Faculty Biographies 2008

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Pierre Amoyal

Pierre Amoyal, one of the leading violinists of his generation, has achieved worldwide success in a repertoire ranging from Bach to concertos by Berg, Schoenberg and, most recently, Dutilleux. At the age of twelve he was awarded the first prize at the Paris Conservatory. He then studied for five years with Jascha Heifetz in Los Angeles. On his return to Paris, Pierre Amoyal was immediately engaged by Sir Georg Solti for performances of the Berg Concerto with the Orchestre de Paris, launching him on an international career which has seen him performing regularly with the world's great orchestras and conductors, among them von Karajan, Ozawa, Maazel, Solti, Prêtre, Frühbeck de Burgos, Rozhdestvensky, Sanderling, Dutoit and Boulez. His appearance with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under von Karajan was followed by many further performances with this orchestra, including the German premiere of the Dutilleux Concerto under Lorin Maazel. He is an annual guest with the major French orchestras and also appears throughout Europe, the Far East, the United States and Canada.

Highlights of the 2004-2005 season include concerts in Barcelona, Belgium, Paris, Montpellier, Toulon, Duisburg and, in June, his third tour in New Zealand. He will be a jury member of the New Zealand International Competition 2005, the Sibelius International Competition 2006 and the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2006.

Pierre Amoyal's numerous recordings for Decca include works by Fauré, Chausson, Franck, Saint-Saëns and Respighi, as well as the Dutilleux Concerto in the presence of the composer. His most recent recordings for Harmonia Mundi include Prokofiev's integral works for violin and piano, the three Grieg sonatas and the Brahms violin sonatas, all with Frederic Chiu, and the Violin Concerto of René Koering.

Pierre Amoyal was appointed a professor at the National Conservatory in Paris at a very young age and now teaches at the Lausanne Conservatory. He is the artistic director of the Lausanne Summer Music Academy, devoted exclusively to the violin/piano repertoire, which he originated with Alexis Weissenberg in 1991 and now co-directs with Bruno Canino. The Camerata of Lausanne, consisting of fourteen young musicians from around the world, was founded by Amoyal and performs in prestigious festivals and concert halls in France, Switzerland and Italy. He again joins the faculty of TIHMS in 2008.

Awarded the Prix du Rayonnement de la Fondation Vaudoise pour la Création Artistique in 2002, he plays the Kochansky Stradivarius dating from 1717, miraculously recovered in Italy after its theft in 1987.

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Serguei Azizian

The Armenian/Danish violinist Serguei Azizian studied in Yerevan/Armenia and continued his study at the Leningrad Conservatory until 1986. Already in 1980 he was violinist of the famous Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra and he came to Denmark as concertmaster of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra in 1993, a position he still holds. Sinds 1996 Serguei Azizian is professor for violin at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Azzian is a violinist with a broad repertoire performing regularly in many European countries as well as in the United States of America. His many CD recordings show a wide spectrum of composers, from chamber music to solo caprices of Paganini and contemporary repertoire.

Lluis Claret

Born in Andorra in 1951, from exiled catalan parents, Lluís Claret begins his musical studies at the age of 9.
His musical future will be strongly marked by his contact with great teachers as Maurice Gendron, Radu Aldulescu and Enric Casals (Pablo Casals brother) who, besides not being a cellist, will be his principal musical adviser for many years. His meetings with György Sebök, Eva Janzer and Bernard Greenhouse will be also decisive for the development of his artistic personality.

First Prizes at Casals (1976) and Rostropovitch (1977) Competitions help to project his international career to the principal capitals of Europe, America and Asia, invited by orchestras like Washington National Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, English Chamber, France National Orchestra, and others from Tokyo, Seoul, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Bamberg, Moscu, Madrid, Barcelona...Under the baton of Vaclav Neuman, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Pierre Boulez, Karl Münchinger, Dimitri Kitaienko, Sakari Oramo and Georges Malcom among others.
Chamber music and teaching are an important and essential part of Lluís Claret professional activity.
He founded the Barcelona Trio (1980-1993), performs regularly with the pianists Josep-Maria Colom and Benedicte Palko and collaborates very often with other prestigious musicians at Festivals like Kuhmo, Naantali, Ernen, l'Epau, Pablo Casals (Prades), Granada, Seoul...

