ALEXANDER COHEN has been the Principal Timpanist of the Calgary Philharmonic since 2011. A student of Paul Yancich and Richard Weiner, he graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2006. Shortly thereafter he was appointed as Principal Timpanist of the West Virginia Symphony- a position he held for five years. He acted as Principal Timpanist of the San Diego Symphony during the 2007-2008 season and has been a guest Principal Timpanist with the Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic. He has also performed as timpanist with the National Symphony, the Marlboro Festival Orchestra, the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, the New World Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, the New York String Orchestra, and the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. Alex is a founding member of ChamberFest West and ChamberFest Cleveland. He is also a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method, having completed a four year training program under the direction of Aliza Stewart in Boston.
BENJAMIN YUSUPOV
BENJAMIN YUSUPOV is music director and conductor of founded by him “Israeli Soloists” Chamber Orchestra that included the best Israeli musicians. Currently he is Composer-in-Residence of Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
His extensive catalogue, which is published by Boosey & Hawkes/Sikorski, has been performed extensively by a wide range of renowned artists and orchestra across the globe the likes of the London Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique Radio France, Bogota Philharmonic, New World Symphony, NDR Radio-Philharmonie Hannover, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Brno Philharmonic to name a few.
Yusupov works closely with outstanding artists like Maxim Vengerov, Mischa Maisky, Vadim Repin, Sergei Nakariakov, Reinhold Friedrich, Konstantin Lifschitz, Alexander Kniazev, Maxim Rysanov.
The short list of venues Yusupov appeared as conductor includes KKL Lucerne, Berlin Philharmonie Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Prinzregententheater Munich, and Cologne Philharmonie. He conducted among others Lucerne Symphony, Slovenian Philharmonic, Sinfonietta Amsterdam, Bogota Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony, Novosibirsk Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra, to name a few.
Born in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in 1962, Yusupov studied piano, composition and conducting at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow with Roman Ledeniov, Yuri Fortunatov and Dmitri Kitajenko. He received his PhD degree at Bar-Ilan University.
Yusupov was awarded the Clone Prize (1992), the Sherover Award (1993), the Israeli Prime Minister Prizes (1999, 2008), the ACUM Prizes (2002, 2004), the Landau Award for the Performing Arts (2007), and Engel Prize (2009), the ACUM Prize for lifetime achievements (2016)
AMY YANG
Praised by the Washington Post as a “jaw-dropping pianist who steals the show…with effortless finesse,” pianist AMY YANG balances a career as soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. Among her numerous collaborators are Yefim Bronfman, Roberto Díaz, Miriam Fried, Richard Goode, Kim Kashkashian, Arnold Steinhardt, Ida Kavafian, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Anne-Marie McDermott, and Joseph Silverstein; the St. Paul and Mahler chamber orchestras; Third Coast Percussion; A Far Cry; members of the Guarneri String Quartet; and the Dover, Jasper, Momenta, and Aizuri string quartets. She has appeared as a soloist with the Houston, Tuscaloosa, and Mansfield symphony orchestras; the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, and Orquesta Juvenil Universitaria Eduardo Mata de la UNAM. She made her debut playing Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä at Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center in 2023. At the Curtis Institute of Music, she is the Director of Chamber Music and Piano Studies.
She was also featured in a full episode of Emmy® Award-winning producer Jim Cotter’s Articulate, which aired on PBS in 2021.
Amy has premiered music by Caroline Shaw, Avner Dorman, Michael Hersch, Ezra Laderman, Steve Mackey, and Hua Yang. She has appeared at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Aldeburgh, Bravo! Vail, Olympic, and Ojai music festivals; Verbier Academy; Cal Performances; Caramoor; IMS Prussia Cove; Spoleto; Chamberfest Cleveland, and Chamber Music Northwest. Her discography includes a debut solo album; recordings with violinists Tessa Lark, Itamar Zorman, Danbi Um; clarinetist José Franch-Ballester; a live recording of music by Michael Hersch, performed at the Aldebergh Festival; and on Curtis Studio’s latest release: “A Century of New Sounds.”
