Pavel Nersessian
Associate Professor of Music, Piano
EDUCATION
Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire
EMAIL
pavlo33@bu.edu
PHONE
617-353-3353
“His performance brought a veritable roar of approval from the audience,” wrote the Irish Times, after Pavel Nersessian received the 1st Prize in the GPA Dublin International Piano Competition in 1991. Being one of the most remarkable pianists of his generation in Russia, he is known for his ability to play equally convincingly in the whole palette of the piano repertoire. He won prizes in the Beethoven Competition in Vienna in 1985, the Paloma O’Shea Competition in Santander, and the Tokyo Competition.
Nersessian was a pupil of the famous Central Music School of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, where his teacher was Yu. Levin. Later he was a student of the Conservatoire under Prof. S. Dorensky. Upon graduating from the Conservatoire in 1987 with maximum marks he was invited to join the faculty.
Pavel Nersessian has been touring Russia and surrounding states from the age of eight, and has given performances in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Cannes, Leipzig, Vienna, Budapest, Madrid, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Dublin, Muenchen, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro, Belgrade, Cairo, Kiev, and many other cities.
Mr. Nersessian, by special invitation from the Kirov and the Perm Ballet, performed solo part in Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial based on the music of Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Piano Concerto with performances in the Kirov, Bolshoi, Chatelet and Covent Garden. He also played a solo part in J. Robbins’ ballet “The concert, or The Perils of Everybody” on the music of F. Chopin.
He is known for his collaboration with chamber music groups and other musicians, such as Borodin and Glinka Quartets, National Symphony Orchestra in Russia, Thomas Sanderling, Tugan Sokhiev, Eri Klas, Saulius Sondeckis, Alexander Lazarev, Ken-David Mazur, Pavel Kogan, Alexandre Chernushenko, Mikhail Agrest, Pascal Moragues, Julius Milkis, Evgeny Petrov, Abel Perreira, Benjamin Schmid, Stepan Yakovich, Ani Kavafian, Andrei Gridchuk, Alena Baeva, Philippe Cassard, Yana Ivanilova, Nina Kogan, Mikhail Bereznitsky and many others. He has recorded numerous disks with the compositions of Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Shostakovich, and he has given masterclasses in the USA, Russia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Korea, Brazil, and Japan.
Pavel Nersessian has been working as an assistant in a class of a famous professor S. Dorensky since 1987. Many famous students graduated from this studio during these years: N. Lugansky, V. Rudenko, D. Matsuev, O. Kern, A. Shtarkman, P. Kolesnikov, G. Tchaidze, A. Dossin, F. Kopachevsky, T. Tessman and many others.
In 2005 he became a merited artist of the Russian Federation.
http://www.nersessian.com/en
Konstantinos Papadakis
Lecturer in Music, Piano, Ensemble for Pianists
EDUCATION
Artist Diploma in Piano Performance, Boston University College of Fine Arts
EMAIL
kpap@bu.edu
Born in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, Konstantinos Papadakis has performed in recitals and has collaborated with chamber ensembles and orchestras in the world’s major concert halls and famous artistic centers, such as Wigmore Hall, Jordan Hall, the Athens Megaron Concert Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and St. Petersburg’s Grand Concert Hall, where he performed the world premieres of works by Greek and Russian contemporary composers. The Boston Globe says of his playing: “Papadakis gave a stunning performance displaying great variety of attack, poetic lyricism, and wrists of carbon steel.”
A versatile performer, Papadakis has recorded several works especially written for him by contemporary composers, many of which have been broadcast on radio and television. His distinctions include the prestigious Yannis Vardinoyannis Award, the Esther & Albert Kahn Award, as well as awards at international piano competitions. Equally at home performing Bach’s English Suites or Ligeti’s Etudes for Piano, Papadakis possesses an unusually broad repertory, including some 70 concertos and over 300 works for solo piano, in addition to numerous chamber works.
Commemorating the bicentennial year of Franz Liszt’s birth, in 2011 Papadakis embarked on an ambitious cycle of recitals of some of Liszt’s shorter and less known works. In the spring of 2011 he recorded a new and unique CD of 16 miniature Liszt masterpieces entitled “The Short Liszt.”
An alumnus of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, Konstantinos studied with Anthony di Bonaventura and received an Artist Diploma in Piano Performance. At his graduation in May of 2000, he was honored with the Esther & Albert Kahn Award and was invited to join Boston University’s piano faculty where he remained for several years.
