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In 2022, I (Benjamin Harding) had a podcast entitled, Piano Explored. I had the amazing opportunity to interview Edna Golandsky. My life has forever been changed. And so - today's episode is rather personal for me. This interview changed my life and I know it will have an affect on you as you listen. Here are the show notes from that particular episode. I hope you gain a glimpse into the great work that the Golandsky Institute is doing for musicians and especially, pianists. Founded by my guest today, Edna Golandsky, the Golandsky Institute has given insight to millions into how to play the piano pain-free. Edna Golandsky is one of the premiere students of Dorothy Taubman. Visit her websites listed in the descriptions below. Edna Golandsky is a world-renowned piano pedagogue and the leading exponent of the Taubman Approach. She has earned wide acclaim throughout the United States and abroad for her pedagogical expertise, and for using the Taubman piano technique. She is also known for her extraordinary ability to solve technical problems and for her penetrating musical insight. Ms. Golandsky started piano study in Israel at the age of eight. A gifted pianist, she played recitals at the age of ten and was performing with orchestras by the age of twelve. Ms. Golandsky came to the United States when she was sixteen years old, and was immediately accepted to the Juilliard School in their Preparatory Division. She remained at Juilliard for the next eight years, studying with Jane Carlson, Rosina Lhevinne and Adele Marcus, and graduating with bachelor and master’s degrees in piano performance. She has been featured in The New York Times,Classical Music UK, Authority Magazine, Piano & Keyboard Magazine, The Clavier Companion, New Work Weekly, Thrive Global and has written for The Strad, Interlude, TopMusic, Piano Marvel, and The Cross-Eyed Pianist among others. The Golandsky Institute was established in 2003 by Edna Golandsky, John Bloomfield, Robert Durso and Mary Moran to bring high-level training in the Taubman Approach to the musical community. This Approach has proven to be highly effective in the resolution of technical limitations and playing-related injuries. The aim of the Institute is to provide musicians with a foundation that allows for full artistic expression and the development of virtuosic technical ability. The work of the Golandsky Institute is presented internationally through private instruction, lectures, master classes, workshops, performances and symposiums by a team of expertly trained faculty members and teachers who are all highly regarded in their own right. In addition, the Institute produces critically acclaimed learning materials, including several series of DVDs, a photo-rich book, and videos of lectures, master classes, and seminars available as downloads or through the digital subscription streaming service. The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence. Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.
Take your piano playing to the next level this summer from the comfort of your own home at the Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium, taking place live online from July 12 to 15. This Symposium offers an invaluable experience of engaging with peers and experts of the Taubman Approach of piano playing through lectures, interactive problem-solving sessions, and one-on-one guidance. On top of the informative sessions, the Symposium also gives exceptional opportunities to participants through masterclasses, and exclusive performances by world-renowned concert artists, Ilya Itin and Josu de Solaun. And if you miss any of it because of your schedule, you have unlimited access to all the recorded sessions for three months after the live sessions are over. For more information, visit golandskyinstitute.org and take advantage of the early bird discount which ends on June 12. The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence. Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.
For decades now, Dr. Lisa Yui has inspired audiences with her playing, has promoted the piano with her writing and speaking, and is raising up a new generation of artists with her teaching. Her career is multifaceted and multi-variegated; it shines with brilliance and excellence. It was an absolute honor to explore with her the Taubman Approach and its impact on her astounding pianism. Be sure to visit Lisa's website for more information about this incredible person, artist and pianist. Lisa Yui's website. Described as “a musical phenomenon” (Pianist magazine), Yamaha Artist Lisa Yui enjoys a multifaceted musical career as pianist, lecturer, teacher, author, and musical director. Since making her concerto debut at the age of seven, Lisa Yui has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia as a recitalist and soloist with orchestra. She is the top prizewinner of the Senigallia International Piano Competition in Italy, the Super Classics International Auditions in Tokyo, and has twice been the recipient of a Canada Council Scholarship. Lisa Yui has performed as soloist with prominent orchestras such as the Tokyo Symphony, Polish National Radio, Toronto Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, and the Krakow State Philharmonic. Her performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York), CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation), CJRT-FM (Ontario, Canada), and STV (Sapporo, Japan). She has performed in Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum in Budapest, among other major concert venues around the world. As a lecturer and performer, Ms. Yui originated The Lives of the Piano, Manhattan School of Music’s first piano lecture/concert series, now in its 23rd season. She has been invited as a lecturer to the Juilliard School, Kunitachi Music University, Princeton University, Washington and Lee University, and the University of Toronto, among other universities, colleges and venues. Lisa Yui’s insightful writing on music has appeared in numerous publications such as Clavier Companion, EPTA Journal, and Listen, on a variety of topics including the life and influence of the virtuosic 19th-century pianist Marie Pleyel, on whom Dr. Yui wrote her doctoral thesis. Lisa Yui is currently on the faculty of the Juilliard Extension, where she teaches piano and a new lecture/performance course, Keyboard Literature in Concert. Previous appointments include piano faculty at John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, Associate Dean of Assessment and Academic Programs at Manhattan School of Music, department chair of the Music Advancement Program at the Juilliard School, and director of Ensemble 212’s Young Artist Competition Series. She also taught a course on the social history of the piano at Marymount Manhattan College for many years. Lisa Yui has served as a member of numerous competition juries including the National Finals of the Canadian Music Competition and the Canadian Chopin Competition. The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence. Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.
