ,Bank of Boston Celebrity Series in Jordan Hall, Boston and also in the concert halls around the world including cities of Belgium, Germany, Luxemburg ,Italy ,France ,Switzerland, England, Russia, Rumania, Argentina, Chile, Japan and Korea.
Recent seasons have included a Performance with France National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, ,a concert tour in Japan with NHK Symphony Orchestra, recital tours in Korea and on the 100international Pianists series in Japan.

She has continued to appear in music festivals throughout the United States and abroad including Monadnock Music Festival, Munich's Beethoven Festivalin Germany, and Radio France Festival, Monpellier Festival, Courchevel Music Festival in France.
Her 2004's concert engagements include solo appearances with Osaka Century Orchestra in Japan, a duo concert tour with the cellist Mischa Maisky in Korea , recitals in France, South America, among others.
Ms. Paik exclusively records for EMI Korea since1997 and her first recording, which has been released internationally by EMI Debut Series, received critical acclaim.Her third recording of all Liszt program was released in Nov. 2003.
As a child, HaeSun Paik demonstrated unmistakable musical talent and began piano lessons
in her native Korea at the age of 4. She is a graduate of New England Conservatory where she was a student of Russell Sherman and Wha Kyung Byun. She was also invited by the prestigious international piano Foundation in Lake Como (Italy), to work with many distinguished international artists. Currently Ms. Paik divides her time between the U. S. and Korea where she teaches at the Seoul National University.
   
   
   




Olivier Gardon



Native of Nice, Olivier Gardon began studying the piano when he was four years old. Two years later, he gave his first concert, and the following year, he played in front of Lili Kraus who was on tour in France at the time. This renowned artist immediately took an interest in Olivier Gardon and encouraged him to continue his vocation. At ten years old, he played Bach's Concerto in D minor at the Opera of Nice, and this first experience of playing with an orchestra was a decisive event.
Then he entered the "Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique" in Paris, with Pierre Sancan, and next year unanimously won First Prize for chamber music in Jean Hubeau's class. He came first in a competitive master class for piano and trained for international competitions, working with Pierre Sancan and guest-Masters such as Geza Anda, Lili Kraus and Georgy Sebok. He won many international prizes; Grand Prix Marguerite Long (Paris, 1973), Prix Reine Elisabeth (Brussels, 1975), Prix International Viotti (Vercelli), Monza, Senigallia, Casella. He also won the Vocation's Foundation Prize and the De Vries Foundation's Prize.
Olivier Gardon then begins a brilliant career as a soloist. He performs in most of the musical capitals of the world.: London, New York, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, Salzburg, Prague, Warsaw, Bucharest, Brussels, Naples, Hong-Kong, Seoul, Bangkok, Sydney, Montevideo, Amsterdam, Turin, Bologna, Johannesburg, Singapore, Delhi¡¦

As a soloist, he is invited by many prestigious foreign and french orchestras: London Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchester, Stuttgart and Prague Chamber Orchestra, B.R.T Symphonic Orchestra, Grand Orchestre de R.T. Luxembourg, London Chamber Players, Shinsei Nippon Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, Philharmonique de Radio-France, Philharmonic Orchestras of Strasbourg, Pays de Loire, Nice, Montpellier, Orchestre National d'Ile-de-France, National de Lille, Orchestre de Cannes-Provence-Cote d'Azur, Orchestre des Concerts Pasdeloup, Lamoureux¡¦
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He also performs under the baton of famous conductors:. Karl Munchinger, Ferdinand Leitner, Theodor Guschlbauer, Uri Segal, David Shallon, SamuelFriedman, Nyklaus Wyss, Daniel Nazareth, Barry Tuckwell, Alexander Anissimov, Valentin Kozhin, Bruno Amaducci, Klaus Weise, Marcello Panni, Irwin Hoffman, Nakano Shinichiro, Thomas Koncz, Jean-Sebastien Bereau, Andre Bernard, Philippe Bender, J-Claude Casadesus, Jean-Marc Cochereau, Pierre Dervaux, Gerard Devos, Cyril Diederich, Jerome Kaltenbach, Pierre-Michel Leconte, Jacques Mercier,Pol Mule, Marc Soustrot, Stephane Cardon, J-Pierre Wallez, J-Jacques Kantorow, Laurent Petitgirard, Frederic Lodeon¡¦

