2018 edition
PhD Professor at „Transilvania” University in Brasov Associated professor at “Tudor Ciortea” Music High School
Learn more >Piano professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts of Vienna Proffesor at the “Hanns Eisler” University in Berlin
Learn more >President and Artistic Director of the prestigious italian academy Talent Music Master Courses of Brescia.
Learn more >Manager at Aegeria Artists Management E.U. President at Ton der Jugend - Verein für die Förderung der Kunst
Learn more >The pianist Corina Ibănescu was born in Brasov, Romania, and began studying the piano in Brasov (professors Horia Cristian,Cornelia Orban,Gabriela Popescu), and later at the Music High School “George Enescu” in Bucharest with the renowned teacher Ludmila Popisteanu. She gets her bachelor degree (with distinction) at the Music Conservatory “Ciprian Porumbescu” (prof. Sandu Sandrin),studying piano in Bucharest.
She attends training courses in piano at the “Mozarteum” Academy in Salzburg - Austria, under the guidance of Carlo Zecchi.
In 1980, she was awarded the 1st prize at the National Olympiad, she is also a laureate of the international contests ”Cittá di Senigallia ” (1982) and ”Cittá di Catanzarro” (1984), both in Italy.
In terms of concert activity, Corina Ibănescu has been invited to play in the company of some important Romanian orchestras. She also conducts a rich concert activity in the field of chamber music, both in the country and abroad having held concert tours in Austria, England, Cyprus and Germany.
In addition to her presence on the concert stage, Corina Ibănescu also conducts a valuable educational activity, obtaining in the last 25 years, with her pupils and students, over 200 national and international prizes.
In recognition of her educational performance, she has been awarded many certificates of excellence, from Radio Romania Musical, the Foundation ”Remember Enescu”, ”Viv”Arte”, the Town Hall of the Municipality of Brasov, etc.
In 2007 she received the title of Doctor of Music at the National Music University in Bucharest with the thesis “The Stylistic of the Harpsichord Sonatas by Padre Antonio Soler”.
Currently, Corina Ibănescu is Professor PhD at „Transilvania” University in Brasov - in the piano department, and associated professor at “Tudor Ciortea” Music High School in the same city, holding piano master classes and workshops throughout the country.
Ioan-Dragoș Dimitriu has started studying the piano at 6 with Viorica Burcică and Francisca Lupu and after he turned 11, he was guided on the path of music by the pianist Corina Ibanescu.
At the age of 16 he made his debut with the orchestra playing alongside conductor Ilarion-Ionescu Galați. Many invitations followed from orchestras throughout Romania (Radio Orchestra Bucharest, Sibiu Philarmonic Orchestra, Botoșani Philarmonic Orchestra, Brașov Philarmonic Orchestra, Craiova Philarmonic Orchestra, Târgoviște Philarmonic Orchestra etc.) where Dragoș has played regularly.
Since 2010 he started studying piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts of Vienna with the pianist Martin Hughes and currently with the pianist Stefan Arnold. During the years he received regularly scholarships from the University and private sponsors for outstanding results. In 2013 he won the 1st prize at the International Piano Competition „Pietro Argento” in Italy.
His international debut took place in november 2011 when Ioan-Dragoș Dimitriu played Beethoven’s 5th concerto for piano and orchestra in the Berliner Philarmoniker Hall.
Since then he played on numerous stages from Europe (England, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria etc.) and Japan, often playing in charitable events as well.
As a chamber musician he has played for the Austrian Broadcasting Company (ORF) and was twice a holder of the Sonoro scholarship. More recently he has won the 1st prize in the Cameristi de’ll Alpe Adria Competition with Trio Avante and alongside Marko Dzomba (saxophone) the 1st prize in the Casino Austria Rising Stars Competition from Vienna.
