Directors and Faculty Members

Directors

Mei Li Co-Founder / CEO

Pianist Mei Li holds a doctorate in piano performance and piano literature from the University of Kansas. She was born in Chengdu, China into a musical family. She studied piano at the age of five and taught under the auspices of the famous Chinese piano pedagogue, Zhaoyi Dan. At the age of twelve, she entered the affiliated middle school of Sichuan Conservatory of Music and continued her rigorous and professional piano study. After graduating from Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Dr. Li obtained a full scholarship from the University of Northern Illinois the in United States and teaching under the direction of American pianist Professor William Goldenberg. After gaining a master's degree in piano performance and exploring the virtuoso repertoire, Dr. Li earned her DMA degree from the University of Kansas. She studied piano performance from famous American professors Jack Weinrock and concert artist Steven Spooner, and studied piano pedagogy methods from the famous American piano teaching expert, Scott McBride Smith. Dr. Li has won important awards at five separate international piano competitions, including the International IBLA Music Competition in Italy and the International Virtuoso Grand Prize Competition.

As an active pianist and soloist in China, Dr. Li performed at major venues as the Hong Kong Concert Hall, Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall, and Shenzhen Concert Hall. In the United States, Dr. Li was invited to perform as a soloist at the World Conference on Women in Chicago, the renowned Chicago Cultural Center, and Carnegie hall in New York City. She, along with her distinguished chamber partners were invited to perform in many concert halls and schools in the United States and received much critical praise. Dr. Mei Li has recently been invited to perform and give master classes in Mexico, and at the North American Liszt Society Festival. Mei Li is a member of the American Liszt Society and serves on the board of the KU American Liszt Society Chapter. She has written her doctoral research on the works of late Liszt under the direction of distinguished Liszt authority, Alan Walker.

Steven Spooner Co-Founder / Artistic Director

At the very fore of American pianists, critics and audiences have unanimously hailed the distinctive and compelling performances of pianist Steven Spooner describing him as “a pianist in the tradition that many believe died with the likes of Horowitz, Arrau, Bolet, Cziffra, and Wild. His talent, to my ears, is easily the equal of most major pianists of today and far superior to a large number of those “most exciting and dynamic pianists of their generation”
(FANFARE MAGAZINE).

Passionately devoted to the recital as a platform for innovation, he has been engaged and often re-engaged at prestigious venues such as the Salle Cortot in Paris, the Shanghai Concert Hall, Budapest’s Great Hall of the Liszt Academy, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Rome’s Santa Cecilia, and Singapore’s Esplanade. During the past seasons he has daringly reinvented the solo recital by allowing audiences to vote on the spot for one of five programs he has prepared and like golden age pianists, his programs often feature his own glittering arrangements and compositions.

In 2016 he released a monumental project of 16 CDs honoring his heroes of the Russian School called Dedications. This mammoth project was met with enormous critical acclaim from all over the globe. His enthusiasm for new music has produced an ongoing collaboration with renowned Deutsche Grammophon composer, Mohammed Fairouz (commissioned by the ROKI Foundation) to premiere and record several of his works during the next few seasons. Steven is currently the co-star, along with his wife Jung, of their internet-based show about all things piano, A Life of Music.

Steven has served as guest artist-in-residence at Paris Conservatory Summer Sessions and has been appointed to the Artist Faculty of the Colburn Music Academy, Amalfi Coast Music Festival, Musicfest Perugia, the International Institute for Young Musicians, the Adam Gyorgy Castle Academy in Budapest, and even his own Steven Spooner Inspire Festival in Singapore.

Steven is increasingly in demand for his masterclasses at major music institutions all over the world such as the Paris Conservatory, Milan Conservatory, Liszt Academy of Music, and the Shanghai and Beijing Conservatories and in America at Rice, Indiana, Colburn, Oberlin, and many others. Steven serves as Professor of Piano at the Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University.

A dedicated and caring teacher of students from around the world, Steven’s pupils have been named winners of multiple prizes at important international and national piano competitions and enjoy performing careers of their own. Steven Spooner is a Steinway Artist.