His is actually teaching at the "Victoria dels Angels" Music School at Sant Cugat (Barcelona) and the Toulouse Conservatory (France), and gives Master Classes in France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, USA, Japan and Korea.
Together with Bernard Greenhouse he conducts a seminar at the Abbey of Fontfroide (France).

Regularly Lluís Claret is invited as Jury Member of International Competitions ( Rostropovitch-Paris, Paulo-Helsinki, Pablo Casals-Kronberg, Adam- New Zealand...) and he is the Chairman at the International Cello Competition "Lluís Claret", City of Moguer (Spain).
His great interest in contemporary music brought him to a close professional  collaboration with Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutoslawski, Kristoff Penderecki, Joan Guinjoan, Iannis Xenakis and Pierre Boulez.

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Dmitri Ferschtman

Dmitri Ferschtman was born in Moscow in 1945. He started his musical education at a very early age at the Central Music School in the same city, continuing in 1964 at the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied with Professor Galina Kozoloepova and Professor Natalia Gutman. In his second year at the conservatory, he became one of the founders of the Glinka String Quartet, which won a first prize at an international string quartet competition in Belgium in 1969. In July 1975 he took part in a recording of a work by Shostakovich conducted, until several weeks before his death, by the composer himself.

Following a recording of the Mahler Piano Quartet in Russia one month before his departure, Dmitri Ferschtman took up residence in the Netherlands, where he began a new career as a soloist, chamber musician, duo-partner with his wife, pianist Mila Baslawskaya, and soloist with many orchestras under such conductors as Frans Brüggen, Kenneth Montgomery and Edo de Waart. In addition, Ferschtman has been principal cellist in various Radio Broadcast Orchestras and is now affiliated with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

Dmitri Ferschtman has an extensive discography as well, with CD recordings of works by Bloch, Brahms, Debussy, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Reger, Schumann, and Russian composers Miaskowski, Schnittke and Shostakovich. His CD recording of various works of Prokofiev with pianist Ronald Brautigam won high praise in the international press.

Ferschtman is a professor at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He gives master classes in Germany, France, Japan and, since 1988, at the Summer Academy of The International Holland Music Sessions. Mr. Ferschtman plays a Domenico Busan cello dating from 1766.

Boris Berman

Born in Moscow, Boris Berman studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Lev Oborin and graduated with distinction as both pianist and harpsichordist. He performed extensively throughout the former Soviet Union as a recitalist and appeared as guest soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Moscow Philharmonic and the Moscow Chamber orchestras. In 1973 he left the Soviet Union to immigrate to Israel, quickly establishing himself as one of the most sought-after keyboard performers and a highly influential musical personality. Presently residing in the USA, he continues to perform internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with the world's most prestigious orchestras and conductors.

Mr. Berman's acclaimed recordings on the Philips, Deutsche Gramophon and Melodia labels have been complemented with 2 CDs of the complete piano sonatas of Scriabin for the Music and Arts label and a recital of Shostakovich piano works (Ottavo), which received the Edison Classic Award in Holland. The recording of three Prokofiev concertos with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Neeme Järvi (Chandos) marked the beginning of an ambitious project of recording the complete Prokofiev solo piano works. The first pianist ever to undertake this task, Mr. Berman has released it on nine Chandos CDs to great critical acclaim. His most recent discography shows the breadth of his repertoire: a disc 'Debussy for Children' (Ottavo); two releases of works for prepared piano by John Cage (Naxos - named Top Recording by the BBC Music Magazine); piano quintets of Shostakovich and Schnittke with the Vermeer Quartet (Naxos); and a recording of Scott Joplin's Ragtimes (Ottavo).

