August 8-12, 2023 in Oxford, AL USA
Classical Division
Dr. Janet Landreth
Dr. Landreth combines an active career as an artist-teacher, performer, and administrator with international research and travel. She has lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she studied the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos at the Museu Villa Lobos, and in London, England studying Alexander Technique. The recipient of numerous performance awards, she has given recitals and master classes and/or presented her research in France, Spain, Brazil, Bolivia, Italy, China, South Korea and the U.S. She has appeared as a guest in the Deià International Music Festival at Son Marroig in Mallorca, Spain, the III International Latin American Piano Music Conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and the 1st International Villa-Lobos Conference in Paris, France. Janet studied with Jeanne-Marie Darré and Pierre Barbizet at the Académie Internationale d'Eté in Nice, France; John Perry at the Aspen Music Festival & School; Busoni winner, Aldo Mancinelli at the University of Tulsa; and MTNA President, Cecilia Mae Bryant at the University of Oklahoma. Janet retired as Professor Emerita in 2019 after 44 years of teaching at Colorado State University where she was known as a gifted artist-teacher whose students won numerous competitions and awards, including ten that performed as soloists with the Denver (Colorado) Symphony.
Dr. Landreth was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in New York City in October of 2019 and in December of 2019 she performed the Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto with the Changwon Philharmonic Orchestra in Changwon, South Korea. 2021 marks the 10th Anniversary of the International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival, U.S.A. which she founded in 2012.
odyssiad.com/landreth
odyssiad.com
Dr. Luis Sanchez
For over three decades, pianist Luis Sanchez has maintained an active career as soloist, collaborative artist, and teacher. He has appeared in concerts in the United States, South America, Europe, and Asia. He is currently Professor of Piano and Director of Keyboard Studies at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Dr. Sanchez joined the Steinway Artist Roster in 2012. In May 2021, he joined the Frances Clark Center for Piano Pedagogy as Director of International Initiatives.
Praised for his artistry, dazzling technique, and inspiring performances, Luis Sanchez has presented recitals and master classes at Steinway Hall in London, Birmingham Conservatoire (UK), Sala delle Muse at the Teatro Petruzzelli (Bari, Italy), Chiesa di Sant’Agnese in Agnone (Rome, Italy), National Cheng Kung University (Taiwan), the Grieg Academy (Bergen, Norway), the Norwegian Academy of Music (Oslo, Norway), Hangyang University (Seoul, South Korea), the Piano Concert Series International (Louisiana), and throughout the United States. He has also been featured soloist with the Orchestra of New Spain (Dallas), The Texarkana Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ball State Symphony Orchestra, and the Texas A&M University-Commerce Wind Ensemble.
Luis Sanchez enjoys a successful teaching career. Current and former students have been recipient of prizes at national and state competitions including the Texas Music Teachers Association Performance Contest, the National Young Musicians Showcase Competition, the Muncie Symphony Junior Concerto Competition, the Tuesday Musical Club Young Artist Competition in San Antonio, The UT Arlington Competition Festival, among others. Additionally, his students have been accepted at numerous summer programs including Piano Texas, Chautauqua Piano Program, Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, International Masterclasses and Festival in Moulin d’Ande (France). He thoroughly enjoys teaching a diverse group of students from different corners of the United States as well as from Venezuela, Colombia, China, Bulgaria, Russia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Colombia, and South Korea. Since 2014, he has frequently joined the faculty of InterHarmony International Music Festival in Germany and Italy.
He has been a frequent presenter at the Texas Music Teachers Association Convention, Music Teachers National Association, the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society Conclaves, the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, and national and regional College Music Society conferences. Dr. Sanchez has served as an adjudicator for numerous competitions and festivals, throughout the United States and internationally.
Equally at home with the fortepiano and the modern piano, Dr. Sanchez pursued further studies in fortepiano and XVIII century performance practice with Malcolm Bilson, Andrew Willis, and Liv Glaser (Oslo, Norway). In 2012, he was commissioned to write an article on Phil Belt (American builder of fortepianos) for the New Grove Dictionary of American Music and Early Music America.
Born in Argentina, Dr. Sanchez holds degrees from the National Conservatory of Music “Carlos López Buchardo” and Ball State University. His teachers include Ana Litovsky-Grunwald, Graciela Beretervide, Robert Palmer, and Rebecca Penneys.
sanchezpianist.com
tamuc.edu/people/luis-sanchez
Dr. Yakov Kasman
Yakov Kasman’s debut in America in 1997 as Silver Medalist in the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth was the culmination of several competition triumphs and tours in Europe and the Middle East, including prizes at the 1991 Valentino Bucchi Competition in Rome, the 1991 London World Piano Competition, the 1992 Artur Rubinstein International Competition in Tel Aviv, and the 1995 International Prokofiev Competition at St. Petersburg.
Since his American debut, he has given concerts in the United States, South America, Europe, Russia, and Asia, including recitals in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Paul, Atlanta, and Birmingham. He has appeared as soloist with more than seventy orchestras including the Buffalo, Oregon, Pacific, Syracuse, Memphis, Miami, Ft. Worth, Nashville and Alabama symphonies, Athens State Orchestra, the Orchestre de Lille and Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier in France, the Singapore Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Orquestra Simfonica de Baleares (Spain), Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea) and the Moscow Philharmonia Orchestra.
Mr. Kasman has fifteen studio CD recordings on the Calliope label. His two CD set of the recordings of the complete sonatas of Prokofiev was awarded the “Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Academie du Disque” in France in 1996. Other CDs include solo works by Haydn, Scriabin, Stravinsky, and Rachmaninov. The International Piano Quarterly magazine recommended his CD of Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” as one of 14 equally ranked best in a survey of recordings over the past 75 years. His recording of Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1, and Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings, released in 2000, received the “Choc du monde de la musique” award in France, is rated highest for artistry and sound quality by Classics Today.com, and referred to as “superlative” in the American Record Guide. He has also recorded two CDs with Harmonia Mundi, the most recent one with the Pacific Symphony includes Piano Concerto No. 2 by Lukas Foss, released in 2001. In 2003 he completed a recording of all of the Scriabin piano sonatas and in 2004 recorded an All-Tchaikovsky CD featuring “The Seasons” and Grand Sonata in G-Major (Rated 10/10 by ClassicsTodayFrance.com in December 2005). In 2007 he completed a four-CD set of the chamber music of Shostakovich with the Talich Quartet on the Calliope label.
Mr. Kasman is also active as a teacher and adjudicator. He was a jury member of the Busoni International Piano Competition (Bolzano), International Piano Competition in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz (Kiev), the Corpus Christi International Competition, "Merzlyakovka invites friends" All-Russian Piano Competition in Moscow, Kalinnikov International Piano Competition in Orel and for four years has judged the Rocky Mountain Amateur Piano Competition (Colorado Springs). He has been guest artist and faculty at the Piano Texas International Academy and Festival (Fort Worth), and for several years at the International Summer Music Academy in Kiev.
Born in the city of Orel, near Moscow, Mr. Kasman began his piano studies at the age of five. A graduate and postgraduate of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and previously a professor of piano at the Music College of the Conservatory, he is now the Distinguished Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. His students are winners of regional, national, and international competitions.
yakovkasman.com
uab.edu/cas/music/faculty-directory/yakov-kasman