Jury / Faculty

Alan Chow (CIMC Festival Faculty)

Acclaimed for his “elegant poetry and virtuosic fire," Chow has won major competitions including First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and the Palm Beach International Piano Competition. Chow also was a prizewinner in the William Kapell International Competition and was Silver Medalist and Audience Favorite at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. A Steinway artist, Chow has performed in recital and in concert with orchestras from coast to coast in major music centers in over 45 states. He regularly tours Asia with performances in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. Chow studied with Nelita True at the University of Maryland where he graduated Co-Valedictorian; with Sascha Gorodnitzki at The Juilliard School where he was awarded the Victor Herbert Prize in Piano; and with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University where he received the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship. Previously on the piano faculty at Northwestern University for 19 years, Chow joined the faculty of the Eastman School of Music in fall 2017.

Roberto Plano

Italian native Roberto Plano performs regularly throughout North America and Europe – notably at Lincoln Center, Sala Verdi, Salle Cortot, Wigmore Hall and the Herkulessaal. He has appeared with orchestras all over the world, under the direction of renowned conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, James Conlon, Pinchas Zuckerman, Miguel Harth-Bedoya. He has been a featured recitalist at the internationally acclaimed Newport Festival, the Portland Piano Festival, Ravinia Festival and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival (USA), Chopin Festival (Poland), the Bologna Festival - Great Soloists (Italy), and many others. He played with String Quartets such as the Takacs, Cremona, St. Petersburg, Fine Arts, Jupiter, Muir, as well as soloists such as Ilya Grubert, Pavel Berman, Jiri Barta, Enrico Bronzi, and in duo with his wife Paola Del Negro.

Mr. Plano was the First Prize Winner at the 2001 Cleveland International Piano Competition, Prize Winner at the Honens, Dublin, Sendai, Geza Anda and Valencia Competitions and Finalist at the 2005 Van Cliburn and the Busoni Competitions, in addition to having won 15 First Prizes in National Competitions in Italy. In January 2018 he won the American Prize in the solo professional division. Mr. Plano’s engaging personality has made him a favorite guest on radio programs such as NPR’s Performance Today.

Mr. Plano studied at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan, the Ecole Normale “Cortot” in Paris, where he earned the Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste, obtaining first prize with unanimous decision and congratulations of the Jury, and the Lake Como Academy. Mr. Plano has been described by The Chronicle as the “Pavarotti of the Piano” for his lyricism and defined by Chicago radio commentator Paul Harvey as the heir to Rubinstein and Horowitz. In Italy, he has appeared on the cover of the most important music magazine, Amadeus, and has been awarded several prizes, including the Lumen Claro, previously assigned to such noteworthy people as soprano Barbara Frittoli, stylist Ottavio Missoni, and economist Mario Monti. NY Times music critic Anthony Tommasini has written: “This Italian pianist showed artistic maturity beyond his years… there was a wonderful clarity and control of inner voices in his performances…”.

After joining in 2016 the Faculty of Boston University, in 2018 he has been appointed Associate Professor of Piano at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. One of the most sought-after teachers in the world, Mr. Plano also regularly teaches during the summer at Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival and at Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival. In 2023 he obtained the Professorship at both Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana (Lugano, Switzerland) and Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (UK). Frequently invited in international juries around the world, in 2025 he will be one of the five members of the 2025 Van Cliburn Competition Screening Jury.

Michelle Cann

Lauded as “technically fearless with…an enormous, rich sound” (La Scena Musicale), pianist Michelle Cann made her orchestral debut at age fourteen and has since performed as a soloist with prominent orchestras such as the Atlanta and Cincinnati symphony orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Ms. Cann’s 2022-23 season includes an appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, return engagements with the Cincinnati and New Jersey symphonies, and debut performances with the Baltimore, National, New World, Seattle, and Utah symphonies. She makes her debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony and performs recitals in New Orleans, Little Rock, Sarasota, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.

A champion of the music of Florence Price, Ms. Cann performed the New York City premiere of the composer’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in July 2016 and the Philadelphia premiere with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in February 2021, which the Philadelphia Inquirer called “exquisite.” She has also performed Price’s works for solo piano and chamber ensemble for prestigious presenters such as Caramoor, Chamber Music Detroit, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, San Francisco Performances, and Washington Performing Arts.