Olivier Gardon is also the guest of many musical festivals:Pragues'Spring, Smetana Festival, Bucharest, Stavelot, Europalia, the 'Fetes Musicales de Touraine', Festivals of Montpellier, Lille, Aix-en-Musique, Sceaux, Saint-Denis, Micem Classique, 'Festival de musique de Cimiez'¡¦
:.
He is Professor at the "Conservatoire Superieur de Paris" - CNR and at the Franco-Japanese Academy of Kyoto.
He is regularly invited as a teacher for master classes in many music Academies: Villecroze, Nice, Courchevel, Fez, Flaine, Taiwan, Japan, Czech Republic, Uruguay, Morocco, Italy¡¦
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He takes part in juries of international competitions : Marguerite Long, Epinal, Tabor (Czech Republic), Shumen (Bulgaria) and also in the C.N.S.M. in Paris and Lyon.
Since April 2001, Olivier Gardon is Artistic Director of the "Academie de Musique" du Mercantour held every spring in Valdeblore, in the Nice neighborhood.
   
   
   
CLAUDIO MARTINEZ-MEHNER



Born in Germany in 1970, Claudio Martinez-Mehner began his music studies at an early age at the ¡°Real Conservatorio Superior de Madrid¡± with Amparo Fuster, Pedro Lerma and Joaquin Soriano. In addition to his piano studies, he participated in the Spanish National Youth Orchestra as a violist and in the Chamber Orchestra of the German School as a violinist, violist and harpsichord player.

Claudio Martinez-Mehner continued his studies at the ¡°Tchaikovsky-Conservatory¡± in Moscow, the ¡°Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia¡± in Madrid, the ¡°Hochschule fur Musik¡± in Freiburg, the ¡°Fondazione per il Pianoforte¡± in Como, Italy; and the ¡°Peabody Conservatory¡± in Baltimore, US. His main professors were Dmitri Bashkirov, Vitalij Margulis and Leon Fleisher. He participated in masterclasses given by Murray Perahia, Fou Ts¡¯ong, Alexis Weissenberg, Karl-Ulrich Schnabel, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and Mstislav Rostropovich, among many others.

At the ages of 13 and 15 Claudio Martinez-Mehner won first prizes with special mention in the German competition ¡°Bundeswettbewerb Jugend musiziert¡±. He was a finalist in the International Piano Competition ¡°Paloma O¡¯Shea¡± in Santander (1990), Spain, and won first prizes in the international competitions ¡°Pilar Bayona¡± in Zaragoza, Spain (1992), ¡°Fondation Chimay¡± in Belgium (1993), and ¡°Dino Ciani¡± in Milano, Italy (1993).

As a soloist he performed in all the major cities in Europe, United States, Russia, Central America and Japan, with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Moscow Philharmonic, Filarmonica of the Teatro Alla Scala, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic, Italian Swiss Radio Orchestra, Norddeutsche Rundfunk, Filarmonia Hungarica and most of the major Spanish orchestras. Claudio Martinez-Mehner is an avid chamber music player and has performed with many ensembles in Europe, the U.S.A and Japan.

During a seven-year long rest due to an injury, he became interested in conducting, attending masterclasses with Robert Spano, Seiji Ozawa and Bernard Haitink. He has been invited as a conductor with the ¡°Orquesta Filarmonica de Santo Domingo¡± and has lead several ensembles of contemporary music. In 1998 he was Associate Music Coordinator and Assistant Conductor of the Spoleto Festival in Italy. During this time he also collaborated with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra on various projects. From 1999 ? 2003 he was Artistic Director of the Lucena Summer School and International Piano Festival.

Currently he is assistant piano teacher to Prof. Dmitri Bashkirov at the ¡°Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia¡±. In addition, he holds a piano teaching position at the ¡°Conservatorio Superior de Musica¡± in Salamanca, Spain. He teaches masterclasses throughout Spain and since 2002 has been performing as a soloist and chamber music player again.
   
   
   




Hee-Sung Joo