A dedicated teacher of international stature, Boris Berman has served on the faculties of Indiana (Bloomington), Boston, Brandeis and Tel-Aviv universities. He currently heads the Piano Department at Yale School of Music. In 2000, the prestigious Yale University Press published his book 'Notes from the Pianist's Bench', in which Berman draws on his vast experience as performer and teacher to explore issues of piano technique and music interpretation. Mr. Berman is a frequent jury member of international competitions such as Leeds, Dublin and the Artur Rubinstein Competition in Tel-Aviv. Mr. Berman regularly gives international master classes and he was director of the Yale Summer Piano Institute (1990-92) and of the International Summer Piano Institute in Hong Kong (1995-97). In 2008 he again joins the faculty of The International Holland Music Sessions.

Willem Brons

Musical versatility has always been – and remains to this day – the credo of Willem Brons. Thus he studied the piano under Karel Hilsum at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum, while at the same time studying the organ under Piet Kee. Later, he spent a period of intensive study in Geneva with the eminent pedagogue Louis Hiltbrand, friend and assistant of the legendary Dinu Lipatti.
 
In 1969, Willem Brons made his début in the Kleine Zaal of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, which was warmly acclaimed by the Dutch daily newspapers. However, back in 1966 he had already come to the attention of the celebrated critic of the day, J. Reichenfelt. After a recital dedicated in its entirety to compositions by Bach, the critic wrote the following: “…an unusual, liberating evening of Bach…” and later on added: “…Willem Brons does not indulge himself in the music, but rather experiences Bach with the greatest of naturalness”.
 
Shortly afterwards, this critic remarked on Brons’ great commitment to and affinity with the late compositions of Beethoven, such as the Hammerklavier Sonata and the Diabelli Variations. Thus Reichenfelt wrote as follows after hearing these compositions during recital: “…There are many who play the oeuvre of the late Beethoven, but only few have the true calling for these works. Willem Brons belongs to this rare group of artists: he is mentally welded to Beethoven’s style”.
 
From 1971 onwards, Schubert’s sonatas also became a regular component of Brons’ repertoire. Not only in his own country, but also – and especially – in Japan and Russia, he is considered one of the most prominent Schubert interpreters of our times. Naturally, his repertoire is not limited to Bach, Beethoven and Schubert. For instance, in April 2001 he gave the first performance in the Netherlands of the piano version of Haydn’s Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuz. Virtually unknown works by Schumann also attract his attention. Thus he is an indefatigable champion of the composer’s highly moving Gesänge der Frühe.
 
And of course, we must not forget Mozart: after all, he has performed a great many piano concertos by this composer with the Concertgebouw Orchestra (following invitations from Marius Flothuis), the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nederlands Kamerorkest (Netherlands Chamber Orchestra) and many others, not just in the Netherlands, but also in England, Belgium, Germany and Japan. Willem Brons also gives regular recitals dedicated to Mozart’s repertoire for piano solo.
 
Typical for the above-mentioned versatility of Willem Brons is his commitment to historical instruments, particularly the early 19th-century Viennese piano, with which instrument he regularly performs and records. In this respect, he has given recitals at the Antwerpiano in Antwerp, the Festival Oude Muziek (Festival of Old Music) in Utrecht, in Berlin and in Hamburg.
 
In addition to his impressive career as a concert pianist, Willem Brons has also gained a significant reputation as a teacher and lecturer. As such, he lectures on highly diverse subjects, such as the specific style of César Franck, aspects of Brahms as a progressive composer, and Bach’s Wohltemperierte Klavier. He includes the Wohltemperierte Klavier in his regular recital repertoire, and has already performed this music in the Netherlands, Austria, Russia and Japan. He also writes numerous articles for magazines on all kinds of musically interesting subjects. Furthermore, Willem Brons has been associated with the Amsterdam Conservatoire since 1968, where he not only teaches piano, but also chamber music and Lied accompaniment. In addition, he forms a duo with the well-known singer, Udo Reinemann. In 2001, he performed Schubert’s three great Lieder cycles with Udo Reinemann, as well as Wolf’s Mörike Lieder together with Christianne Stotijn.
  
In 2006 a Mozart SACD on label Eusebius (EUS61391) was released which received an enthusiastic resonance in the national press. Further recording projects are the last three Schubert sonatas, the last three Beethoven sonatas and the complete Wohltemperirte Clavier of Bach.
 
