Pianist / Sergei Babayan

Acclaimed for the immediacy, sensitivity and depth of his interpretations,
Sergei Babayan's performances reveal an emotional intensity and bold energy,
equipping him to explore stylistically diverse repertoire. He is known for his innovative rogramming,
often including modern works by composers such as Lutoslawsky, Ligeti and Arvo Part, and extending the boundaries of mainstream repertoire for which he continues to be acclaimed, excelling in Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann as much as the Russian heritage of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Prokofiev. His philosophy that a recital should reveal a spiritual dimension, results in playing which sustains an intensity which never fails to captivate.
His performances of J S Bach, have always gained him both public and critical acclaim,
and he firmly believes that the natural evolution of the keyboard instrument has led to today's modern piano which allows the music to be fully expressed in this modern incarnation.

A student of such legendary teachers and musicians as Gornostayeva, Naumov,
Pletnev and Vlasenko in the Moscow Conservatory, he was, however,
not permitted to leave the country and be free to compete and study in the West.
He was the first pianist from the former USSR who was able to compete without government sponsorship after the collapse of the system.

Immediately after his first trip outside of the USSR, he won consecutive first prizes in several major international competitions including the -Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition (formerly the Cleveland International Piano Competition) (1990) -The Palm Beach International Piano Competition (1990), -The Hamamatsu Piano Competition (1991) -The Scottish International Piano Competition (1992 ). He is also a Laureate of the Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition, the Busoni International Piano Competition, and the Esther Honens International Competition in Calgary, Canada. Since that time he has had major engagements and concert tours throughout Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, South America and the USA.

His New York recitals at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, and Detroit Symphony met with huge critical acclaim,
as have his many subsequent recital and concerto performances throughout all the major cities
in the US. His concert schedule has included performances and broadcasts throughout major European cities and extensive tours of Japan. He appeared with recitals in such important venues as Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Bolshoy Zal of Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory,
and countless others.

In recent seasons he performed recitals in New York City, London, Hannover, Manchester, Bruxelles, Glasgow, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Grenoble, Tours, Warsaw, Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Seattle, Atlanta, Miami, and New Orleans..

Sergei Babayan appeared in numerous major music festivals in France, Germany, UK, Poland, Spain, and the US. His concerts have been broadcast by WQXR, WCLV, Radio France,
Polish Radio and Television, BBC-TV and NHK Satellite Television. He has made several highly praised recordings for EMC, Connoisseur Society and Pro Piano labels. His recordings of Scarlatti, Ligeti, Messiaen, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Ravel, Schubert, Liszt, Vine, Respighi and Prokofiev garnered high acclaims including a “critic's choice” in the New York Times praising Babayan’s
“extraordinary technique and ability to play densely harmonized works with illuminating transparency and a daunting measure of control”. American Record Guide joins in these accolades praising his “phenomenal level of color and imagination”. About the recording of Scarlatti Sonatas American Guide says: “It can stand proudly besides that of Horowitz...”

Mr. Babayan has appeared with many major orchestras throughout the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Nationale de Lille, and New World Symphony. His performances with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra were received with great enthusiasm by audiences and critics alike. He has collaborated with such conductors as Yuri Temirkanov, Neeme Jarvi, Hans Graf, David Robertson, Kazimierz Kord and Michael Christi, and his concerto repertoire is constantly growing - at this point he has 51 concertos which have been performed.

His unusual and imaginative recital programming has always elicited interest and praise. Mr. Babayan is an enthusiastic advocate of new music and has an immense repertoire.

Sergei Babayan’s deep interest and love for the music of Bach has led him to study more recently with Helmuth Rilling. Always in search of the new, Sergei Babayan studied conducting in order to deepen his understanding of the orchestra, to be able to study and perform some of the music of the 20th century which is particularly interesting for him, as well as to conduct piano and orchestra repertoire from the keyboard. In this role, he already has performed music of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schnittke, Part, Vasks, Schedrin, and Prokofiev.