Ms. Cann is the recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization, and the 2022 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. Embracing a dual role as performer and pedagogue, Ms. Cann frequently teaches master classes and leads residencies. She has served on the juries of the Cleveland International Piano Competition and at the Music Academy of the West. She has also appeared as cohost and collaborative pianist with NPR’s From the Top.

Ms. Cann studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music, where she serves on the piano faculty as the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies.

Winston Choi

Canadian pianist Winston Choi is Associate Professor of Piano and the Head of the Piano Program at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts. His professional career was launched when he was named Laureate of the 2003 Honens Piano Competition and winner of France’s Concours International de Piano 20e siècle d’Orléans in 2002. An inquisitive performer, his fresh approach to standard repertory, and masterful understanding, performance and commitment to works by living composers, make him one of today’s most dynamic young concert artists.

Choi maintains an active international performing schedule. In demand as a concerto soloist, orchestras he has appeared with include the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the CBC Radio Orchestra, the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the East Texas Symphony Orchestra, the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Iowa, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Iowa, the New Philharmonic, the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, La Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, the Symphony Orchestra of Oak Park and River Forest, l’Orchestre Symphony d’Orléans, l'Orchestre National de Lille, the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and the Victoria Symphony Orchestra.

As a dedicated champion of contemporary music, Choi has premiered and commissioned over 100 works by young composers as well as established masters. A composer himself, being involved with the creative process is an integral part of his artistry. He was the first pianist to perform Pierre Boulez’s last version of Incises in North America and made the South American premiere of Luciano Berio‘s Sonata for pianoforte solo. He also regularly appears in concert at IRCAM, the world’s most renowned institution for contemporary music. Composers he has collaborated with include William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Brian Ferneyhough, Jacques Lenot, George Lewis, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Bright Sheng, Christian Wolff, Chen Yi and John Zorn. He is also a core member of Ensemble Dal Niente. A frequent performer on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's MusicNOW Series, Choi has also performed with Contempo and the Fulcrum Point New Music Project.

Prior to his position at Roosevelt University, he was on the faculties of Bowling Green State University and the Oberlin Conservatory. He has been a guest professor at Indiana University, and he also currently teaches at the Academy of the Music Institute of Chicago as well as the New Music School in Chicago.

Jed Distler

If you're familiar with Jed Distler as one of the most engaging music writers and radio hosts in the United States, you might be surprised to learn he is also "an altogether extraordinary pianist" (NEWARK STAR-LEDGER) and New York's “Downtown keyboard magus" (THE NEW YORKER). He has premiered works by Frederic Rzewski, Lois V. Vierk, Virko Baley, Wendy Mae Chambers, Andrew Thomas, Simeon ten Holt, Virgil Thomson, David Maslanka, William Schimmel, Kitty Brazelton, Alvin Curran, and Eleanor Hovda -- many which were written especially for him. In addition to recent commissions from Jenny Lin, IonSound, and Song in Music, his works have been recorded by Margaret Leng Tan, Guy Livingston, and Quattro Mani, among other New Music luminaries, And no summer would be complete without WNYC’s ritual broadcast of Jed’s "String Quartet No. 1" (the Mister Softee Variations). Distler is a Yamaha artist. As Composers Collaborative’s co-founder and Artistic Director, Jed has created and programmed such innovative festivals as Solo Flights, Non Sequitur, and the long-running Serial Underground series at New York’s landmark Cornelia Street Café. A regularly featured CD reviewer and blogger for GRAMAPHONE and CLASSICS TODAY where he mostly writes about piano music. He taught for more than 20 years at Sarah Lawrence College, and has received grants from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, and American Composers Forum, plus a coveted Macdowell Colony residency。

Igor Resnianski

Formally trained in Russia and the USA Steinway Artist, Igor Resnianski, is a prize winner of numerous international piano competitions including the First Prize in New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Silver Medal in World Piano Competition, Bronze Medal in Nena Wideman International Piano Competition, Fifth Prize in the First China International Piano Competition, and the Second Prize In All-Russia Piano Competition Sodrujestvo. He extensively performed in Russia, USA, South America, China, Hong Kong, etc. His performances were televised and broadcasted in Russia and the USA including the PBS/WHYY Y-Arts television channel. Named 2016-2020 Top Teacher by Steinway and Sons and 2012 Teacher of the Year for the state of Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Music Teaches Association, Dr. Resnianski teaches master-classes in the USA and abroad and judges local, state, national, and international piano competitions. His students were winners of many local, state, national, and international piano contests. They appeared with many orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Fort Worth Symphony. Since 2014 Dr. Resnianski is a Co-Directors of the annual New Orleans Piano Institute. Dr. Resnianski is an Assistant Professor at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and also teaches at the Nelly Berman School of Music in Haverford PA.

