ADVISOR
Hai-Kyung Suh
Advisor
Concert Pianist
Hai-Kyung Suh’s talent was recognized early. She won first prize in a national competition at age 8 and the Grand Prix of the Ewha /KyungHyang Music Competition when she was 10. She made her orchestral debut at age 11, performing Mozart's Concerto in C major, K. 467, with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra (now the KBS Symphony Orchestra). The Republic of Korea honored her with its President's Medal twice, when she was 11 and 12 years old, elevating her over much older competitors. After studying in Japan, where she became a sensation in her teens, she moved to New York for studies with Reisenberg at the Mannes College of Music and with Gorodnitzki at the Juilliard School, where she earned bachelor’s and doctor’s degrees. She earned prizes at the Munich, William Kapell, and Gina Bachauer competitions, among others, and won the 2nd prize (no 1st prize awarded) at both the Busoni International Piano Competition and the Munich ARD International Piano Competition. For these accomplishments, the Korean government bestowed on the 20-year-old pianist its highest honor for an artist, the Medal of Cultural Achievement. Ms. Suh went on to win first prize at the Palm Beach (Florida) Invitational International Competition, an event open only to winners of other competitions. As the winner of the William Petschek Award she made her U.S. recital debut in 1985 in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. By 2004, the veteran critic Harris Goldsmith could call her New York recital "an exceptionally satisfying evening" that made it "obvious to this writer that...Ms. Suh has resoundingly made the difficult transition from prodigy to self-confident 'Old Master.'"
Zelma Bodzin
Advisor
Faculty / Mannes School of Music
Zelma Bodzin, pianist, has performed in recital, as soloist with orchestra, chamber musician and collaborative pianist with singers, instrumentalists and choruses, appearing in New York at Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall with the New York Chamber Orchestra and Carnegie Hall. She is a coach, artistic consultant, producer and teacher. Ms. Bodzin has an international reputation as an adjudicator and jury member, from Bulgaria to Ireland, the French Caribbean and New York City. Colleagues have sought out and critics have recognized her "acute ear and intriguing ideas" (New York Times).
A native of New Jersey, Ms. Bodzin began concertizing at the age of five, and went on to study with Eugene List, Dieter Weber, Rosalyn Tureck, Wilhelm Kempff, and Arminda Canteros. She was a member of the Haffner Ensemble in Vienna, Austria. While her reputation as a performer of Bach grew — "those who were there must be deeply grateful", according to The Irish Times review of Ms. Bodzin's performance of the "Goldberg Variations" —she also included 20th century American repertoire. Leonard Bernstein's "Age of Anxiety" received critical and public acclaim on tour in Texas.
Ms. Bodzin has given master classes in Finland, Bulgaria, Ireland, Malta and Guadeloupe, as well as New York, Texas, Connecticut and Florida, and composers who have worked with her have won commissions in New York and Washington, D.C. She is a member of the faculty of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College/CUNY. She initiated the Ensemble Piano course at the Mannes College’s Diploma Program and is on the faculty there. Ms. Bodzin is a member of the faculty at the 92nd Street Y School of Music, on the Board of the Leschetizky Association and is a Past President of the New York State Music Teachers Association. She has recorded music of Beethoven and Ravel for feature films, including Spike Lee’s Crooklyn.
Tanya Stambuk
Advisor
Faculty / University of Puget Sound
Dr. Tanya Stambuk was hailed as "a player with a powerful technique, ideas of her own, and considerable promise" by the New York Times. Her concert career has taken her across the United States and throughout Western and Eastern Europe.
She has performed with the Orchestre de Toulouse in France, the Virginia Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra in Orchestra Hall, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Lake Charles Symphony and Rapides Symphony Orchestra in Louisiana, Washington's Olympia Symphony, Yakima Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Seattle Symphony and Oregon's Rogue Valley Symphony.
