Selected Alumni Bios

• Aysegul Durakoglu

  Since her highly acclaimed New York recital debut at Merkin Concert Hall, pianist Aysegul Durakoglu has concertized widely as a soloist and chamber musician throughout her native Turkey, Europe, the former Soviet Union, Canada, and the United States. She has appeared with major orchestras in Turkey where she has also been featured on radio and television; in the United States, she has performed in major venues including Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Kay Playhouse, and Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center in New York; Jan Popper Theater at UCLA and Hancock Auditorium in Los Angeles; World Bank, and Anderson House Concert Series in Washington DC; Tsai Performing Arts Center and Federal Reserve Bank Series in Boston; and the Asssembly Hall in Chicago.  Recently, she has been featured as soloist at the International Istanbul Music Festival with James Galway, and at contemporary music festivals in Russia and Canada.  

  Aysegul Durakoglu received her Bachelor of Music degree at the Istanbul State Conservatory. After receiving her Master of Music Degree from the Juilliard School, she earned a Ph.D. degree in piano performance with notable distinction at New York University's Steinhardt School.  Now an active performer and researcher, Dr. Durakoglu has presented numerous lecture-recitals on the music of Turkish composers and piano music of Claude Debussy.  In 1998, she established a Chamber Music Society, Musica Mundana, and continues to perform with her ensemble throughout the United States and Canada.  She is full-time faculty of the Music and Technology Department at the Stevens Institute of Technology, NJ, where she teaches piano, music history, music theory, and Eastern Mediterranean music.

• Madeleine Forte

  Madeleine Forte (Ph.D., Piano Performance, 1984) Dr. Madeleine Forte began her career at a Beethoven festival in Vichy, France. La Montagne wrote of her debut: "A new star has risen in the firmament of artistic glory. A young girl, age 13, played with great brio Beethoven's Appassionata, so that the audience stood and gave a lengthy ovation." She studied piano with master pianists Alfred Cortot and Wilhelm Kempff. She has won prizes in international competitions (Viotti, Italy; Maria Canals, Spain; Guanabara, Brazil).

  Dr. Forte holds Artist Diplomas from the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris and the Warsaw Conservatory in the class of Zbigniew Drzewiecki and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Rosina Lhevinne and Martin Canin. In 1984 she completed her Ph.D. in our department with a dissertation on the music of Olivier Messiaen. Dr. Forte is a Fellow of Silliman College, Yale University.

  Madeleine Forte has appeared as a recording artist on Radiodiffusion-television française in Paris, on Radio Warsaw, on Television O Globo, Rio-de-Janeiro, Radio Television Buenos Aires, and NBC Television, New York. She has presented solo recitals and has performed as a soloist with orchestras in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Austria, England, Norway, the United States, Canada, China, and Japan. She has compact disc recordings of the music of Ravel, Debussy, Messiaen, Chopin (2), and Barber. Dr.Forte is the author of several publications, including the book: Olivier Messiaen, The Musical Mediator. Forte lives in Connecticut with her husband Allen Forte, Yale University Battell Professor of the Theory of Music. She recently performed and gave master classes in Seoul, South Korea.

  Dr. Forte published a book, "Simply Madeleine", that will be released in the Fall 2011, detailing her story of how a "little girl with big talent overcame myriad changes and found the courage to achieve artistic success and personal happiness".

  Madeleine was recently honored by her former school Boise State University for 26 years of service. The Alumni Association bought a concert grand Steinway in her name that is now placed in her former office. They also organized a weekend of festivities between Oct 14 and 17. Forte joined her Alumni in
  concert, where one of her former students Hungarian Janos Kery from Budapest wrote a piece for five pianists in her honor. Her new memoir, 'Simply Madeleine', was sold out at a book signing.

• Marc Giosi

  

  Drawn to music at an early age, Marc Giosi (M.M. 2007) began his career in the arts as a classically trained pianist.  After completing his Bachelor's in Piano Performance with a concentration in pedagogy from the Crane School of Music, he went on to earn his Master's in Performance from New York University, where he also served as an Adjunct Instructor of Piano.
  
  Marc joined the staff of Chamber Music America in 2006. As their Conference and Events Manager, he oversaw the complete production of the CMA National Conference. Held annually in New York City, this four-day convening engages the nation’s top presenters, artist managers, funders, and musicians associated with the chamber music field. Also in this capacity he has planned professional development workshops and seminars across the country. Previously, he spent two years as CMA’s Program Associate, working closely with the CMA Program Department in developing grant programs and providing career development support.
  
  Recently, Marc was named as the Executive Director for Chatham Baroque, an early music ensemble based in Pittsburgh. Founded in 1990, this critically acclaimed ensemble tours both nationally and abroad and also presents its own concert series in Pittsburgh.
  
  Striving to bring a youthful perspective to the performing arts field, Marc never forgets what it felt like to be a fresh college graduate set loose into the vast, overwhelming arts scene that is New York.  Some of his most rewarding work has been consulting with young artists in honing their business acumen and marketability, a vital aspect often overlooked in traditional conservatory training.  “Have Repertoire, Will Travel”, an article that he wrote for Chamber Music Magazine details the challenges facing many two-piano ensembles.
  
  Currently residing in Pittsburgh, Marc maintains a limited but highly rewarding performance schedule. Upcoming performances include dates in Syracuse, Pittsburgh, New York, and Cleveland.