Sunnat Ibragimov

Sunnat Ibragimov has established himself as an artist of creativity, passion and technical command. He is one of the most prominent cellists to emerge from the Central Asian republics and has studied with many of the top artists of our time. He has performed live and on radio with major soloists, chamber musicians, orchestras and conductors. He performed with orchestras (“Soloists of Uzbekistan,” Uzbek National Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Shenyang Symphony, Hays Symphony, Southeast Kansas Symphony), chamber musicians (Shmuel Ashkenasi, Roberto Diaz, Borromeo String Quartet); festivals (the Orford Music Festival in Montreal, Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival) and has worked under such prominent conductors as Carl St. Clair, Gerard Schwarz , John Williams, Hugh Wolff, Michael Stern ,Thomas Wilkins and Marin Alsop. In 2022 he led the cello section of the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra under the baton of Andris Nelsons.

Born in Tashkent, he began the cello at 7 and studied at the Glière State Music School and the Uzbek State Conservatory. Ibragimov earned a Bachelor of Music from Park University’s International Center for Music, where he studied with Martin Storey and Daniel Veis, and he continued, also on full scholarship, at the University of Southern California with Andrew Shulman and Ben Hong. In 2017, he finished his Masters degree at the University of Kansas under the tutelage of Hannah Collins and Mark Gibbs. Currently, Sunnat Ibragimov is working on his Doctoral Degree at Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University with Alan Stepansky and serves as associate faculty at Peabody Preparatory Division. He currently is a cellist with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

Ji Hye Jung ( Jury of CIMC )

Percussionist Ji Hye Jung has been praised as "spectacular" by the Los Angeles Times and "extraordinary" by the Ventura County Star, with the Times further describing her as "a centered player who can give the impression of being very still yet at all places at once." Jung began concertizing in her native South Korea at the age of 9, going on to perform more than 100 concerts, including solo appearances with every major orchestra in Korea. Soon after coming to the United States in 2004, Jung garnered consecutive first prizes at the 2006 Linz International Marimba Competition and the 2007 Yale Gordon Concerto Competition.

Jung frequently performs with many of today's most important conductors and instrumentalists. For six years she has served as principal percussionist with West Coast chamber ensemble Camerata Pacifica, with whom she has premiered works by Bright Sheng and Huang Ruo. She has also recorded Stravinsky’s Les Noces with JoAnn Falletta at the Virginia Arts Festival, performed as soloist with David Robertson conducting an all-Messiaen program at Carnegie Hall, and made her concerto debut with the Houston Symphony under the baton of Hans Graf in 2005.

In 2015, Jung was named Associate Professor of Percussion at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. She previously served as Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of Kansas for six years. An active educator and clinician, Jung has presented master classes at the Curtis Institute, the Peabody Conservatory, Rice University, Beijing's Central Conservatory, and the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. Jung completed a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

Massimiliano Baggio ( Jury)

Massimiliano Baggio was born in Naples in 1961. He studied at the Conservatorio 'G. Verdi' of Milan where he graduated with full marks cum laude.He continued his advanced musical studies with Sergio Fiorentino, attending master classes at Città di Castello with Antonio Ballista and at Fiesole with Maureen Jones and Dario de Rosa.

Since 1975, he has played in piano duo with Cristina Frosini performing in hundreds of concerts, orchestral recitals radio and television recordings for RAI and WDR, and recordings for Sarx Records. They are the only artists, in Italy, to have ever performed the complete works of Franz Schubert for piano four hands.Together they have won many international awards, including the 'Gian Battista Viotti International Music Competition 1982' in Vercelli and the 1986 International Competition 'Concorso Sergio Lorenzi' in Trieste.

