2022 Golandsky Institute Virtual Summer Symposium

Aristo Sham, piano

“This young artist’s potential is boundless.”

– THE WASHINGTON POST

Hailed by the Washington Post as a young artist with “boundless potential” who can “already hold his own with the best,” pianist Aristo Sham has dazzled audiences on five continents in countries ranging from Singapore and Argentina to Slovenia, Morocco, and throughout the United States.

He recently performed as soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edo de Waart, the English Chamber Orchestra under Raymond Leppard, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Mr. Sham won First Prize at the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. The Young Concert Artists Series will present his debut recitals in New York at Merkin Concert Hall and in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center Theater this season.

He also won First Prize at the 2019 Alessandro Casagrande International Piano Competition in Italy, the Silver Medal at the 2018 Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, First Prize at the 2018 Charles Wadsworth International Piano Competition, First Prize and the Barenreiter Urtext Special Prize at Germany’s Ettlingen International Piano Competition, and First Prize at the New York International Piano Competition.

A native of Hong Kong, Aristo Sham was granted a B.A. in Economics from Harvard in 2019, and an M.Mus. in Piano Performance from the New England Conservatory in 2020. He is currently Artist-in-Residence at the Ingesund Piano Centre, and has attended the Harrow School in the United Kingdom and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. In his free time, Mr. Sham enjoys travelling, languages, gastronomy and oenology.

Ilya Itin, piano

Ilya Itin has performed with many of the world’s great conductors, including Sir Simon Rattle, Neemi Jarvi, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Yakov Kreizberg, Vassily Sinaisky, Valery Polyansky, and Mikhail Pletnev performing as soloist with orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Tokyo Symphony, the National Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the China National Symphony, the Symphony Orchestra of India; the Mexico City Philharmonic; and the Rochester Philharmonic.

Born in Yekaterinburg, Russia, his piano studies began at the Sverdlovsk School for the Gifted with Natalia Litvinova. He went on to graduate from the Moscow Conservatory with the highest honors in 1990 working with legendary teacher Lev Naumov. Mr. Itin won his first major piano competition while at the Conservatory, taking second place in the 1990 Russian National Rachmaninov Competition. Soon after, he won top honors in the William Kapell Competition, followed by First Prize, and the Special Chopin Prize at the Casadesus Competition (Cleveland Competition), and the Best Performance of a Work of Mozart, Best Prokofiev Performance, and Third Prize at the Gina Bachauer Competition.

Ilya Itin is on the teaching faculties of the Musashino Academy in Tokyo, the Academy of the Miami International Piano Festival and the Golandsky Institute at Princeton University. He has also taught in the piano departments of the Juilliard School prep and college divisions, Peabody Conservatory, and the Graduate Program at CUNY. Ilya Itin resides in Tokyo, Japan, and New York City where he maintains a private teaching studio.

Thomas Bagwell, piano

Thomas Bagwell has led productions of La Boheme, La Traviata, Die Zauberflöte, Suor Angelica and others at the Miami Music Festival, the Vienna Music Festival, the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival and the CoOPERAtive Winter Opera. He made his conducting debut with the Royal Danish Opera with “The Merry Widow” in 2021 and will conduct performances of “Cenerentola” and “West Side Story” there in 2022. He has been an assistant conductor at the Washington National Opera and New York City Opera as well.

Thomas Bagwell’s “expressive pianistic powers” have established him as “an equal partner no less than revelatory” (The Washington Post) in song recital and chamber music on the international stage. His career has included critically acclaimed performances in New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and other major concert halls across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Japan. He has collaborated in recital with operatic superstars such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Denyce Graves, Marilyn Horne, Kristine Jepson, James Morris, Roberta Peters, Andrea Rost, and Frederica Von Stade.

Mr. Bagwell joined the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera at the age of 24 and has also served on the music staffs of the Washington National Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, the Seattle Opera, and the New York City Opera. He joined the fulltime music staff of the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen in the fall of 2018. Conductors he has worked with include Roberto Abbado, Philippe Auguin, Paolo Carignani, Sir Andrew Davis, Placido Domingo, Christoph Eschenbach, Asher Fisch, Heinz Fricke, Michael Guettler, Lothar Koenigs, Raymond Leppard, James Levine, Renato Palumbo, André Previn, Sir Charles Mackerras, Eduardo Mueller, Donald Runnicles, Nello Santi, Michael Schǿnwandt, and Alexander Vedernikov.

Thomas Bagwell’s collaborations with renowned soprano Renée Fleming include a recital at the State Department for Secretary Hillary Clinton, the preparation of her acclaimed performances and recording of Messiaen’s song cycle Poèmes pour Mi with the New York Philharmonic (conducted by Alan Gilbert), her appearances as Blanche DuBois in André Previn’s opera A Streetcar Named Desire, a recording of Berg and Wellesz with the Emerson String Quartet, the world premiere of Anders Hillborg’s The Strand Settings with the New York Philharmonic (also conducted by Alan Gilbert) and the creation of Previn’s “Ten by Yeats” in collaboration with the composer.

