Guest Artists

Emre Elivar

Emre Elivar began his studies and graduated from State Conservatoire in Ankara. The DAAD scholarship made his further education and specialization at music academies “Carl Maria von Weber“ Dresden and “Hanns Eisler“ Berlin possible, at latter he obtained his master’s degree and title “Konzertpianist”.

During his studies and early career Emre Elivar won several international music prizes like the triple awards in Bremen in 1999, the bronze medal at “Cidado do Porto” in 1999 and at “World Piano Competition” in Cincinnati in 2000, Steinway-Prize in 2001, Arthur Schnabel Prize in 2002 and Vendôme-Prize in 2003.

Among his concerts in international arena the most important recitals are surely the first performance of Well Tempered Clavier 1 by J. S. Bach in complete in Turkey during the Istanbul International Music Festival in 2005, the “Great Variations” in 2008 again for the Istanbul International Music Festival with works by F. Mendelssohn (Variations Sérieuses op. 54), J. Brahms (both books of Paganini-Variations op. 35) and L. v. Beethoven (Diabelli-Variations op. 120), and his USA debut in Washington DC in 2009, organized by “Embassy Series”, dedicated to rarely performed works by R. Schumann and F. Chopin. In one of his recent concerts the artist bewitched a highly expert audience in Istanbul by works of Shostakovich (Aphorisms op. 13 and the 2nd Sonata op. 61) and Prokofjew (Visions Fugitives op. 22, Sarcasms op. 17, and the 2nd Sonata op. 14). As soloist he performed with orchestras such as Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Staatsorchester Kassel, Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Bursa Regional State Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra etc.

Along with his Bremer recording of the French Suite No. 3 BWV 817 by J. S. Bach and the Concerto No. 1 by F. Liszt, the artist also recorded important works of several Turkish composers and recently as a double album the Three Last Sonatas opp. 109, 110, 111 and the Diabelli – Variations, op. 120 by L. v. Beethoven. His new CD recently released by Sony BMG with works by F. Schubert (Three Piano Pieces D 946) and R. Schumann (Symphonic Etudes op. 13) earned great reviews internationally. The highlight for the season 2009/2010 was definitely his concert in June 2010, totally dedicated to R. Schumann containing both his sonatas, broadcast live to honor Schumann’s 200th birthday by 50 members of EBU (European Broadcast Union).

Emre Elivar has been living in Bursa and working at Uludağ University State Conservatory since 2019.

Mikhail Voskresenskii

Mikhail Voskresenskii commands an international reputation as a pianist in the great Romantic tradition. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory where he studied under Ilia Klyachko, Boris Zemliansky, Yakob Milstein, Lev Oborin (piano) and Leonid Roizman (organ). As student of the famous Lev Oborin, the winner of the First Chopin Competition in 1927, Voskresenskii adopted his teacher’s refined romanticism and perfect taste in harmony with the piano’s splendid sound. The images evoked by his playing suggest contrasting musical colors, never out of harmony, and a charming legato inducing the instrument to sing. ‘His playing fascinates audiences with its artistry, cordiality and ingeniousness. Mikhail Voskresensky is a very talented and intelligent musician’, wrote Oborin about his pupil. Mikhail Voskresensky is Prize-winner of the Schumann International Competition in Berlin, the International Competition in Rio de Janeiro, the George Enescu International Competition in Bucarest and the Van Cliburn Competition in Fort Worth.

In 1957 the young pianist took part in the Prague Spring Festival where he performed European premiere of Shostakovich Second Piano concerto with the presence of Shostakovich himself. In 1966 he was honored with the Merited Artist of Russia award and in 1989 the People’s Artist of Russia.

Mikhail Voskresenskii’s concert geography is very large. He performed with more than 150 conductors in almost all countries of Europe, Japan, Korea, China, Australia, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Kenia, Zimbabwe and Peru. He had wonderful critics in international festivals in Tours, Colmar and Aix-en-Provence: “Voskresensky is not only an outstanding virtuoso, he lives in music and plunges into its depths…” Semaines Musicales, Tours. During his New York debut his performance of Liszt Sonata and 5-th Scriabin sonata was highly estimated. His colleagues in chamber music were Borodin quartet, Shostakovich quartet, Tokyo quartet in New York, violinists M. Yashvili (all violin sonatas of Beethoven in 2004-05 season), R. Nodel and P. Berman, cellists E. Altman and A. Kniazev. Voskresensky’s large repertoire includes all Beethoven sonatas, all works of Chopin, 64 piano concertos with orchestra, played with John Pritchard, Franz Konwitschny, Kurt Mazur, Stanislav Scrowachewsky, Eugeny Svetlanov, Charles Dutoit etc. He recorded more than 50 CD’s. Among them all 27 concertos by Mozart, Liszt’s sonata b minor, all nocturnes, preludes and sonatas by Chopin, all sonatas and etudes by Scriabin, Schumann’s carnivals op .9 and op. 26, Beethoven concerto No.3 in c minor, Brahms second concerto B flat major, etc…

Mikhail Voskresensky is a distinguished professor at the Moscow Conservatory, the chair of the professorship of piano faculty. His pupils have won 111 international prizes including 49 gold medals. Between them Stanislav Igolinsky, Amir Tebenihin, Temirzhan Erzhanov, Yakov Kasman, Alexander Ghindin, Sergej Koudriakov, Sergei Kuznezov, Evelina Vorontsova, Elena Kuznetsova, Mikhail Yanovitsky, Kooryeong Park, Oleg Marshev, Yury Favorin, Varvara Nepomnyaschaya, Sergey Neller, Galina Chistyakova and Nikolay Khozyainov etc… In 2001-2004 professor Voskresenskii taught in Toho Gakuen University in Tokyo where his pupils had won 12 different prizes including Akiko Yamamoto’s triumph at Schumann International competition in Zwickau in 2004. As a competition jurist Mikhail Voskresenskii was in Sydney, London, Leeds, Geneva, Hamamatsu, Tel Aviv, Los Angeles and many others. He was a jury member of the last Tchaikovsky Competition and constantly is the chairman of Scriabin International Competition in Moscow.