In 1996 they made their debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan where they were again invited for a recital in 1999.In 2000 the musical magazine 'Amadeus' published a CD in which they play music by Franz Schubert for piano duo.

Currently they are playing for the most important musical societies in Italy including the 'Settimane Musicali di Stresa ', the' Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti 'in Rome, the' Festival dei due Mondi 'in Spoleto, the' Società dei Concerti 'and the' Grande Orchestra Sinfonica 'G. Verdi' in Milan, the 'GOG' in Genoa, the 'Unione Musicale' in Turin, the 'Amici della Musica' in Palermo, along with many others. Recently, they have played in Berlin, Stockholm, Seoul and USA.

Massimiliano Baggio is a professor at the Conservatorio of Milan, and regularly conducts advanced master classes for piano duo. Recently he has been invited by the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater of Vilnius, the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst of Stuttgart, the Iceland Academy of the Arts of Reykjavik, the Kansas University School of Music, the John J. Cali School of Music - Montclair State University, NJ, the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana of Lugano, the Conservatorio Superior de Musica de La Coruña, the Sunhwa Arts School and the Sungshin University of Seoul.

Since November 2016 he has been appointed Associate Dean of the Conservatorio 'G. Verdi' of Milan. For nearly thirty years he has been responsible for the musical activities of the Società Umanitaria of Milan. In 2000 he conducted musical broadcasting programs for RAI RadioTre.

Jay Hershberger ( CIMC Festival Faculty )

Pianist Jay Hershberger has played throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. His domestic performances include the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Library of Congress. He has also been frequent guest artist at the Great Romantics Music Festival in Canada. In years past he performed in Europe, including the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in southern Italy and the South Bohemia Music Festival in the Czech Republic. Recent tours have included major cities in China, and at music festivals in Scotland and Italy.

He is a founding member of Excelsior! Trio, a chamber group that performs an eclectic mix of classical, folk, jazz, and fusion. Excelsior! Trio tours extensively in the US and in Europe. Jay is currently Professor of Piano at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. His undergraduate students regularly win competitions and have been accepted into prestigious graduate schools in piano performance and pedagogy, many with teaching assistantships.

An active adjudicator, Hershberger has judged for the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, the Phoenix Young Artist Competition, the San Angelo Symphony Sorantin Awards, the Lee Biennial Competition, the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Young Artist Competition, and the Music Teachers National Association. He is the president of the American Liszt Society. His first compact disc recording, featuring works by Franz Liszt was featured on Michael Barone’s New Releases radio program on Minnesota Public Radio.

Chris Thompson ( Jury )

Described as a “supremely nuanced” (Gramophone), “remarkable baritone” (Opera News), Chris Thompson is an international artist noted for compelling performances on stage and in the concert hall. He has performed leading lyric baritone roles ranging from Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia to the title role in Elijah to Carl Magnus in A Little Night Music. A frequent recitalist, Chris’s numerous performances of Schubert’s Winterreise with acclaimed concert pianist Steven Spooner, have generated excitement throughout the country.

A strong advocate of new music, Chris made his Carnegie Hall debut singing Posh, a song cycle by composer Mohammed Fairouz. The premiere performance of MSU colleague Michael F. Murray’s song cycle, Neutral Tones, at the Parma New Music Festival was received enthusiastically. Chris has appeared in several world premieres including Guest from the Future (Lincoln Center), The Scrimshaw Violin (92nd Street Y), Box and Cox (University of Utah) and Hester Prynne at Death (Mercantile Library, NYC). In addition, Chris made his Off-Broadway debut in Fermat’s Last Tango. His performances have been featured on recording labels such as: Naxos, Original Cast Recordings, Albany Records, Koch-Schwann, and Novana Records.

Chris is a graduate of the University of Kansas, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London), Loyola University (New Orleans), and Kansas State University. Chris is a devoted teacher with successful singers winning competitions, singing at major summer programs, and performing leading roles as young professionals. He presently serves as Coordinator of Vocal Studies at Missouri State University and is past-president of Ozark NATS.