In the field of chamber music, Mr. Bagwell has been a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival and his “bejewelled playing” (New York Magazine) has been heard in recitals with violinists Midori, noted contemporary specialist Miranda Cuckson, and Scott St. John, with whom he made a critically acclaimed CD of works by Antonín Dvořák on the Marquis Classics label. Thomas also made a memorable impression during his time at the Music Academy of the West as a student of Warren Jones; he became the first and only accompanying student to win the notable concerto competition as a soloist. This opportunity led to invitations from Marilyn Horne to play at her Foundation’s Gala at Carnegie Hall in later seasons.

Thomas Bagwell has organized and performed several concert series in New York at the Austrian Cultural Forum, including the complete songs of Hugo Wolf, Gustav Mahler, and surveys of Schubert, Schoenberg, and Zemlinsky. He was co-artistic director for an Austrian Lieder festival in Washington, D.C. at the Austrian Embassy, and has performed numerous recitals in New York sponsored by the Lotte Lehmann Foundation.

Mr. Bagwell premiered and recorded the Five Boroughs Songbook in 2012, a collection of new art songs on the subject of New York by such composers as Tom Cipullo and Ricky Ian Gordon, and performed the Five Boroughs Songbook Volume Two in 2017 featuring composers such as Laura Kaminsky, Missy Mazzoli, Matthew Aucoin and Kevin Puts. He has also curated and performed in several versions of the landmark AIDS Quilt Songbook, including the recent CD Sing for Hope: an AIDS Quilt Songbook, featuring many of today’s most acclaimed classical singers. His involvement in that project has led to the creation of twenty-five new songs being added to the original collection.

As a teacher of opera, art song, and chamber music, Thomas Bagwell was on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music from 1998-2018, and has also taught at Yale University. He has led masterclasses at the Santa Fe Opera, New Jersey Opera, University of Colorado at Boulder, Simpson College, Portland State University, and was the keynote teacher at the Oregon chapter of NATS. He is a regular faculty member of the CoOPERAtive summer opera program in Princeton, New Jersey.

Thomas Bagwell has received degrees from the Mannes College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, and has studied with Warren Jones, Graham Johnson, and Edna Golandsky. After his formal studies, Mr. Bagwell pursued additional training with Elly Ameling and Rudolf Jansen at the Academie Villecroze.

Kumi Shimizu, violin

Kumi Shimizu completed Bachelor and Master’s degree at Tokyo University of the Arts under Professors Kazuki Sawa, Eszter Perenyi and Herwig Zack, where conferred the Doseikai Award at graduation.

In 2018, she moved to London to continue her studies at Royal Academy of Music supported by the Isamu Sumino Foundation, where she awarded Foundation Award, Moir Carnegie Prize, Poulett Scholarship and dipRAM at Graduation. She won Harold Craxton Prize and Winifred Small Prize in London while playing as a fellowship member in the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 2021, she won prizes in the Ysaye International Violin Competition and Viktor Tretyakov International Violin Competition. Since 2009, she has won many prizes including 1st prize at Takarazuka-Vega Music Competition as well as Governor award and Audience award, prizewinner of 3rd Munetsugu Angel International Competition, 10th Tokyo Music Competition, 2nd Salzburg Mozart International Ensemble Competition and others.

Kumi has performed numerous concertos such as Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saens with New Japan Philharmonic, Central-Aichi Philharmonia, Siberian State Symphony Orchestra, Krasnoyarsk Chamber Orchestra and other well-known orchestras under the baton of Messrs. Yukio Kitahara, Masahiro Izaki, Kim Hong-Jae, Masahiko Enkoji, Kazuki Sawa, Koji Toyoda, Keiko Mitsuhashi, Mikhail Golikov, Maria Benyumova, Vladimir Lande. While enjoying recitals and performimg with orchestras, she has been eager in playing chamber music with eminent artists including Gerard Poulet, Mate Szucs, Kazuki Sawa.

In 2019, she was appointed to associate concertmaster in the Royal Danish Orchestra. Since 2020 Kumi Shimizu has been a recipient of Japan Art Association Scholarship. Currently, she is studying with one of legendary violinist Maestro Salvatore Accardo at Stauffer Center for Strings in Cremona while leading the orchestra as 21/22 season’s concertmaster.

Cancellation Policy

Because so much advance planning goes into our Summer Symposium, we must ask all participants to notify us in writing in the event of cancellation and to abide by the following terms of our Cancellation Policy, which is strictly enforced:

a) The deposit of $500 is refundable upon request until May 10. After this date the deposit is not refundable.
b) No refunds shall be granted for participants whose written request is received after June 1. In cases of illness or injury substantiated with a medical certificate, $1,000 shall be retained by the Institute, with the participant entitled to apply $500 of this amount toward the next summer symposium.
c) Participants who register and are unable to attend for any reason may send a substitute participant provided the Institute receives prior notice.
d) Participants who leave the program early are not entitled to a refund.