In May of 2006 Sergei Babayan was invited by Valery Gergiev to perform Lutoslawsky piano concerto in the XIV International Festival “Stars of the White Nights” in St. Petersburg with the orchestra of Mariinsky Theatre. Performance was highly praised in major Russian publications
and met with great enthusiasm by the audience. He has recently invited by Gergiev to
perform Prokofiev ‘s 3rd piano concerto in his Easter Festival, and will return to London in 2010 to perform at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Gergiev.
Other recent highlights include the Prague Spring Festival with the Janacek Chember Orchestra
and an acclaimed recital at the 92nd Y in New York.

Pianiat / HaeSun Paik (Artistic Director)

HaeSun Paik has performed throughout the globe following her triumphs at major international piano competitions, including top prizes at the William Kapell (U.S.A., 1989), the Leeds (England, 1990), the Queen Elisabeth (Belgium, 1991), and the Tchaikovsky (Russia, 1994) International Piano Competitions.

Ms. Paik has appeared with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, National Symphony, London Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Radio France Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic and Russian National Orchestra among others.

In addition to concerto performances, she has appeared frequently as a recitalist in the U.S.
at such venues as New York's Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in
Washington D.C., Jordan Hall in Boston and in various major concert halls around the world.
Miss Paik has also collaborated with many distinguished artists in concerts including
Mikhail Pletnev, Mischa Maisky and Myung Whun Chung.

She has continuously appeared in music festivals throughout the United States and abroad, including the Beethoven Festival in Munich (Germany), Radio France Festival in Montpellier (France), Courchevel Music Festival (France), Beijng International Music Festival & Academy (China), Agassiz Music Festival (Canada), IKIF in New York, Piano Summer in SUNY-New Paltz and Busan Music Festival in Korea.

Ms. Paik is also one of the most influential pedagogues in Korea. She was the youngest pianist to be appointed as a music professor at Seoul National University. After teaching at the university for 10 years, she decided to leave her position to devote more of her time to numerous performance engagements and broaden her musical horizons. Currently, she gives master classes at institutions worldwide and teaches at many international music festivals. She has also served as a juror at the Bosendorfer International Competition in Arizona. Ms. Paik divides her time between the U.S. and Korea, where she is the artistic director of the Busan Music Festival.

Ms. Paik records exclusively for EMI Korea. Her first recording was released internationally by EMI on the Debut Series and has received much critical acclaim. Her fourth recording entitled 'Best of HaeSun Paik' was just released in late 2009. Recently,

Ms. Paik recorded the complete works by Beethoven for Cello and Piano with cellist Laurence Lesser. This will be released by Bridge Records in 2010.

HaeSun Paik began her musical studies in her native Korea. At 14, she came to the U.S. to study music at Walnut Hill School for Performing Arts in Boston and subsequently graduated from 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) where she worked with many renowned international artists.

Pianist / Soo-Jung Shin

SOO-JUNG SHIN received her musical training at the Seoul National University, the Vienna Academy of Music and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Her teachers include Chung Jin-Woo, Josef Dichler, Leon Fleisher, Wilhelm Kempff and Maria Curzio Diamond. She won many prizes in music competitions including the Dong-A National Competition in Korea, the Elena Rombro Stepanow Competition in Vienna, etc. She was also awarded the Korean Academy of Arts Award and honored with the Order of Ok-Kwan Culture Medal.

She has performed with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, KBS and NHK Symphony under the batons of Lim Won-Shik, Leon Fleisher, Wolfgang
Sawallisch, Yuzo Toyama, Sir John Pritchard, Asahina Takashi, Iwaki Hiroyuki and others. She appeared with the world famous performers such as Ruggiero Ricci, Nicolai Gedda, Janos Starker, Chung Kyung Wha and others.


She has served on the juries of many prestigious competitions including the ARD, Dong-A, Tokyo, Koln, UNISA, Dublin, Hamamatsu, Sendai and other international music competitions.

SHIN has taught at the Seoul National University, the Seoul School of Arts, and the Kyung Won University. She served as Dean of the School of Music for 8 years at Kyung Won University. In 2000 she returned to the Seoul National University where she started her teaching career in 1969 as the youngest faculty member at its College of Music. She became the first woman dean of the College in 2005 until her retirement in 2007. After her retirement, she is busy with chamber music, master classes and other musical activities. She is Director of Mozart Concert Hall and Chairperson of the GMMFS(Great Mountain Music Festival & School ) Committee.