Dr. Stambuk has been heard in recital at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in Croatia, the Robert Schumann Summer Festival in Germany, and in the Auditorio Nacional Carlos Alberto in Portugal where she won the international piano competition. She was also invited as a guest artist at the Perugia Summer Festival in Italy.
Dr. Tanya Stambuk has made guest appearances on radio in New York City, Moscow, and in Croatia, and has appeared on a television program entitled IN PRAISE OF WOMEN PIANISTS. She has performed at the 92nd Street Y and Merkin Hall in New York City, the Music Academy in Philadelphia, the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the Piano Series at the San Diego Art Museum, and at Brigham Young University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Hawaii. She premiered Norman Dello Joio’s newly revised Fantasy Variations for Piano and Orchestra in Florida and North Carolina which led to numerous performances of the music of Norman Dello Joio, and has unexpectedly led to her being considered an authority on and interpreter of the music of American composers. Tanya Stambuk has recorded the piano works of Norman Dello Joio on the Centaur label.
Dr. Stambuk is a member of the Finisterra Piano Trio. The Finisterra Piano Trio is Artist-in Residence at The Season’s Concert Series in Eastern Washington and the Phoenix Concert Series in New York City. They have performed in England, Italy, and across the United States. Most recently, Tanya Stambuk recorded the complete piano trios of composer Daron Hagen with the Finisterra Piano Trio on the Naxos label. Ned Rorem, famed American composer, called Finisterra's recording of Hagen's piano trios, "exquisite." The recording was also named one of the five best American Contemporary Classical Releases by NPR.
Dr. Tanya Stambuk is also a member of the Puget Sound Piano Trio with fellow professors of the University, Alistair MacRae and Maria Sampen.
Dr. Stambuk’s main passion is teaching and to nurture individual growth in her students. “I enjoy working with Puget Sound students because they continually challenge themselves and are not afraid of taking new paths. It has been a great experience for me to get to know these students on an individual basis. They are enthusiastic and inspiring people who make my work fun and exciting," says the beloved piano professor. Many of her students have gone on to renowned graduate music programs, won competitions, and are both performing and teaching.
Dr. Tanya Stambuk is a graduate of the Juilliard School, (BM and MM in Piano Performance) and Rutgers University (DMA in Piano Performance). She credits Robert Turner, Sasha Gorodnitzki, and Ilana Vered as her major mentors in learning the art of piano performance.
Damien Sneed
Advisor
Faculty / Manhattan School of Music
As a multi-genre recording artist and instrumentalist, Damien Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator whose work spans multiple genres. He has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends, including the late Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman, which he is featured on Norman’s final recording, Bound For The Promised Land on Albany Records. He also worked with Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ashford & Simpson, J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, Brandie Inez Sutton and many others. Sneed has served as music director for Grammy Award-winning gospel artists The Clark Sisters, Richard Smallwood, Donnie McClurkin, Hezekiah Walker, Marvin Sapp, Karen Clark Sheard, Dorinda Clark-Cole and Kim Burrell, among others. Sneed is a 2020 Dove Award winner for his work as a featured producer and writer on the Clark Sisters’ new project, “The Return”, released on March 13, 2020.
In January 2020, he embarked on his 40-city North American tour, “We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., featuring Damien Sneed.” The 2020 tour kicked off on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, at Joe’s Pub in New York, NY, and made stops at concert halls and universities in the U.S. and Canada. The tour concluded on Wednesday, March 11, 2020, at the College of Southern Idaho Fine Arts Center in Twin Falls, ID. In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Sneed brought his brand of classical, jazz, and sanctified soul to venues across the country during Dr. King’s holiday, Black History Month, and Women’s Month. “We Shall Overcome” is a joyous celebration reflecting on the triumphant and victorious moments during our history.
In January 2020, Sneed released his debut classical album, Classically Harlem and We Shall Overcome Deluxe on his boutique label, LeChateau Earl Records, which was established in 2009 to reflect his varied musical interests. Previous recordings include, Jazz In Manhattan (September 2019), The Three Sides of Damien Sneed: Classical, Jazz and Sanctified Soul (July 2018), Broken To Minister: The Deluxe Edition (March 2015), Spiritual Sketches (June 2013), and Introspections LIVE (January 2010).