Find A Teacher

How the Golandsky Institute Trains Teachers

The pedagogy for the Taubman Approach involves more than learning how to apply the information to one’s own hands. An important initial observation is that we are all built the same — the same bones, muscles, ligaments and nervous system. In addition, the piano is governed by its own mechanical principles.

We do not, however, all end up with the same technical problems. For example, some people may come with a technique that involves too much relaxation, while others come with excessive tension. One person may have difficulties with a particular skill, while another person may find the same skill easy. In the first stages of learning, a person is given the information to help overcome problems related to his/her particular limitations. It is only after one has solved these technical problems and has internalized the information so that it begins to become automatic that one is ready to start teaching others.

Successful teaching demands that a teacher see the big picture, understand how to diagnose problems, implement solutions and know how to integrate the many various components of the technique and the music. It is also crucial to know how long to stay on a given track and when to move on.

The only way to develop the skills necessary to become an expert teacher is to learn by doing. For that reason, we have a system where each teacher can be mentored by taking his/her students to one of the teachers who has produced consistenly good results. The principles of the technique are logical and straight-forward, but the application is highly individual. A teacher needs to see many different problems in a variety of contexts in order to begin to develop true expertise.

The success of the mentoring approach has been dramatic. Once it was understood that the art of teaching could be taught, results became consistently better. Some people have more natural ability in this area than others; they identify problems more accurately and inculcate solutions more directly. However, we see over and over that with the right input from a more experienced teacher, most teachers can develop their own pedagogical skills to a much higher level.

The proof of this is in the results of the teaching. Students are learning faster and more thoroughly than ever before. With the right information from a teacher, skills can develop more predictably.

In a real sense, all teachers of the Taubman Approach are students too. We never stop refining our skills. The principles of the technique are clear, but we are constantly developing more insightful ways to describe them and help others understand them inside their own bodies. By having teachers with the most experience be available to help those who want to become experts, there is a way to nourish and train teachers at every level.

The teacher training Workshops are one of the mainstays of the mentoring system. The workshops take place several times a year in New York City, Philadelphia, and Berkeley. We teach students of our most experienced students in front of the group, and these students, in turn, teach the students of other teachers who are trying to boost the level of their own teaching. In addition, we present new developments and insights that facilitate the learning and teaching of the Taubman Approach.

The collaborative approach has proven beneficial to students and teachers alike. It might be thought that a naturally competitive spirit would undermine the process, but on the contrary, a sense of collegiality and community support has been the result. Every teacher knows that there is help around the corner if he/she comes to an impasse with a student. In fact, the only mistake a teacher can really make in the mentoring system is not to ask for help, which is the very thing that stops progress.

We are always happy to recommend experienced teachers for those looking for help on any level, whether it is to solve occasional passage problems, to address greater limitations, to correct serious problems, to improve in general or to gain greater insight into the Taubman Approach.

Many people exposed to the Taubman Approach have become excited by its possibilities and present themselves as Taubman teachers. They sometimes use the Taubman name in their biographical information and in the promotion of their workshops. While some may be gifted musicians, their results can be poor when they try to implement Taubman work without being thoroughly trained. In some cases, the results have been detrimental to the students.

Occasionally, teachers with this type of limited background combine Taubman concepts with other pedagogical approaches and different types of body work. These may bear a superficial resemblance to Taubman work, but they are not recommended by the Golandsky Institute, because they fundamentally alter the nature of the Taubman Approach.

The pedagogy of the Taubman Approach is highly specialized. Currently, successful instructors have rigorous, on-going training in order to be able to diagnose and solve problems effectively.

The Institute will be happy to recommend qualified teachers or clinicians, as well as to offer an assessment of anyone who claims to be teaching the Taubman Approach.

The Taubman Approach

Decades ago, Dorothy Taubman’s genius led her to analyze what underlies virtuoso piano playing. The result of that investigation has produced a body of knowledge that can lead to an effortless and brilliant technique. It can also prevent and cure fatigue, pain and other playing-related injuries.

The Taubman Approach is a groundbreaking analysis of the mostly invisible motions that function underneath a virtuoso technique. The resulting knowledge makes it possible to help pianists overcome technical limitations as well as cure playing-related injuries. It is also the way that tone production and other components of expressive playing can be understood and taught.

Edna Golandsky is the person with whom Dorothy Taubman worked most closely. In 1976 Ms. Golandsky conceived the idea of establishing an Institute where people could come together during the summer and pursue an intensive investigation of the Taubman Approach. She encouraged Mrs. Taubman to establish the Taubman Institute, which they ran together as co-founders. Mrs. Taubman was Executive Director and Ms. Golandsky served as Artistic Director. Almost from the beginning, Mrs. Taubman entrusted Ms. Golandsky with the planning and programming of the annual summer session. She gave daily lectures on the Taubman Approach and later conducted master classes as well. As the face of the Taubman Approach, Ms. Golandsky discusses each of its elements in a ten-volume video series.

Mrs. Taubman has written, “I consider her the leading authority on the Taubman Approach to instrumental playing.“

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2022 Golandsky Institute Virtual Summer Symposium

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