Since 2006 Willem Brons is member of the jury of the Sendai Competition. Mr. Willem Brons will also be a member of the jury at the XV International Schumann Competition that takes place in june in Zwickau, Germany. He joins the International Holland Music Sessions for the first time in 2008.

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Jan Marisse Huizing

Jan Marisse Huizing, artistic director of TIHMS since 2003, has been involved with TIHMS since 1989 as advisor and faculty member. He studied piano at the Amsterdam Conservatory with Jaap Spaanderman and harpsichord at the Brabant Conservatory with Jaap Spigt. After graduating with soloist degrees in both instruments, he continued his piano study with Heinz Scholz at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and with Jan Ekier at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw. In 1961 he won the 1st prize at the national piano competition of the Jeunesses Musicales and from then on performed as soloist, with chamber music ensembles and in productions with the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Dance Theatre (NDT).

In 1973 he was appointed professor at the Amsterdam Conservatory where he has established a reputation as a renowned piano pedagogue. Mr. Huizing has been involved as artistic advisor in many productions, among them the Grand Piano Festival in Amsterdam and the Chopin Festival in Groningen and was for many years a member of the board of EPTA (European Piano Teachers Association) in the Netherlands. He regularly publishes articles about music and interpretation in such magazines as ‘Piano Bulletin’ and ‘Mens & Melodie’ and, under the name 'John Marisse', he has published piano music for children.

His book 'The Chopin Etudes in Historic Perspective', published by De Toorts in Haarlem, appeared in 1996. Jan Marisse Huizing is regularly invited to give master classes at the conservatories of Berlin, Paris and St. Petersburg and he participates in Festivals in Antwerp, London and Prague. He is a sought-after jury member at competitions such as the Petrof Competition, International Johannes Brahms Piano Competition in Hamburg, the European Gina Bachauer Competition, the Quatre-Mains Piano Competition in Antwerp and the 'Jeunesses Musicales' international piano competition in Bucharest.

Jan Marisse Huizing is the founder of the Lipatti-Haskil-Foundation, initiated in 2004 as a tribute to both Romanian musicians Dinu Lipatti and Clara Haskil, and their art. (See website).

Geoffrey Madge

Australian pianist and composer Geoffrey Douglas Madge began his study at young age with Clemens Leski at the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide. In 1963, after winning first prize in the ABC piano competition in Sydney, he went to Europe to study with Eduardo del Pueyo in Brussels and Geza Anda in Luzern.

Interested in unknown repertoire Madge started already in the beginning of his career investigating the music of Russian composers around the revolution and brought many forgotten works from Mossolov, Lourié, Roslavetz, Wyschnegradsky and many others back to the attention of the public. Geoffrey Madge's recitals therefore show many times a combination of works of baroque, classical, 19th century and contemporary works and often in a combination of well-known and unknown compositions.

In 1996 at the Adelaide Festival he performed in 3 or 4 recitals epoch-making works of the whole piano literature including a performance of the Berlioz/Liszt Symfonie Fantastique. But also Bach's Goldberg Variations, the complete Well-tempered Clavier and works like Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, the Hammerklavier Sonata, Reger's Bach Variations and the Debussy Etudes are in his repertoire.

Important for Madge was also his meeting in 1970 with the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis, prior to Madge performance of "Herma" at the Wigmore Hall in London. Under supervision of Xenakis Madge performed his complete piano solo works, ensemble works and both piano concertos. Geoffrey Madge's cooperation with Xenakis was also very successful at the Xenakis Festival in 1975 in Athens with performances of Herma, Evryali and Synaphai. In 1975 Madge recorded for Decca the first piano concerto "Synaphai - connexities for piano and orchestra" with the New Philharmonia Orchestra under Elgar Howarth and performed this important work with conductors like Michel Tabachnik, David Porcelijn, Cristobal Halfter and others. Since then many Xenakis performances have followed of which Eonta, for piano and 5 brass players.