In addition to repeated solo appearances with Boston’s Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Konstantinos holds the prestigious Motoko and Gordon Deane Principal Chair as the Orchestra’s pianist. From 2006 to May 2011 Konstantinos was the “Samuel Barber Artist-in-Residence” at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Currently he is on the piano faculties of the New England Conservatory’s Pre-College and Continuing Education Division and Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. He is a member of the “Ellipsis Trio” and he also directs the Summer Piano Academy in Archanes, Greece.
www.kpapadakis.com
Gila Goldstein
Lecturer in Music, Piano
EDUCATION
Master of Music, Manhattan School of Music; Bachelor of Music, Tel-Aviv University’s Academy of Music
EMAIL
gilagoldstein@aol.com
Pianist Gila Goldstein has performed as a solo artist and a collaborative pianist throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia, Europe, and Israel. She previously taught at Columbus State University in Georgia and the University of Florida, and has given master classes throughout the USA as well as in Beijing and Manila.
A Board member of the American Liszt Society (ALS) and the Founder-President of its NY/NJ Chapter since 1992, Ms. Goldstein is a frequent guest performer at the ALS annual festivals and at the Great Romantics International Festival in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada).
A champion of the music of Israel’s leading composer Paul Ben-Haim in the past decade as a performer and recording artist, Ms. Goldstein has recorded two volumes of his entire piano works and three chamber works on the Centaur label. The recordings have received rave reviews worldwide.
Ms. Goldstein holds a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Mrs. Nina Svetlanova, and a Bachelor of Music from the Tel-Aviv University’s Academy of Music, where her teacher was Prof. Victor Derevianko.
www.gilagoldstein.com
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Victor Cayres
Lecturer in Music, Piano
EDUCATION
BM, Universidade de São Paulo; MM, New England Conservatory; DMA, Boston University
EMAIL
victorcm@bu.edu
Pianist Victor Cayres has performed extensively in Brazil, Europe, and the United States, earning praise for concerts with the Sine Nomine string quartet in Switzerland and as a soloist with such orchestras as the Boston Pops and Brno Philharmonic in the Czech Republic. In Boston he has appeared as a soloist with NEC Philarmonia, Symphony Pro-Musica, Boston University Symphony Orchestra, and in Brazil with Orquestra Petrobras Pro-Musica, Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira, Orquestra Sinfonica and Orquestra de Camera of University of São Paulo. He has collaborated with such conductors as Ronaldo Bologna, Mark Churchill, Marc David, Gil Jardim, Theophanis Kapsopoulos, Keith Lockhart, Norton Morozowisk, Donald Palma, Roberto Tibiriça, and Jan Zbavitel. He has toured with the Orchestre des Jeunes de Fribourg under Kapsopoulos in the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
In 2012 Mr. Cayres was awarded the Respighi Prize, the 2nd prize at the 18th Leos Janacek International Piano Competition in Brno, Czech Republic, and the Zulalian Award at Boston University. Previous achievements in 2013 included first prize at the Boston University Richmond Piano Competition, a recording project with works by David Owens on the Albany Records label, as well as concerts in Brazil, Michigan (Interlochen Center for the Arts), the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and a debut performance at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of New York, conducted by Salvatore di Vittorio.
In the years prior to coming to the United States, Mr. Cayres won competitions in Brazil, including the Gina Bachauer South American Competition, Nelson Freire International Competition, Petrobras International Competition, Magdalena Tagliaferro Competition, Artlivre International Competition, as well as European competitions such as Sommerfestspiele Klavier Wettbewerb in Murten, Switzerland.
Mr. Cayres had the privilege of studying with Brazil’s leading pianists: Roselys Alleoni at the School of Music Maestro Ernst Mahle; and Gilberto Tinetti and Eduardo Monteiro at the University of São Paulo. He also had an opportunity to study for one year at the Hoschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, Germany, while appearing in concert venues in Switzerland. He has performed in masterclasses for John O’Connor, Steve Drury, Philippe Entremont, Stephen Kovacevich, Dai Uk Lee, and John Perry, among others. Mr. Cayres studied with Wha KyungByun at the New England Conservatory, and with Anthony di Bonaventura and Boaz Sharon at Boston University. He serves on the piano faculty of the Boston University School of Music.
www.victorcayres.com
