Christopher Elton was born in Edinburgh and received most of his musical education at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he achieved the unusual distinction of gaining the Academy’s highest performing award - the Dip. RAM - on both piano and ‘cello. Christopher Elton’s international recognition has come as a result of the many successes of his students - mostly at the Royal Academy of Music. Many have won international awards, including First Prizes in the Van Cliburn and London “World” International Piano Competitions, the 2009 “Top of The world”, the 2014 Shenzen International Piano Competition and the 2014 Montreal International Piano Competition as well as others such as Jaen, Newport, Dudley and New Orleans. Further recent successes have come with four prizewinners in four concurrent Leeds International Piano Competitions as well as in the Tchaikovsky, Leipzig Bach, Dublin, Shanghai, and Taiwan Competitions and many others. Students have also been successful in the prestigious Young Concert Artists award in New York, as well as in the London Young Concert Artists Trust. Many of his students are now recording artists, including Freddy Kempf, Yevgeny Sudbin, Joanna MacGregor, Inon Barnatan and Benjamin Grosvenor. While his priority has long been to his work at the Royal Academy, London, Christopher Elton has recently accepted an invitation to join the piano faculty at the Yale School of Music as a Visiting Professor for the 2nd semester of 2017/2018. He is also been much in demand overseas both as a teacher and as a jury member for international competitions. Within the last few years he has given masterclasses in the USA, Japan, Israel, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Spain, Germany and Ireland and Vietnam, many of them for important conservatories or universities. He has also been invited as a jury member at many important international competitions - The Cliburn, Moscow (Tchaikovsky), Dublin, Leeds, Busoni (Bolzano),Vienna Beethoven, Shenzen and China International to mention only some. He has also given recitals in the UK, USA, Ireland, Spain, Australia and Vietnam. He was a prizewinner in several British and international piano competitions, playing and broadcasting regularly both as a soloist and in chamber music. At the same time he worked as a freelance ‘cellist with the major London orchestras. Christopher Elton was Head of Keyboard at the Royal Academy of Music, London, (where he was elected a Fellow in 1983,) from 1987 to 2011. In 2002 the title of Professor of the University of London was conferred on him. He now also holds the title of Emeritus Head of Piano, and still maintains a large class of students at the Royal Academy of Music.

"A pianist of unbounding sensitivity" (Gramophone) ; "He represents a vanishing tradition that favors inner expression and atmosphere over showmanship and bravura" (Chicago Tribune) ; "Impeccable technique and musicality … it would be hard to imagine better performances" (Sunday Times – London) ; "This artist has the kind of flawless touch that makes an audience gasp" (Washington Post) ; "Exquisite playing" (New York Times). The Irish pianist John O’Conor has been gathering wonderful reviews for his masterly playing for over forty years. Having studied in his native Dublin and in Vienna with Dieter Weber and been tutored by the legendary Wilhelm Kempff his unanimous 1st Prize at the Beethoven International Piano Competition in Vienna in 1973 opened the door to a career that has taken him all around the world. He has performed in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand and has appeared with such orchestras as the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, l'Orchestre National de France, the Scottish and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestras, the Israel Camerata, the NHK, Yomiuri, Kyushu, Kyoto and Sapporo Symphonies in Japan, the KBS Symphony in Korea, the Shanghai Sinfonietta, the Singapore Symphony, the New Zealand Symphony and the orchestras of Atlanta, Cleveland, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Seattle, Montreal, Toronto, Tampa and Washington DC in North America. He has given concerts in many of the world's most famous halls including Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Wigmore Hall and South Bank Centre in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Dvorak Hall in Prague and the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo. He also enjoys collaborating in Lieder Recitals and performing chamber music with many instrumentalists and ensembles such as the Cleveland, Tokyo, Vanbrugh, Vermeer, Takacs, Vogler, Ying, Audubon and Navarra Quartets. Mr. O'Conor also continues to make significant contributions to the arts in his native country and has championed the works of Ireland's leading 19th century composer, John Field. He became a key figure in the development of young artists through his