Stefan Arnold was born in 1963 in Würzburg, began his piano studies in 1982 at the Music University of Würzburg with Kirsti Hjort and won in the same year the 1st prize at the competition organized by the university. Strating with 1983 he studied with Hans Leygraf at the University of Music from Hannover, Salzburg and Berlin. He was both a scholarship holder of the German Studying Foundation (Deutsche Studienstiftung) and of the „Oscar und Vera Ritter“ foundation and granted the highest distinction for all his graduation examinations. In Austria he was awarded the prize for “Outstanding Young Artist of The Year” by the Ministry of Culture.
Arnold has won numerous international prizes like the 1st prize in Senigallia, the Special Distinction in Dublin and was a laureate of the German Music Competition in Bonn for which he was chosen by the German state to perform twice in the „Concerts of The Young Artists“ – national concert series. After he won the 1st prize in the Bösendorfer competition in 1988, Arnold was invited as a regular guest in some of the most prestigious concert halls (Tonhalle Zürich, Philharmonie Berlin, Stockholm Concert Hall, Tivoli- Concert Hall Copenhagen, Festspielhaus Salzburg, Musikverein and Konzerthaus Wien and many more) and festivals throughout the world. He also toured Japan (Suntory-Hall and Bunko Kaikan in Tokyo and Symphony-Hall in Osaka), North and South America (Palacio de las Bellas Artes in Mexico-City, Teatro Opera in Buenos Aires).
He has played alongside orchestras from Berlin, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Vienna, Salzburg, Belgium, Stockholm, Helsingborg, New York, Singapore together with conductors like Matthias Bamert, Eduardo Garcia Barrios, Okko Kamu, Arild Remmereit, Jonathan Seers, Yuri Simonov, Radoslaw Szulc, Jeffrey Tate and Kaspar Zehnder.
Stefan Arnold has made recordings on the Harmonia Mundi and Ambitus labels. Since he became an exclusive Ambitus artist, this collaboration has produced eleven recordings with works by Liszt, Brahms, Schubert, Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Debussy, Berg and Schoenberg, including Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 12 and 14. The Bavarian Broadcasting Company is a co-producer of these CD’s.
Since 2004 Arnold was appointed professor for piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts of Vienna. 2015 he additionally got a professorship at the “Hanns Eisler” University in Berlin.
Paolo Baglieri is one of the most prominent personalities of his generation. Acclaimed as “a pianist that perfectly mixes his personal view with the composer’s ideas”, he is the winner of many international piano competitions.
He has performed in Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Palestine, Israel and Chile for over 300 concerts in some of the most important concert halls: Taormina, Catania, Lucca, Rome, Turin, Pistoia, Bologna, Verona, Castle of Galeazza, Salzburg, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Paris, Brussels, Castle d’Ursel, Haifa, Jerusalem, Madrid, Santiago of Chile among others.
He has been the piano professor at the Conservatory of Music of Jerusalem and he taught in Pavia and Siena Conservatories in Italy. Invited as jury member of international piano competitions, as Treviso, Paderewski International Piano Competition, Madrid, Yerevan, Clavicologne, Malta International Piano Competition, German Piano Open Competition of Berlin, Eurasian Music Games of Astana, International Music Competition Moscow Piano Open, among others.
Currently he holds the position as President and Artistic Director of the prestigious italian academy Talent Music Master Courses of Brescia. He is Artistic Director of Talent Music Summer Courses&Festival. He is Artistic Director and Chairman of the Jury of the “Brescia Classica International Piano Competition”.
Born in Italy and graduated at Catania Conservatory, he took his following degrees at “Codarts – University of Arts” of Rotterdam and at Ecole d’Enseignement Superieur de Musique, de Danse et d’Art Dramatique “Schola Cantorum” of Paris. Major influences in his musical development were studies with Pavel Gililov, Gabriel Kwok, Benedetto Lupo, Boris Petrushansky, and Sergio Perticaroli.
Pianist Horia Mihail has made his debut in his hometown, Braşov, performing Concerto in D Major by J. Haydn at the age of 10. Since then he has performed over 1000 times with most of Romanian symphony orchestras, including George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest and the Romanian Radio National Orchestra. “The rhythmic subtlety and the articulation of the atmosphere, the sound color have been such that this music (Prokofiev) too rarely enjoys ”, wrote the Boston Globe in a review of one of his concerts.