Sneed is the founder and artistic director of Chorale Le Chateau, which has gained a global reputation for its vivid interpretations of vocal literature, from Renaissance period pieces to art songs to jazz, spirituals, gospel, and avant-garde contemporary music. He is featured on the recording of Wynton Marsalis’ Abyssinian Mass as a conductor, with Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Chorale Le Chateau.
The composer and pianist recently premiered his new opera, “We Shall Overcome -- Our Journey: 400 Years from Africa to Jamestown,” at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage for the Sphinx Organization Performance and Gala, sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Robert F. Smith. Sneed also wrote the libretto, which showcases musical styles from the African American diaspora from African rhythms to spirituals to gospel to jazz, all interwoven in the classical genre. He was joined by fellow Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipients and Metropolitan Opera’s J’Nai Bridges (mezzo- soprano) and Will Liverman (baritone), along with Sneed’s chorus, Chorale Le Chateau, and the Sphinx Virtuosi Orchestra, who brought to life his ground-breaking opera during the evening’s finale performance.
During the 2018 – 2019 season, Sneed served as music director, composer in residence, and cover conductor for the staff of the Houston Grand Opera. Sneed was also commissioned to compose a new chamber opera titled MARIAN’S SONG about the life of Marian Anderson for Houston Grand Opera, which had its world premiere on March 5, 2020, at the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Center. The Library of Congress commissioned Sneed to compose a brief solo piano work, “Sequestered Thoughts”, for its Boccaccio Project in response to the COVID- 19 pandemic, which premiered online on June 15, 2020.
Sneed is featured in the award-winning PBS documentary Everyone Has a Place, which stars Wynton Marsalis. The film captures Sneed’s journey as the musical conductor of the historic performance of Marsalis’ “Abyssinian Mass.” The film features the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Sneed’s 70-piece Chorale LeChateau. Sneed is also featured in Aaron Dworkin’s book, The Entrepreneurial Artist: Lessons from Highly Successful Creatives.
A recipient of a 2014 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and a graduate of John S. Davidson Fine Arts School in his hometown of Augusta, GA., Sneed studied at some of the finest conservatories and universities, including Howard University, where he earned a Bachelor of Music – Piano Performance; the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University; New York University, where he earned a Master of Music in Music Technology: Scoring for Film and Multimedia; and the Manhattan School of Music. Sneed will also graduate with his doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from USC in 2020.
Sneed is currently a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music, where he teaches graduate-level courses in conducting, African American Music History, a singer/songwriter ensemble, a gospel music ensemble, and private lessons in piano, voice, and composition. He recently joined the esteemed faculty of Michigan State University as artist-in-residence for the 2020 – 2021 school year. Sneed will work with Wharton Center and the MSU College of Music, helping to bring social impact programming to both institutions while advancing progress in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. He was a member of the faculty at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and Nyack College. His other professional affiliations have included The Juilliard School as a staff accompanist, Jazz at Lincoln Center as an artistic consultant, and the City University of New York (CUNY) as a professor of music. In 2015, Sneed established the Damien Sneed Performing Arts Institute, a division of the Damien Sneed Foundation.
Sneed was recently commissioned by Alvin Ailey Dance Theater to create an original score for Testament, a contemporary response to the 60th Anniversary of Revelations for the dance company’s first virtual season to premiere in December 2020. He was also recently commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to compose a new 20-minute opera featuring a small ensemble of singers and musicians to be premiered in April 2021. Other commissions this season include: the Tuskegee Airmen Symphonic Rhapsody in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen with its world premiere in March 2021 in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, a new piece commissioned by the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas, to premiere in March 2021, and a choral suite commissioned by the Trenton Children’s Chorus with its premiere in April 2021.
Kunsu Kim
President