Sharon Mann’s early training on the piano began in Chicago with teachers Rudolph Ganz and Isador Buchhalter and continued with Irwin Freundlich and Rosalyn Tureck. She holds the country’s first doctorate in piano/chamber music from Northwestern University in addition to her degrees from The Juilliard School and Stanford University. A respected soloist and ensemble player, Dr. Mann is widely acclaimed for her penetrating interpretations of Bach’s keyboard music: Her recording of the Six Partitas has recently been re-released by Cappella Records, and she has performed with such artists as Alain Marion, Michael Grebanier, Elaine Skorodin-Fuhrmann, and the Cavani String Quartet.
An appointee of Governor Richard Celeste, Dr. Mann was, for six years, Artistic Director of Ohio’s Governor’s Series, lecturing on radio directly from the state mansion. She has also served as Artistic Director of California’s Junior Bach Festival and as producer of the Soviet Emigré Orchestra.
Dr. Mann has held faculty positions with the Itzhak Perlman Music Program, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the California Summer Music Festival, St. Olaf College, and Mills College. She has taught internationally in Germany, Greece, Italy, and China (where she returns annually), as well across the U.S. in Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Utah. She is currently working on a new edition of the complete Bach Keyboard Suites.
Chih-Long Hu: Afterthoughts on Bach’s Goldberg Variations
About Chih-Long Hu
Chih-Long Hu.
A native of Taiwan, pianist Chih-Long Hu’s performance career was launched after receiving honors including the Taipei National Concert Hall Arising Star, the Chi-Mei Artist Award, and prizes from the Mauro Monopoli International Piano Competition in Italy, the Concurs International De Piano D’Escaldes-Engordany in Andorra, the Takamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, and San Jose International Piano Competition in California.
An active performer, Hu performs extensively appearing as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. His recent performance highlights include concerto performances of Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody, Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, solo and chamber recitals in China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Ireland, France, Canada, and throughout the U.S. Hu’s performances have been broadcast on "Performance Today" through NPR stations across the U.S. His CD albums Formosa Caprices, Complete Rachmaninov Etudes-Tableaux, and Goldberg Variations have received critical acclaim.
Recipient of the UT Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award and named “Teacher of the Year” by Tennessee Music Teachers Association, Knoxville Music Teachers Associations, and Appalachian Music Teachers Association, Hu is committed to and passionate about teaching. He strives to cultivate and inspire curiosity in meaningful expressions and to help his students discover their individuality through the music.
Hu holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree from Taipei National University of the Arts, and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from National Taiwan University. Hu is currently the Sandra G. Powell Endowed Professor of Piano and the coordinator of Keyboard Studies at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Brahms: selections from Klavierstucke, Op. 76 (announced from the stage)
J.S. Bach: Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903
Brahms: 7 Fantasien, Op. 116
About Daniel Shapiro
Daniel Shapiro.
Daniel Shapiro has developed widespread recognition as a leading interpreter of Schubert, Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, and Brahms; and as a teacher and coach at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he has taught for the past twenty-six years. He has given critically acclaimed performances across the United States, in Brazil, Europe, Korea, and China. Recently he performed his third complete cycle of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas; videos of the performances can be found on YouTube. His DVDs of all of Schubert’s major piano sonatas and his CD of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations have received enthusiastic reviews.
During his tenure at CIM, he has become known as an inspiring teacher who helps students achieve profound understanding and develop vivid interpretations of the great masterworks. His students have won important competitions and obtained teaching posts at prestigious universities and schools of music.
As a chamber musician, Shapiro has had the great fortune of collaborating with some of the world’s leading musicians, including Jaime Laredo, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Joseph Silverstein, Cho-Liang Lin, Sergiu Schwartz and Franklin Cohen. He has performed regularly with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. He has released chamber music CDs on the Harmonia Mundi and ASV labels. His Beethoven sonata collaborations with violinist Jaime Laredo can also be found on YouTube.
His musicianship has been enhanced and deepened by extensive collaboration with singers: listening to and working with them has been a source of tremendous inspiration. He studied art song with Gwendolyn Koldofsky and opera with Natalie Limonick, and was an opera and art song coach at UCLA.
His musical scope also includes conducting: he has worked with Daniel Lewis, Victor Yampolsky, Fritz Zweig, and Gustav Meier. He made his conducting debut at sixteen at Tanglewood, and he conducted Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Akron Lyric Opera.
A native of southern California, Shapiro began the study of piano at the age of six. His teachers have included Leon Fleisher, John Perry, Russell Sherman, Joanna Graudan, and Reginald Stewart. He studied at the University of Southern California and at the Peabody Conservatory, where he received his doctorate.