After studying for 14 years in Romania, under the guidance of prof. Stela Drăgulin, in Braşov, and prof. Constantin Ionescu-Vovu, at the Music Academy in Bucharest, Mihail has studied for 3 years at the University of Illinois, where he took courses with Jan Hobson. In 1999 he was granted the Artist Diploma from Boston University where he studied with Anthony di Bonaventura.
He has been awarded a Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship while in 1999 he has been awarded the Esther B. & Albert S. Kahn Career Entry Award. Horia Mihail has given concerts and solo and chamber music recitals in 18 countries on 4 continents, and has performed with famous musicians including Roman Totenberg, Lory Wallfisch, Robert Merfeld, Peter Zazofsky, Andres Diaz and Nathaniel Rosen.
After lecturing for three years at Boston University, Horia Mihail returned to his native Braşov in 2002 as the soloist of the city’s Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the already famous Romanian Piano Trio, alongside violinist Alexandru Tomescu and cellist Razvan Suma, with whom he has performed to great success in Romania and abroad. With the Romanian Piano Trio he has made three extensive national tours, called Music ON, while with Alexandru Tomescu he has undertaken five Stradivarius tours. The fruit of these tours have been three CDs with the trio, performing works by Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann and Mendelssohn, and three CDs as part of the duo with Alexandru Tomescu, entitled Encore, Virtuoso and Romantic.
Since 2009, he has been a concert soloist with the Romanian Radio Orchestras and Choirs, giving numerous concerts at the Radio Hall (with the Romanian Radio Orchestra and conductors Jin Wang, Christian Badea, Gerd Schaller and Tiberiu Soare), as well as on tour in Romania and in Rome in December 2009 and at the World Exhibition in Shanghai in July 2010. His recitals in Bucharest and Vienna to mark the Chopin Year enjoyed remarkable success with audiences.
In April 2011, he gave a national tour of solo recitals to a programme of music entirely by Franz Liszt, called Traveling Piano: In the Footsteps of Franz Liszt, which forms the basis of a live CD issued by the Romanian Radio Publishing House, a project continued with a an almost 2-months tour in the summer of 2012 and with a third tour in 2013, followed by a CD recording of Beethoven’s works at the same label. The Traveling Piano Tour, 2014 edition, was held under the title Mozart 100%.
In 2013 Horia Mihail has launched his first solo CD with the Romanian Radio National Orchestra, featuring works for piano and orchestra by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and Lutosławski and in 2015 he launched a solo CD Romantic at the same label. In the previous years Horia Mihail took part in the Varna Summer International Music Festival, the Bucharest Music Film Festival, the George Enescu International Festival, Piano Nights Festival in Chişinău, Ushuaia International Festival. The Duel of Violins Project – Stradivarius versus Guarneri brought him together with violinists Liviu Prunaru and Gabriel Croitoru every year starting 2011, while in the Three Divas Project he joined the well-known singers Ruxandra Donose, Teodora Gheorghiu and Leontina Vaduva in Iaşi, Cluj and Timişoara, in 2011.
The projects in which the artist was involved in 2012 and 2013, among other solo and chamber music projects, have been The Traveling Piano (www.pianulcalator.ro), The Duel of Violins (www.duelulviorilor.ro) with Liviu Prunaru and Gabriel Croitoru, The Golden Flute, with flutist Ion Bogdan Ştefănescu and George Enescu’s Violin (www.vioaraluienescu.ro) at Villages, with Gabriel Croitoru. All these projects will be continued in 2014, when the pianist will also perform in Chile, United States and Japan.
Besides continuously playing on most Romanian stages, Horia Mihail has played in the last years in Berlin, Prague, Munich, Paris, Lisbon, London and in many other cities from Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Bulgaria, Moldova, Argentina, Chile, USA (Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Hall For The Performing Arts), China, Malaysia and Japan.