Mark Kosower ( Jury )

A modern player with a “signature sound” and distinctive style of playing, cellist Mark Kosower embodies the concept of the complete musician performing as concerto soloist with symphony orchestras, in solo recitals, and as a much admired and sought-after chamber musician. He is Principal Cello of the Cleveland Orchestra and a scholar and teacher of cello. He has performed as soloist with some of the greatest conductors of our time including Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph Eschenbach, and Franz Welser-Möst and has made appearances with the Orchestre de Paris, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the China National Symphony Orchestra as well as the Detroit, Florida, Houston, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Oregon, North Carolina, Phoenix, and Seattle symphony orchestras. Festival appearances include the Aspen, North Shore Chamber, Pacific, Ravinia, and Santa Fe Chamber music festivals. Mr. Kosower has recorded for the Ambitus, Delos, Naxos, and VAI labels.

During the coronavirus pandemic Mark Kosower performed two livestream performances of the complete Bach Cello Suites from Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland to raise money for Covid-19 victims as part of his ongoing Bach for Humanity initiative that began in 2018. Bach for Humanity aims to bring people together though Bach’s music in presentations for diverse socioeconomic groups in churches, community organizations, educational institutions, homeless shelters, performing arts series, radio and television stations, and retirement communities. In 2021 he will perform the complete Bach Suites at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Other activities during the pandemic have included live and recorded chamber music performances for the North Shore Chamber Music Festival’s Onstage/Offstage series and for the Seattle Chamber Music Society in addition to other recordings and numerous social media projects.

An active educator Mr. Kosower teaches a series of master classes at Hidden Valley Music Seminars in Carmel Valley each summer. He also works with students in lessons and master classes around the world including the New World Symphony fellows, Carnegie Hall’s NYO-USA program, the Shanghai Orchestra Academy, and the Baccareli Institute in São Paulo among other institutions.

Cornelius Chiu (  CIMC Festival Faculty )

Cornelius Chiu joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1996. Born to Chinese parents in Ithaca, New York, he began violin lessons at the age of six. Chiu received bachelor’s and master's degrees with high distinction, a performance certificate and a fellowship from Indi ana University's Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Josef Gingold, Franco Gulli and Yuval Yaron. The many acclaimed artists with whom Chiu has worked with include Josef Silverstein, János Starker and Menahem Pressler. Chiu received special recognition from Isaac Stern after a performance in his honor.

A winner in the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the National Arts and Letters Competition, Chiu has performed as a soloist with the Indianapolis and Washington chamber symphonies and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

An avid chamber musician, he frequently appears on the CSO Chamber Music series. He has performed at the Sarasota and Aspen music festivals, the Rencontres Musicales Festival, Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute for Young Artists and in France and Germany with the Ensemble Villa Musica. A dedicated teacher, Chiu has maintained a private studio for more than 35 years. He also teaches on the faculty of Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts.

Véronique Mathieu ( Jury  )

Described as a violinist with 'chops to burn, and rock solid musicianship' (The Whole Note, Toronto), Canadian violinist Véronique Mathieu enjoys an exciting career as a soloist, chamber musician, and music educator. An avid contemporary music performer, she has commissioned and premiered numerous works by American, Brazilian, and Canadian composers, and has worked with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Hanz Holliger, and Krzysztof Penderecki. Current projects include the commission of a large-scale solo violin work by Odawa First Nations composer Barbara Croall and 12 pedagogical pieces by 12 internationally renowned composers.

Véronique has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, Shenyang Symphony Orchestra, Saskatoon Symphony, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Montreal Contemporary Ensemble, and the Orquestra Sinfonica de Indaiatuba.She recorded for the labels of Radio-Canada, Parma, Centrediscs, Naxos, and Pheromone, as well as the CD series New Music at Indiana University.

Véronique Mathieu holds the David L. Kaplan Chair in Music at the University of Saskatchewan where she serves as an Associate Professor of Violin. She previously served on the faculty at State University of New York in Buffalo, and the University of Kansas.

Contact Us

  • Phone: 1-785-764-3527
  • Email: cimc2018@gmail.com
  • Website: cimcusa.org
  • Organizer:International Institute of Piano Artistry
  • Address:750 Commerce Plaza II Building 7400 West 110th Street, Overland Park KS 66210-2362 USA