Through his connections with the Greek music-world the Skalkottas Society in Athens invited him in 1979 for the first performance of the 32 Piano Pieces by Nikos Skalkottas during the 1979 ISCM Festival.. This was the start of many performances of the cycle and a long-time relationship with Skalkottas. In 1998 the Swedish label BIS invited him to take part in their Skalkottas project. In 1999 Piano Concerto no. 1 under Nikos Christodoulou with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra was released and in 2004 Piano Concerto no. 3 with Nikos Christodoulou and the Caput Ensemble followed by Piano Concerto no. 2 in 2005, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Nikos Christodoulou. Performances of Skalkottas' 1st concerto have followed in a.o. Berlin.

Also Geoffrey Madge became known worldwide through his integral performances of the "Opus Clavicembalisticum" by K. Sorabji. He was the first and only to get permission from the composer to perform the work. Since the first complete performance of O.C. in the Holland Festival (Utrecht) on 11/06/82 more performances of the complete, almost 4 hours, work have followed in Chicago, Bonn, Montreal, Paris and the last one in Berlin (Berliner Festspiele) on 12/03/02. The release of the 5 CD production of the Chicago performance, recorded by WFMT-FM Chicago was produced by the CD label BIS.

Another interesting composer for Madge is the Italian pianist/composer Ferruccio Busoni. Madge recorded for Philips in 1988 Busoni's solo piano works on 6 CD's, a recording that won an Edison and the Belgian Caecilia Prize. These 6 CD's have recently been re-issued on ArkivMusic in the USA. His performances of the monumental Busoni Piano Concerto in a number of international festivals have received rave critical response. More CD releases include Bach/Busoni transcriptions, works by Godowsky, Mitropoulos, Reubke, Krenek, Wolpe, Xenakis, Russian music from the 1920's, Medtner's three piano concertos and Gershwin's works for piano and orchestra.

Not only being a pianist but also a composer Geoffrey Madge wrote string quartets, songs and works for piano solo, a ballet "Monkeys in a cage" (premiered in the Sydney Opera House in 1977) and a piano concerto (premiered in Amsterdam in 1985).

During the last years Geoffrey Madge has been performing chamber music with his ensemble "Camerata Busoni". This ensemble has various formations and its programmes extend from solo works through to piano quintets.

Geoffrey Madge is a guest-professor of piano at the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague and has given masterclasses in Russia, Poland, France, England, Australia and Holland. In 2005 he was awarded in Cracow, Poland, the prestigious Silver Medal "For Merits to Culture Gloria Artis" for his very prominent artistic creations and great contribution to culture.

Matti Raekallio

Matti Raekallio's concert appearances have taken him as far afield as Japan, though he plays especially often in the USA. His engagements have included many of the leading music festivals, such as in Berlin's Klavierforum 1999, where he presented the 10 sonatas of Scriabin in one concert. His repertoire includes over 60 piano concertos, both standard repertoire including all the Beethoven, Brahms and Prokofieff concerti, and many rare works such as Hummel or Anton Rubinstein concertos, the Busoni Concerto, as well as several Finnish concertos. Solo recitals often concentrate on a single composer and genres, such as all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas, which he has performed as a series eight times in all. His Beethoven cycles included a sold-out, eight-concerts-in-eight-days marathon, broadcast nationwide by PBS, at the first Irving S. Gilmore Piano Festival in the USA. He also plays practically the complete keyboard works of Prokofiev, the entire output of Finnish composer Toivo Kuula (which he also recorded for MILS) and all the Chopin and Liszt etudes.

He has made close to 20 recordings, mostly for Ondine label; the three-CD-series containing the complete Prokofiev sonatas has won particular international recognition. His CDs of Englund's Piano Concerti (Ondine, 2003) and of Palmgrens Third Concerto (Finlandia Label, 1989) were elected "Record of the Year" by the Finnish National Radio.

Helsinki-born Matti Raekallio has taught piano at the Sibelius Academy since 1978, where he was Acting Professor 1993-94, Associate Professor 1994-98 and Professor since 1998. He has also been Visiting Professor at the Western Michigan University (USA) 1984-85, the Berlin Hochschule der Knste 1998, the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv and the Vienna Music Academy in 1999. He has given summer schools and other master classes in Finland and the USA. He joins the International Holland Music Sessions for the first time in 2008.