role as Director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and was a co-­‐founder of the Dublin International Piano Competition of which he is Artistic Director and Chairman of the Jury. John O'Conor first gained widespread attention in the United States in 1986 with the release of his first volume of Beethoven Sonatas on the Telarc label. He went on to record the complete sonatas and these were issued as a box set in 1994. CD Review described Mr. O'Conor's performances of these sonatas as "recordings of the highest calibre and Beethoven playing at its best" and went on to say "This Beethoven series should become the complete set of choice". Mr. O'Conor has made more than 20 recordings for the Telarc label including the complete Beethoven Bagatelles, cited by the New York Times as the best recording of these works; four volumes of Mozart Piano Concertos with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; numerous works of Schubert including the late A major Sonata, the complete Impromptus and Moments Musicaux, some Waltzes and the Trout Quintet with the Cleveland Quartet; and two volumes of short piano pieces entitled "Piano Classics" and "Autumn Songs". He has recorded most of the major works of John Field including the complete Concertos, Sonatas and Nocturnes. His recording of Field's Nocturnes featured on Billboard's classical charts for many weeks. He has also made a recording of his favourite Irish Airs with the Irish Chamber Orchestra entitled "Irish Classics". In 2007 and 2008 he recorded the complete Piano Concertos of Beethoven with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andreas Delfs and these recordings have been greeted with great acclaim. John O'Conor is deeply committed to the development of young pianists in Ireland and in other countries. He gives masterclasses and lectures in many of the places he performs as well as in many of the major music institutions including the Juilliard and Manhattan Schools in New York, the Peabody Institute, Harvard, Yale, Temple, Rutgers, Indiana, Texas and Seattle Universities and those in Vancouver, Kansas City and Tampa, the Ravinia Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Adamant Music School in Vermont, Piano Texas at TCU, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the Hamamatsu Piano Academy in Japan, Seoul National University and the National University of the Arts in Korea, the Australian National Academy and the Sydney Conservatorium in Australia, the Paris Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music in London. He has been invited on the juries of most of the world's most prestigious International Piano Competitions including those in Leeds, Moscow (Tchaikovsky), Vienna (Beethoven), Warsaw (Chopin), Tel Aviv (Rubinstein), Hamamatsu, Beijing, Shanghai, Munich, Bolzano (Busoni), Cologne, Vevay (Clara Haskil), Cleveland, Salt Lake City (Gina Bachauer), Sydney, Pretoria, London, College Park (William Kapell), Valencia (Jose Iturbi), Hilton Head, Bonn (Beethoven), Seoul and Xiamen (China). From 1997 to 2011 he took on the mantle of his revered professor Wilhelm Kempff and gave the annual Beethoven Interpretation Course in Kempff’s own villa in Positano, Italy where Kempff gave the course from 1957. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the course in 2007 a TV documentary was made entitled "Beethoven Bootcamp" which was shown in many countries and is now available on YouTube. Prof. O'Conor now gives this course annually at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. Prof. O'Conor is regarded as one of the most important piano teachers in the world today. He is Distinguished Artist in Residence, Professor of Music and Chair of the Piano Division at Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia, a faculty member at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, International Visiting Artist at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Visiting Professor at Showa University in Japan. His students have won many international prizes (most recently First Prizes at the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona in 2012 and the Beethoven Competition in Bonn in 2013) and he is in great demand for masterclasses and as a juror at the most prestigious International Piano Competitions worldwide. For his services to music he has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the National University of Ireland, by Trinity College Dublin and by Shenandoah University, Virginia and an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He has been decorated with the title "Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" by the French Government, has been awarded the "Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst" by the Austrian Government, the "Order of the Rising Sun" by the Japanese Government, and has also been decorated by the Italian and Polish governments. John O’Conor is a Steinway Artist.