• Diane Leslie

  

  Diane Leslie (M.A. 2001, Advanced Certificate 2006) was born in Pittsburgh, PA, where she won the Pittsburgh Concert Society Award and performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony. She earned her B.S. in Music Education and M.A. in Piano Performance from New York University's Steinhardt School, during which time she received the Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Piano Performance and the Instrumental Performance and Piano Studies Award.
  
  Recent performances include Steinway Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Faculty Club at Columbia University, Town Hall, CBC Canada, National Public Radio and the Ronald Reagan International Center in Washington. Diane is seen often at New York's Hotel Carlyle, where she combines her original compositions with classical favorites. Her CD, "In My Mind," is available at Colony Records in New York City, at performances and now on iTunes. Diane Leslie is a Steinway Artist.
  
  Diane has written music for Lincoln Center's Out-of-Doors Festival and composed the score for the musicals "The Coolest Cat in Town," presented at New York City Center, and "The Prince and the Pauper," presented at the Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts. She has also appeared in musicals, including the ABC production of "Pinocchio's Christmas," in which she portrays the Snow Queen.

  Diane performs for President Bill Clinton (2010)

• Pang Jane Cheung

  Pang Jane Cheung (Ph.D. Piano Performance 1996)  Dr. Cheung holds the following degrees in piano performance - B.M. from New England Conservatory of Music, M.A. from The Juilliard School and Ph.D. from NYU Steinhardt.  During her degree studies, her piano mentors were Gabriel Chodos (New England), György Sándor (Juilliard), Jerome Lowenthal (NYU) and Gregory Haimovsky (NYU).

  Dr. Cheung returned to Hong Kong in the late 1990's.  She is currently on the piano faculty of Hong Kong Baptist University where she teaches undergraduate piano performance majors.  She also teaches a piano pedagogy course for a diploma program at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

  In addition, Dr. Cheung has been a jury member for several piano competitions in Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen (China).  These include the 13^th-15^th Hong Kong-Asia Piano Open Competition, the 71^st Steinway & Sons International Youth Piano Competition (Hong Kong & Macau Region), Hong Kong Young Musician of the Year and the Toyama Asian Youth Music Competition.

• Kathleen Riley

  Kathleen Riley (PhD. Piano Performance 2001) is known nationally as a lecturer and clinician on piano technique and injury prevention. Through her research, she has developed a new multimodal approach to teaching piano technique that addresses the physiology of piano performance.
  
  Her primary areas of research are piano pedagogy and technique, injury prevention, and improving students' listening skills, especially at the grade school level.  In particular, she is interested in how technology, aural/visual feedback and/or biofeedback on muscle tension can be effective tools in the above areas.  Comparing Feedback Methods for Teaching Music Articulation to Children, a funded research study with Dr. Edgar Coons at NYU, investigated the effect of aural/visual feedback on learning of music by grade school children.  In collaboration with Dr. John Chong, Director of the Musicians' Clinics of Toronto, Dr. Riley is analyzing video, muscle tension and MIDI data of high level pianists' performances to show students how the body works effectively in performance.
  
  Dr. Riley's work has been published in many peer reviewed journals, including Medical Problems of Performing Artists, American Music Teacher and Journal of Technology in Music Learning, along with articles in the New York Times and Scientific American.  Also active in performance, she has private practices in New York City and New Jersey.
  www.pianoperceptions.com

• Erik T. Tawaststjerna
  Finnish-born pianist Erik T. Tawaststjerna studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and received degrees from the Vienna Music Academy as a pupil of Dieter Weber; The Juilliard School, New York, as a pupil of Sascha Gorodnitzki; and a doctorate from NYU Steinhardt under the guidance of Eugene List. He has given recitals throughout the world, including the first Finnish performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety” in 1981, and a command performance in 1990 for Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace, Tokyo.
  
  Mr. Tawaststjerna has recorded the complete piano music of Jean Sibelius on the BIS label. Since 1982, he has taught at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he was appointed full professor of piano and Head of Piano Studies in 1986. He is co-director of the biennial Espoo International Piano Festival near Helsinki and has served as juror on many prestigious international piano competitions. Erik Tawaststjerna was named Professor of the Year 2006 by the Finnish Professors’ League.
• Deborah Bradley-Kramer
  

  Deborah Bradley-Kramer, M.A. '90 and Ph.D. '96, Piano Performance, is Director of the Music Performance Program and Lecturer in Music at Columbia University. Dr. Bradley-Kramer is the founder and pianist in The Moebius Ensemble, a group dedicated to fostering cross-cultural exchanges between musicians and composers in Eastern Europe and the U.S. This ensemble has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including three Rockefeller Foundation grants, two National Endowment for the Arts ("The Fund for US Artists”) grants, and a grant from the Kousssevitzky Foundation for the commission of a new work by Jonathan Kramer.
  
  As a soloist, Dr. Bradley-Kramer concertizes frequently throughout the U S and Europe, and has performed with such orchestras as the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, the Iasi (Romania) Philharmonic, and the St. Petersburg Classical Symphony. She presents master classes and concert lectures at music schools, conservatories and festivals every summer, including Prague Spring, The Martinu Foundation, Chopin Academy (Warsaw), Prague Conservatory, Musica Judaica, St. Petersburg and Moscow Conservatories, and the Plzen Conservatory.
  

  Dr. Bradley-Kramer's research interests include 20th Century Russian Music, especially that of Shostakovich, Bulgarian and Russian folk music, Czech and Russian literature and poetry.