Amy Yang is generously sponsored by Astri Seidenfeld.
ORION WEISS
One of the most sought-after soloists and chamber music collaborators of his generation, ORION WEISS is widely regarded as a “brilliant pianist” (The New York Times) with “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post). He has dazzled audiences with his lush sound and performed with dozens of orchestras in North America including the Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic and at major venues and festivals worldwide.
Known for his affinity for chamber music, Weiss performs regularly with violinists Augustin Hadelich, William Hagen, Benjamin Beilman, and James Ehnes; pianists Michael Brown and Shai Wosner; cellist Julie Albers; and the Ariel, Parker, and Pacifica Quartets. In recent seasons, he has also performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Weiss can be heard on the Naxos, Telos, Bridge, First Hand, Yarlung, and Artek labels.
Weiss has been awarded the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year, Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. A native of Ohio, Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.
JAMES (ZIJIAN) WEI
Chinese pianist JAMES (ZIJIAN) WEI is rapidly becoming a rising star among his generation of pianists. His performances are characterized by genuine emotion and unique charm, and are loved and acclaimed by audiences around the world.
In the year 2024, Wei triumphed as the Mixon First Prize winner in the prestigious Cleveland International Piano Competition, while also securing accolades including the Best Chamber Music Performance Award, the Henle Verlag Urtext Special Prize, the Audience Choice prize, and the Young Judge Prize. He is poised to embark on his inaugural recital tours with performances at the esteemed Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2025 and the Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland in 2026.
In recent years, Wei has frequently performed as a soloist with renowned orchestras in North America, Europe, and China. For example, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Central Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Changsha Symphony Orchestra, the Sichuan Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Zhengzhou Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, have performed in various prestigious concert halls both domestically and internationally.
Wei pursued his secondary education at the high school affiliated with the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, mentored by Professor Jay Pengjie Sun Professor Liu Xi, and Professor Popova. In the year 2016, he was successfully admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music, and has been undergoing musical education under the esteemed guidance of Professor Wei Danwen, a celebrated pianist and the department chair of the Piano Department at the Central Conservatory of Music.
Wei has achieved remarkable distinctions, including the First Prize in the 2017 Changjiang Cup National University Piano Competition, the Grand Prize in the Professional Category of the 2018 Huanglong Music Season Piano Competition, the First Prize in the 2018 Jianfa Gulangyu International Piano Competition, and the Third Prize in the 76th Geneva International Music Competition, as well as the receipt of the Rose-Marie Huguenin Award in 2022.
James (Zijian) Wei is presented in partnership with Piano Cleveland, generously sponsored by Jeffrey and Norma Glazer.
ROMAN RABINOVICH
Praised by The New York Times for his ‘uncommon sensitivity and feeling’, the eloquent pianist ROMAN RABINOVICH was the winner of the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 2008. His subsequent career has led him to perform throughout Europe and the USA in venues as Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, London’s Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Cité de la Musique in Paris and Washington DC’s Kennedy Center.
Roman Rabinovich has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Meininger Hofkapelle, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, NFM Leopoldinum, KBS Symphony, Prague Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic and all the major Israeli orchestras, and has collaborated with conductors such as Sir Roger Norrington, Zubin Mehta, Ludovic Morlot, Kristjan Järvi, Michael Stern, Christoph Koenig, Gerard Schwarz and Joseph Swensen. He has garnered critical acclaim for performances of concertos of all periods, ranging from Bach to Lutoslawski.
Highlights of the 2024-25 season include returns to Wigmore Hall for a series of three recitals, as well as to the Lammermuir Festival in Scotland and the Liszt Academy Chamber Music Festival in Budapest, and his concerto debut with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Roman Rabinovich also returns to Israel for a recital tour and concerto performances with the Haifa Symphony. The 2024-25 season also has a particular focus on JS Bach’s Golberg Variations, with a number of performances scheduled, including in London (Wigmore Hall) and Vienna (Bösendorfer-Zyklus).