Angela Cheng: Consistently praised for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty and superb musicianship, Canadian pianist Angela Cheng is one of her country’s national treasures. She has appeared as soloist with more than 100 orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, St. Louis, Houston, San Diego, Indianapolis, Syracuse, Utah and Colorado. An avid recitalist, Ms. Cheng has performed solo and chamber recitals throughout North America, Asia, and Europe, including New York City (Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y), Wigmore Hall in London, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg and the Sydney Opera House, as well as in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Montreal, Toronto, Taiwan, Italy and Australia. In 2012 she made her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the Edmonton Symphony. Ms. Cheng has collaborated with numerous chamber ensembles including the Takács, Colorado, and Vogler quartets. Festival appearances have included Verbier, Edinburgh, Miyazaki, St. Petersburg/Stars of the White Nights, Enescu/Romania, Banff, Bravo! Vail, Chautauqua, Colorado, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla’s SummerFest, Ravinia, Vancouver, the Festival International de Lanaudière in Quebec, Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Cartegena International Music Festival in Colombia and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany. Ms. Cheng has been invited to give masterclasses throughout North America and in Asia, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, Taichung University in Taiwan, Indiana University, University of Michigan and the University of Texas. She has also served on the jury of many competitions, including the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Esther Honens International Piano Competition, Montreal International Piano Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, New Orleans International Piano Competition, and the American Pianists Association Competition. In 2022, she will serve on the Selection Jury of the Sixteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Ms. Cheng’s many honors include a Gold Medal at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition, the distinction of being the first Canadian to win the prestigious Montreal International Piano Competition, additional first prizes at the William Kapell International Piano Competition and D’Angelo Young Artist Competition, the Medal of Excellence from the Salzburg Mozarteum for her outstanding interpretations of Mozart, and a Career Development Grant from the Canada Council. In 2010, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and cited for her life as a “concert pianist and ambassador for classical music.” A native of Hong Kong, Ms. Cheng studied extensively with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University and with Sascha Gorodnitzki at the Juilliard School. She is currently on the artist faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she was honored with the 2011-12 Excellence in Teaching Award. Alvin Chow: Alvin Chow has appeared throughout North America and Asia as orchestral soloist and recitalist. In addition, he has performed extensively in duo-piano recitals with his wife, Angela Cheng, and his twin brother, Alan. A native of Miami, Florida, he graduated summa cum laude and Co-Valedictorian (with his brother) at the University of Maryland, where he was a student of Nelita True. Mr. Chow received the Victor Herbert Prize in Piano upon graduation from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Sasha Gorodnitzki, and held the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship at Indiana University as a student of Menahem Pressler. Mr. Chow has won top prizes in numerous competitions such as the National Symphony Young Soloists Competition, Civic Orchestra of Chicago Young Soloists Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, and the New York Piano Teachers Congress International Piano Competition. He has been presented as recitalist in such cities as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Vienna, Montreal, Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, and has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Colorado Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Pan-Asia Symphony in Hong Kong, Shanghai Philharmonic, and Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, among others. He has also been Convention Artist for the state MTNA conferences in California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, and Tennessee. With Angela Cheng, he performed as Conference Artist for the 2019 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. Mr. Chow has presented numerous master classes and lectures at music institutions throughout the United States and abroad, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Taichung University in Taiwan, Colburn School in Los Angeles, Eastman School of Music, University of Michigan, and Indiana University. He has taught and performed at numerous summer festivals, including the Shanghai Piano Festival, Banff Piano Master Classes, North Coast Piano Festival, Southeastern Piano Festival, New Orleans International Piano Festival, Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, Lake Como Summer Piano School in Italy, and the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. Mr. Chow has been a member of numerous competition juries, including the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Iowa International Piano Competition, the Jacksonville International Piano Competition, MTNA Student Competitions (national finals), the International Piano e-Competition (screening), the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and the Cooper International Piano Competition at Oberlin. Mr. Chow was the first Fulbright Visiting Artist in Piano at the University of Arkansas, and also taught at the University of Colorado. Mr. Chow has been a member of the artist faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music since 1999. He served as Chair of the Piano Department from 2007-19, and Director of the Division of Keyboard Studies from 2019-21. Mr. Chow was named the Ruth Strickland Gardner Professor of Music from 2011-14, and also received Oberlin’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016.

Recognized as one of the top Chopin interpreters of our time, Kevin Kenner was the top prize winner in the 1990 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, as well as top prizes in the Tchaikovsky Competition and the Terrance Judd Competition, among others. Born in California, Kenner was introduced early to the classical music traditions of Poland and studied as a teenager with Poland’s eminent professor Ludwik Stefański in Cracow. When he returned to the U.S. he continued his studies with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and worked with Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Center. Following a concert tour with conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski, who frequently performed and recorded with Artur Rubinstein, described his collaborations with Kenner to be the most sensitive and beautiful he remembered. He has performed and recorded with violinist Kyung-Wha Chung and concertized with the Tokyo, Escher, Belcea, Mosaiques, Apollon Musagete, Endellion and Vogler Quartets. In addition, he has frequently been invited to appear at the Verbier Festival and Warsaw’s “Chopin and His Europe” Festival. A distinguished recording artist, Kenner’s interpretations of works by Paderewski and Chopin were each picked as recordings of the month by Grammophone magazine. Other recordings were heralded by Diapason, Fanfare and Polish National Radio. After teaching for more than a decade as professor at London’s Royal College of Music, Kenner accepted a post at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he continues to prepare many young talented pianists for international performance careers. He has served as juror at the Busoni Competition in Bolzano and at the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw among many others.