Fellows for First Toradze Concerto Institute at IUSB selected

By Gail Hinchion Mancini

Ten of the most promising young talents on the international piano scene are headed to Indiana University South Bend next month for the first Toradze Concerto Institute, a week of intensive piano coaching and career development seminars.

Toradze to perform with the Kirov Orchestra Nov. 9 at IUSB As a highlight of the new concerto institute, a performance by IUSB's Alexander Toradze with the Kirov Orchestra, conducted by Toradze's friend, Valery Gergiev, is planned Nov. 9. For ticket information, call the Northside Hall box office at 765-237-4203. Related Links: http://www.iusb.edu/~artevent http://www.iuinfo.indiana.edu/homepages /041098/text/toradze.htm

The fellows will have one-on-one concerti coaching with a faculty of four internationally renowned pianists Nov. 3-9. They also will attend seminars by the non-musicians who make or break a performance career: from the directors of the most famous competitions and music festivals to a Grammy-Award winning recording producer to the namesake of one of classical music's most successful management teams. Several music critics also will be on staff.

The 10 charter fellows are:

1. Zoltan Marczi, a student of Richard Morris of the University of Cincinnati

2. Jura G. Margulis, a student of Leon Fleisher of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Md.

3. Baruch Meir, a student of institute concerto coach Robert Hamilton of Arizona State University

4. Anton Mordasov, a student of Tamas Ungar at Texas Christian University

5. Tatsuya Nagashima, a student of Ian Hobson of University of Illinois

6. Wonny Song, a student of Anton Kuerti

7. Marc Durand of Toronto University; Naoko Takao, a student of Santiago Rodriguez of the University of Maryland

8. Anastasia Voltchok, a student of Rudolf Buchbinder of the Music Academy of Basel, Switzerland.

9. Andrew Le, a fellow from the University of Michigan

10. Sean Botkin, a Juilliard student and Iowa native

The four piano coaches will be Alexander Korsantiya, Toradze Piano Studio faculty member and winner of several international piano competitions British recording star Stephen Hough; Ralph Votapek of Michigan State University, first winner of the Van Cliburn Competition; and South Bend native Robert Hamilton, member of the Arizona State University piano faculty and artistic director of the London Music Festival in England.

Faculty members include writer and documentary producer Faubion Bowers, an internationally recognized expert on the composer Scriabin; pianist and critic Daniel Cariago of the Los Angeles Times; IUSB conducting professor Michael J. Esselstrom; six-time Grammy Award-winning recording producer Michael Fine; and Mark Stryker, music critic of the Detroit Free Press.

Also, John Ardion, music critic for the Dallas Morning News,. Zarin Mehta, executive director and chief operating officer of the Ravinia Festival, Chicago; Richard Rodzinski: executive director of the Van Cliburn Foundation; Alex Ross, a critic for The New Yorker magazine, and R. Douglas Sheldon, vice-president of Columbia Artists.

The 10 students were selected competitively among 40 applicants, who primarily were nominated by the most outstanding heads of piano studios in America. Their numbers include a past competitor of the Van Cliburn Piano Festival, and most have won first prize in at least one of the top international piano competitions.

Winning a berth at the institute was as challenging as any international performance competition. But the absence of the competitive element during the institute itself will be what makes the experience unique to the piano world, according to founder Robert Demaree, dean of the IUSB Division of Arts.

"It almost is like a career seminar," said Andrew Le, a fellow from the University of Michigan, who said his piano studies focus on technique, but not on how to develop a career. "There's really not anything out there -- any book -- that's written to help guide our careers. It's guesswork. There's nothing like this anywhere."

Juilliard student Sean Botkin, an Iowa native, sees the quality of the faculty as one of the great incentives of the institute, and he looks forward to making contacts with them. "I'm looking for management," he said. "But it's very hard, since I've been focusing on piano competitions. You send out tapes and hope to get noticed."

The overwhelming response of members of the music world to become faculty itself is testimony to the importance of this program, according to Alexander Toradze, Martin Professor of piano at IUSB and namesake of the institute.

"This is an important development in classical music: a rare gathering of professionals who join together to develop the talents of young musicians and to propagate the values of classical music in a nurturing, non-commercial environment. With the increasing financial pressures that threaten classical music, it is truly refreshing to see a program develop that ignites the passion and conviction of concert professionals," said Torade.

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