Dubbed ‘a true polymath, in the Renaissance sense of the word’ (Seen & Heard International), Rabinovich is also a composer and visual artist with a repertoire spanning six centuries, from Byrd to Boulez and beyond. He has won critical acclaim for interpretations of the music of Haydn; he has performed Haydn Sonata cycles at the Lammermuir and Bath Festivals in UK and at ChamberFest Cleveland in the US; he has also appeared at the Herbstgold Festival in Eisenstadt, and curated a three-concert Haydn Day at Wigmore Hall in 2022. He has also released two albums of Haydn Sonatas on First Hand Records to great critical acclaim, with BBC Music Magazine noting ‘the elegance and liveliness of Rabinovich’s keyboard style are, indeed, a joy to listen to, and his unfailing musicality and inventiveness allows him to penetrate to the expressive heart of Haydn’s world.’
Roman Rabinovich made his Israel Philharmonic debut under Zubin Mehta aged 10, having immigrated to Israel a year before from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Seymour Lipkin, he went on to earn his masters- degree at the Juilliard School where he studied with Robert McDonald. He was among the first of three young pianists to be championed by Sir András Schiff for his ‘Building Bridges’ series. Together with his wife, violinist Diana Cohen, he is co-director of the ChamberFest Cleveland and ChamberFest West (Calgary) Festivals.
DARIA RABOTKINA
Born in Kazan, Russia, into a family of musicians, DARIA RABOTKINA gave her first solo recital at the age of ten. Her education started at the Specialized Music School under the guidance of her parents, and Nora Kazatchkova. Later, it continued in Kazan State Conservatory and Mannes College of Music in New York City under the tutelage of Vladimir Feltsman. In addition, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Natalya Antonova.
Rabotkina joined the piano faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2024, where she also serves as the Director of Academy Piano Studies. As guest faculty, she has presented masterclasses, private lessons and lectures at the Kazan State Conservatory. Passionate about early piano education, Rabotkina founded the FunKey Piano Project at Texas State in 2018, where she was an Associate Professor of Piano (2016-2024).
Concerto highlights include San Francisco and New World symphonies, Kirov (Mariinsky) Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Hudson Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Concepción and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Rabotkina has collaborated with Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Feltsman, Julian Kuerti, JoAnn Falletta, Benjamin Shwartz, and Giancarlo Guerrero. As a soloist, she has given recitals at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Kennedy Center, Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Ravinia’s Rising Stars, and Dame Myra Hess in Chicago. Her appearances abroad include China, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, France, Mexico and Japan.
Winner of the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Rabotkina received top prizes at several international competitions and participated in Russia’s White Nights, Finland’s Kuhmo, and Copenhagen’s Summer festivals. In the United States, Rabotkina has appeared at the Rockport Chamber Music, International Keyboard Institute, PianoSummer at New Paltz, and San Francisco International Piano festivals.
Her first three recordings were done with CAG Records as part of the Victor Elmaleh Collection. The debut recording features the Tchaikovsky Grand Sonata and Prokofiev’s Ten Pieces from “Romeo and Juliet”. Her second CD contains Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and Schubert’s Moments Musicaux. Rabotkina’s third project involved live recording of three concerti. The latest CD (MSR Classics) with humoresques by Dvořák, Reger, Rachmaninov and Schumann was released to critical acclaim in 2018.
