Graham Johnson
January 11-12, 2011
The Voice & Opera and Accompanying Departments, with additional funding from the Friends of Eastman Opera (FEO), will host a residency by eminent British accompanist and scholar Graham Johnson on January 11 and 12, 2011. A prolific recording artist and author, Mr. Johnson gave a master class here in 1995 that, as one teacher put it, left participants “spellbound” at his artistic coaching, breadth of knowledge of both music and poetry, and passion for the song recital. He will offer three events open to students and faculty:
Tuesday, Jan. 11, 10:30 A.M. — 12:30 P.M., Hatch Recital Hall: Lecture on the Art of Accompaniment
Tuesday, Jan. 11, 3:30 — 5:30 P.M., Hatch Recital Hall: Master Class in French Mélodie
Wednesday, Jan. 12, 4:00–6:30 P.M., Hatch: Master Class in German Lied
Performers for the classes include singers selected from all of the voice studios, accompanying majors and piano majors. Mr. Johnson is a true “master teacher” and his short residency will benefit greatly students, whether they are participating in the classes or observing. Thank you for your attention and assistance!
Johnson is recognized as one of the world’s leading vocal accompanists. In 1972 he was the official pianist at Peter Pears’ first master classes at The Maltings, Snape which brought him into contact with Benjamin Britten. In 1976 he formed the Songmakers’ Almanac to explore neglected areas of piano-accompanied vocal music. He has accompanied such distinguished singers as Sir Thomas Allen, Victoria de los Angeles, Elly Ameling, Arleen Auger, and many others. He devised and accompanied concerts for Wigmore Hall’s re-opening series in 1992 and its centenary celebrations in 2001 and has chaired the jury for the Wigmore Hall Song Competition since its inception. He has won three Gramaphone Awards and was The Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year in 1998. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, a Knight in France’s Ordre des Arts et Lettres, an honorary member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Tatevik Mokatsian
January 27, 2011
The Armenian pianist Tatevik Mokatsian is internationally renowned as a soloist, chamber music partner and university lecturer. Since 2001, she has been Professor of Piano Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik Saar (University of Music) in Germany.
Prof. Mokatsian has given numerous concerts and master classes in Europe, South Korea and the USA. Recent performance highlights have included appearances at highly-regarded international music festivals and chamber music series such as the Musikfestspiele Saar, “Rosetti Tage” and “Kunst und Kammermusikfest” in Germany, Revelle Chamber Music Series in La Jolla and Morrison Artists Series in San Francisco. She has performed in such prominent venues as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Philharmonie Yerevan, and the Seoul Arts Center, as well as Merkin Concert Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Prof. Mokatsian’s chamber music partners have included Eduard Brunner, Kim Kashkashian, Boris Pergamenschikow, Nikolas Chumachenko, Diemut Poppen, the Hába-Quartett, Gustav Rivinius, Antje Weithaas, Albrecht Laurent Breuninger, Gabi Pas van Riet, Manuel Fischer-Dieskau and Tanja Becker-Bender. Since 1998, she has performed regularly as a duo with violist Carol Rodland.
The press praises her playing for its “subtlety, stylistic consciousness, amazing ease, tender, precise and structured touch” (FAZ – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and calls her a “splendid pianist and partner” (Andante Magazine New York). Die Rheinpfalz says: (Tatevik Mokatsian possesses)… filigree touch and absolute playing precision … This pianist articulates every note clearly and emphatically, yet always delicately ……. Tonal sensitivity, without straining after effect …”
Recordings of piano literature for two and four hands as well as chamber music recordings with Tatevik Mokatsian are available at SFB Berlin, SWR Freiburg and Kaiserslautern, NPR New York, SR Saarbrücken and at HR Frankfurt. She has recorded for the Ars Musici label (Freiburger Musik Forum) with violinist Elisabeth Weber and for the Crystal Records label with violist Carol Rodland.
Tatevik Mokatsian studied in her hometown of Yerevan, Armenia, with Natela Aharonian and Professor Juri Hairapetian, himself a student of the outstanding Russian pedagogue Jakow Flijer. She pursued graduate studies with Prof. Michael Leuschner at the Musikhochschule Freiburg im Breisgau, where she was awarded “with excellence” the postgraduate Aufbaustudium Diplom and the prestigious Konzertexam in Solo Performance. Master classes with Ludmila Ginsburg, Barry Snyder, Sebastian Benda, Felix Gottlieb and Robert Levin provided further inspiration.
In addition to her performing activities, Prof. Mokatsian also maintains an active teaching schedule. Prior to her full-time appointment as a professor in Saarbrücken, she served on the accompanying faculties of the Musikhochschule “Hanns Eisler” Berlin and the Musikhochschule Freiburg im Breisgau. Before moving to Germany, she was the teaching assistant of Prof. Hairapetian at the State Conservatory of Yerevan. Several of her pupils have received international awards.