Not so long ago he played the first concerto by Shostakovich in Beijing and the first concerto by Tchaikovsky in Shanghai under the button of Charles Dutoit. In the fall of 2007 during the celebration of the 100 anniversary of his teacher Lev Oborin, Voskresensky played in the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory the Forth Concerto by Beethoven under the button of Vladimir Ashkenazi and The Second concerto by Brahms with Leonid Nikolaev.

On June 2nd 2010 Mikhail Voskresenskii completed his Mozart Piano Concertos Series; during 3 years all 27 Mozart piano concertos were performed and recorded live in the Maly (Small) Hall of Moscow Conservatory  under the direction of maestro Leonid Nikolaev (1940-2009) – 16 concertos and under the direction of maestro Konstantin Masluk (11 concertos). Now all 10 CD’s are released. In september 2011 Mikhail Voskresenskii received ‘Prize of Moscow City’ for the performance and recording of all concertos of Mozart.

Olivier Gardon

Olivier Gardon was seven years old when he came to the attention of the Hungarian pianist Lili Kraus. He went on to study at the Conservatoire de Nice and at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique (CNSM) in Paris with Pierre Sancan and Jean Hubeau. Later, he perfected his skills under the guidance of, Géza Anda, Lili Kraus, György Sebök and Jean Fassina.

Mr. Gardon has garnered numerous awards in prestigious international competitions, including the Marguerite Long competition (1973), the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition (1975), the Viotti International Music Competition in Senigallia and the Casella Piano Competition in Naples.

Since then, his career as a soloist and chamber musician has taken him to many of the prominent musical venues of the world. These include the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Salle Pleyel, and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican Center, Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg, the Bunka Keikan and the Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Izumi Hall Osaka, the Dvorak Hall in Prague, the Théâtre Solis in Montevideo, among others.

In addition, Mr. Gardon has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchester, the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio-France, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lille, Busan Philharmonic orchestra, Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors such as Karl Münchinger, Ferdinand Leitner, Pierre Dervaux, Uri Segal, Theodor Guschlbauer, Davis Shallon, Serge Baudo, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Jacques Mercier, Philippe Bender, Jean Pierre Wallez.

Mr. Gardon’s discography includes works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bizet, Debussy, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Milhaud, Schumann, complete piano works by Vierne and complete chamber music by Alkan with Kang Dong Suk and Yvan Chiffoleau (Prix Spécial de la Nouvelle Académie du disque français). In 2011, Bärenreiter published the new urtext edition of Vierne’s piano Préludes and Nocturnes under his revision.

Olivier Gardon teaches piano at the Schola Cantorum Paris. He taught at the HMTM Hannover and at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional (CRR) de Paris. He is regularly invited to teach master-classes in France, Austria, Germany, S Korea, Japan, amongst others.

He has also served as a judge at numerous international competitions such as the Marguerite Long-Thibaud (France), Cincinnati World Piano Competition (US), Tbilisi International Piano Competition (Georgia), Concurso Internacional de Valencia Iturbi, Hastings Piano Competition, and the International Piano Competition Panama.

Sookkyung Cho

Noted for her “sensitive and imaginative” (New York Concert Review) playing, Korean-born pianist Sookkyung Cho has been captivating worldwide audiences with her personal, thoughtful expressionist style.  She has appeared in venues such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, Sarasota Opera House, Baltimore Museum of Art, Montreal Conservatory, Beaux concerts de la releve in Quebec, Château de Fontainebleau in France, and Zijingang Theater at Zhejiang University in China, among others, and was recently heard on Chicago’s WFMT.

A founding member of the New York-based Almava trio, Ms. Cho has also been featured in major music festivals including Yellow Barn, Norfolk, and Sarasota, and was a Performing Associate at Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine.  As a sought-after pedagogue, She has been invited to adjudicate competitions and conduct masterclasses, most recently at New England Conservatory Preparatory School for its Concerto Competition Finals and Walnut Hill School for the Arts for its Honors Chamber Music Auditions. She has also taught as a piano instructor for the LINKS Signature Arts Program at The Juilliard School in New York and as piano and chamber music faculty at NEC Preparatory.  An emerging performer-scholar, she was selected to present a lecture-recital at College Music Society for its biennial International Conference in Korea and has also taught music theory at Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  

Ms. Cho earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Juilliard, where she was honored with John Erskine Graduation prize, and a Master of Music degree from Peabody as a full graduate assistantship recipient, where she also received Grace Clagett Ranney Prize in Chamber Music.  She earned her terminal degree, Doctor of Musical Arts, from Juilliard as a C. V. Starr Doctoral Fellow, where she also taught as a teaching fellow both in Piano Minor and Literature and Materials departments.  Her teachers include Boris Slutsky, Julian Martin, Matti Raekallio, and Jonathan Bass.  Associate Professor of Piano at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, she has also served on faculty at InterHarmony Music Festival in Italy, ESME String Virtual Camp, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan during the summer.