ANTONIO POMPA-BALDI
Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, ANTONIO POMPA-BALDI won the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1999 and embarked on a multifaceted career that continues to extend across five continents. A top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition of Paris, France, Pompa-Baldi won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Mr. Pompa-Baldi appears at the world’s major concert venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, Milan’s Sala Verdi, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Shanghai’s Grand Theatre, and Paris’ Salle Pleyel, to name a few. He has collaborated with leading conductors including Hans Graf, James Conlon, Miguel Harth- Bedoya, Krzysztof Urbański, Theodore Kuchar, Benjamin Zander, Louis Lane, and Keith Lockhart. He has performed with colleagues such as Takacs String Quartet, Alison Balsom, Sharon Robinson, Ilya Kaler, and principals of the Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Juilliard Quartet, among others. Pompa Baldi has recorded 35 albums to date, for various labels including Centaur Records, Harmonia Mundi, Steinway, TwoPianists, Azica, and Brilliant Classics. Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a Steinway Artist since 2003. He is often invited to judge international piano competitions such as the Cleveland, Hilton Head, E- Competition (Minneapolis), BNDES Rio de Janeiro, and Edward Grieg (Bergen), among others. Pompa-Baldi is head of the piano department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Vice Director for Education at the Lang Lang Art World organization in Hangzhou, China, and advisory board member of the Lang Lang International Piano Foundation in New York City. In 2015, Pompa-Baldi founded Todi International Music Masters. This summer festival takes place every August in the beautiful Italian town of Todi. It features internationally renowned faculty members, and students from all over the world.
JUHO POHJONEN
JUHO POHJONEN is regarded as one of today’s most exciting and unique instrumentalists. The Finnish pianist performs widely in Europe, Asia, and North America, collaborating with symphony orchestras and playing in recital and chamber settings. An ardent exponent of Scandinavian music, Pohjonen’s growing discography offers a showcase of music by Finnish compatriots such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kaija Saariaho and Jean Sibelius.
In 2021-2022 Pohjonen performs Daniel Bjarnason’s concerto for piano Processions with the Helsinki Philharmonic with the composer at the podium. Additional orchestral highlights include performances of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Rune Bergmann and the Colorado Symphony as well as performances of Mendelssohn’s concerto for violin, piano and strings, beside Erin Keefe, Maestro Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra. Continuing his long-standing relationship with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Pohjonen performs at Alice Tully Hall on two separate occasions this season in programs featuring works by Stravinksy, Debussy, Shostokovich and Mendelssohn. Additional chamber projects include a performance at Parlance Chamber Concerts with Danbi Um and Paul Huang and Cliburn Concerts with Danbi and Karim Sulayman. Juho will perform recitals in Helsinki and at Vancouver Recital Society.
Last season, Juho performed with the Tampere Philharmonic following his debut with the orchestra in 2017-2018 and also performed Daniel Bjarnason’s Processions with Finland’s Tapiola Sinfonietta.
Following the September 2019 performance of Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota, Pohjonen returned to the orchestra in January 2020 to repeat the program at Indiana University in Bloomington. Additional highlights included two orchestra debuts: with the New Jersey Symphony performing Grieg, conducted by Markus Stenz; and with the Rochester Philharmonic performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Fabien Gabel. Pohjonen made his Philadelphia recital debut at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and returned to Howland Chamber Music Circle in Beacon, NY with a recital. An alumnus of The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two), Pohjonen enjoys an ongoing association with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, with whom he played two performances in New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Chicago’s Harris Theater.
Pohjonen launched MyPianist in 2019, an AI-based iOS app that provides interactive piano accompaniment to musicians everywhere. Designed and programmed by Mr. Pohjonen himself and infused with his keen musical sensibility, MyPianist acts as a “virtual pianist” for musicians looking to hone their skills or learn new material. MyPianist carefully “listens” to the musician’s playing and recreates the piano part in real time, matching the timing and nuances of the live performance. More information at https://mypianist.app.
Pohjonen’s illustrious resume of concerto performances reveals a musician in demand internationally. He has appeared as a soloist with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony & Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, with the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City, and a large number of additional North American orchestras. This includes the Atlanta Symphony where Pohjonen has performed three times. Pohjonen has collaborated with today’s foremost conductors, including Marin Alsop, Lionel Bringuier, Marek Janowski, Fabien Gabel, Kirill Karabits, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Markus Stenz, and Pinchas Zukerman.