Born in Austria and raised in the United States, Antoinette Van Zabner began her musical studies at the age of four and at five won her first competition on the Canadian Broadcasting System. At 13, Miss Van Zabner was awarded a scholarship to study piano with Jean and Robert Casadesus and harmony with Nadia Boulanger in Fontainebleau, France. She made her first orchestra appearance at 16, after winning the Rhode Island Concerto Competition. At Vassar College, where she studied with Blanca Uribe she was granted the Evans Award twice, the Eloise Ellery Fellowship, Phi Beta Kappa, and was named Presser Scholar for her assiduous work in pursuit of excellence in the field of music.
At the Yale School of Music where she studied with Ward Davenny receiving her Master's degrees in Music and Musical Arts, she was awarded the Catherine.S. Winchell and Frances Tapp scholarships.
She won, among other awards for outstanding performance, a Fulbright Grant for piano study at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Vienna, Austria, where she studied with Dieter Weber and Hans Graf and earned her Diploma in piano performance. Miss Van Zabner has taken part in master classes with such distinguished pianists as Byron Janis, Gina Bachauer and Claude Frank. She also studied with Philippe Entrement and Gaby Casadesus at the Ravel Academy in St. Jean de Luz where she performed with the Toulouse Orchestra under the direction of Michel Plasson.
Miss Van Zabner made her American debut in 1982 at the Pan American Union, Washington, D.C., her London debut at Wigmore Hall and her Viennese debut at the Konzerthaus. She has appeared in the Vienna Summer Music Festival, the Vienna International Festival, in the Festival Klangbogen, the Norfolk Music Festival in Connecticut, the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein and with her piano duo in the Grand Hall of the Konzerthaus, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing and the Frutillar Festival in Frutillar, Chile.
Miss Van Zabner has toured with the Slovakian Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Virtuosi and the Niederösterreichisches Tonkuenstler Orchestra and performed with her piano-duo partner Waltraud Wulz throughout Europe, Japan, Chile, the United States and China where they opened the summer Olympics 2008 with a Viennese program named „Tales from Vienna“.
Miss Van Zabner has judged various piano competitions sich as Yehudi Menuhin’s „Live Music Now“ and has given master classes and solo and chamber music concerts at Brown University, Converse College, Furman University, Emory University, St.John’s College, the South Carolina Governor's School for the Gifted in the Arts, Conservatorio Giuseppe Tartini di Trieste, Italy, Conservatorio di Jacopo Tomadini in Udine, Italy, Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella, Naples, Italy, Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy, Conservatorio Superior Granada, Spain, the Toho College of Music in Tokyo, Japan, and at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She has a full professorship in piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria.
As an accompanist, she has worked with such renowned artists as Angelika Kirschlager, Birgid Steinberger, Norbert Ernst, Georg Lehner, Nigel Rogers, Patricia Wise, Peter Matzka, Maestro Andreas Stöhr, the Istropolis Quintett, the Amadeus Ensemble, and the Koehne Quartett. Ms. Van Zabner works closely with the Austrian Organisation of Contemporary Composers for which she has premiered countless works for the National Austrian Broadcasting-Station ORF.
Her first recording was produced with members of the Munich Philharmonic. Her most recent were produced by Vienna Modern Masters and the Austrian label Gramola, which brought out her solo CD „Bridges to Beyond“ – a recording of precious less-known impressionist piano works which present the sensitive artist as a specialist for beautiful, rich, soulful sound quality. Her two duo CDs „Profiles“ and „Tales from Vienna“, played with her piano partner Waltraud Wulz have also received rave reviews.
She and her university colleague Elisabeth Aigner-Monarth are the co-authors of the international best-sellers "Piano Fitness" and "Piano Fitness with Etudes" brought out by Universal Edition, and „TWOgether“ brought out by Breitkopf and Haertel - all of which have brought fresh wind into the traditional pedagogical literature scene and which have already become „classics“ in modern teaching literature. Antoinette Van Zabner was Coca-Cola Artist in residence at Emory University in 2007. She is a member of the Austrian Fulbright Commission, one of the founding members of the Fulbright Round Table for women and president of the Yale Club of Austria.
Antoinette Van Zabner was recently awarded the Ian Mininberg Award - the highest award of distinction for alumni of the Yale School of Music.