The pianist has previously appeared in recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and in San Francisco, La Jolla, Detroit, Savannah, and Vancouver. He made his London debut at Wigmore Hall, and has performed recitals throughout Europe including in Antwerp, Hamburg, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, and Warsaw. Festival appearances include Lucerne; Savonlinna Finland; Bergen, Norway; and Mecklenberg-Vorpommern in Germany, as well as the Gilmore Keyboard Festival. With CMS he has performed significant chamber music repertoire with Escher and Calidore String Quartets in New York, Chicago, and at Wolf Trap, among many other programs. Other highlights of recent seasons include a recital debut at the 92nd Street Y in New York, in which Pohjonen performed a program that featured Scriabin’s Sonata No. 8 and Dichotomie by Salonen. In a review comparing Pohjonen’s performance of the same piece in 2019 to his 2009 performance, the New York Times commented that the Salonen “no longer seemed nearly impossible. You might say he played it like a master.”
Pohjonen’s most recent recording with cellist Inbal Segev features cello sonatas by Chopin and Grieg, and Schumann’s ’Fantasiestücke, hallmarks of the Romantic repertoire. Plateaux, his debut recording on Dacapo Records, featured works by late Scandinavian composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, including the solo piano suite For Piano, and piano concerto Plateaux pour Piano et Orchestre, with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Ed Spanjaard. His recital at the Music@Menlo 2010 festival was recorded as part of the Music@Menlo Live series. Entitled Maps and Legends, the disc includes Mozart’s Sonata in A major, K. 331, Grieg’s Ballade (Op. 24), and Handel’s Suite in B-flat Major. Pohjonen joins violinist Petteri Iivonen and cellist Samuli Peltonen to form the Sibelius Trio, who released a recording on Yarlung Records in honor of Finland’s 1917 centennial of independence. The album, described by Stereophile as “a gorgeous debut,” included works by Sibelius and Kaija Saariaho.
Pohjonen began his piano studies in 1989 at the Junior Academy of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and subsequently earned a Master’s Degree from Meri Louhos and Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna at the Sibelius Academy in 2008. Pohjonen was selected by Sir Andras Schiff as the winner of the 2009 Klavier Festival Ruhr Scholarship, and has won prizes at international and Finnish competitions.
EVREN OZEL
American pianist EVREN OZEL has been described as “an absolute wow” (Third Coast Review) and “an artist capable of lifting everyone to another level” (LaScena Musicale), praised for his blend of technical mastery and compelling artistry. He is the Bronze Medalist of the 17th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (2025), where he also received the special prize for the Best Performance of a Mozart Concerto.
Ozel has performed extensively throughout the United States and internationally, and is the recipient of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2022 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant. He is currently represented by Concert Artists Guild as an Ambassador Prize Winner of the 2021 Victor Elmaleh Competition.
Since making his orchestral debut with the Minnesota Orchestra at age 11, Ozel has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and Jacksonville Symphony, performing under conductors such as Marin Alsop, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jahja Ling, and Ruth Reinhardt. His debut album—Mozart concertos recorded with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Howard Griffiths—was released in 2025 on Alpha Classics.
Highlights of Ozel’s 2025–26 season include solo recitals for Portland Piano International, the Chopin Society of Minnesota, and Chamber Music Detroit. He has previously performed for the Harvard Musical Association, La Jolla Music Society, Cal Performances, and The Gilmore. A laureate of both the Cleveland International Piano Competition and the Dublin International Piano Competition, Ozel gave a recital at Salle Cortot (Paris) during the 2024–25 season as part of a series of international performances resulting from the Cleveland Competition, and will continue with appearances at Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte (Germany) and the Vilnius Piano Festival (Lithuania).
A committed chamber musician, Ozel collaborates with artists including David Finckel and Wu Han, Stella Chen, Zlatomir Fung, Paul Huang, Kim Kashkashian, Daniel Phillips, and Marcy Rosen. He spent four summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, and is currently a 2024–27 Bowers Program Artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, with upcoming appearances at Alice Tully Hall. He will also perform in 2025–26 for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Ozel resides in Boston and holds Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Artist Diploma degrees from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Wha Kyung Byun. His other important mentors include Jonathan Biss, Imogen Cooper, Richard Goode, András Schiff, and Mitsuko Uchida.