This lecture was published on the Golandsky Institute YouTube Channel on May 20, 2013. It is a presentation given by master piano teacher, John Bloomfield, who is also a board member and founder of the Golandsky Institute. It's timeless, friends. This is yet another example of the brilliance of the faculty at the Institute and the timelessness of the Taubman Approach. But before we get to the lecture, I have to tell you something really exciting. Did you know that Edna Golandsky has a book coming out this Summer? For the first time ever, Edna will be releasing a book on the Taubman Approach in association with Amplify Publishing Group. The book is entitled 'The Taubman Approach To Piano Technique: A Comprehensive Guide To Overcome Physical Limitations and Unlock Your Full Pianistic Potential.' It is a step by step guide that will take your piano playing to a whole new level. It will be available for early purchase exclusively on www.ednagolandsky.com in June, 2024 and at online retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble in August, 2024. And so - one more thing - You just heard about Edna's new book, right? Well, the Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium is happening in July 12-15, 2024. Ok - so Edna will have released her book - don't you think that this symposium is going to be extra special! Absolutely. The Symposium is happening online and you need to register now because spots are filling up. In fact, we have an early bird registration happening right now. https://www.golandskyinstitute.org/event/2024-golandsky-institute-summer-symposium/ The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence. Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.
I am so grateful to the writer and musician, music historian and public musicologist , Sarah Fritz, for joining us on today's episode of "Inside the Taubman Approach." I am also so grateful for amazing women like Clara Schumann who blazed the trail for us all in music. I see so many parallels in the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman and Edna Golandsky. These women have sacrificed so much in bringing this body of knowledge to us for our benefit. They have pressed on despite criticism and even opposition. Friends - we want you to be involved in the Golandsky Institute. Come and join us. Sign-up on our website today. www.golandskyinstitute.org. Sarah brings to us so many insights into the pianistic world of the 19th century through the experience of Clara Schumann. We even get into hand and arm treatments in the 19th century that include milk and animal carcasses. Stick around for that incredible story. Sarah Fritz is a writer and musician, music historian and public musicologist specializing in the composer Clara Wieck-Schumann. Her passionate advocacy for marginalized composers on social media seeks to change the dialogue around classical music, challenging the misbelief that all great composers in history were cis white men. She’s an in-demand guest speaker and lecturer, most recently at the Philadelphia Orchestra’s pre-concert talks, WWFM The Classical Network, Northeastern University, and the launch of the Cambridge University Press’s Clara Schumann Studies. In 2024, she will appear in the new documentary Mozart’s Sister from Media Stockade. Sarah has written about Clara Schumann for numerous publications including the New York Times and VAN Magazine. Her popular (formerly known as) Twitter account is dedicated to telling truths and debunking myths around the infamous Madame Schumann. With overlooked research and a modern feminist lens, she places Clara’s life and music within the context of popular history. Her fresh perspective on Clara’s correspondence challenges traditional narratives around the composer’s personal and professional relationships with her husband Robert and her “beloved friend” Johannes Brahms. Sarah is the founder of the Clara Schumann Channel blog, newsletter, and YouTube Channel. Her platform is studied in public musicology courses, and her articles are quoted in program notes and academic publications. She holds an M.M. from the Eastman School of Music and a B.M. from Westminster Choir College and also teaches on the faculty of the Westminster Conservatory, Rider University. The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence. Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.
Today we welcome Dimitris Kostopoulos to Inside the Taubman Approach. I love this interview so much. Here's why: Dimitris came across the Taubman Technique tapes during a questioning period in his professional career. He studied these 10 DVD's for years. He understood the concepts and the language used to the point where he began to apply them to his playing. But - it was not until he met Edna Golandsky that he realized he that he needed to study this incredible work with an expert one on one. Dimitris in his story shows how studying the Taubman Approach online with an expert really is effective. https://kostopoulos.no/ Dimitris Kostopoulos was born in 1984, and grew up in Bodø, Norway. He is among the leading Norwegian pianists of his generation, and holds a Master’s degree in piano from the Barratt Due Institute of Music and the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. His main teacher was the recognized Czech professor Jiri Hlinka. In addition to this, he has participated in masterclasses with the Norwegian professor Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, the Dutch professor Marcel Baudet and the Swedish professor Hans Pålsson. He as also studied the work of Dorothy Taubman and Edna Golandsky through the Taubman Techniques. Dimitris Kostopoulos has established himself as a professional concert pianist with performances at several of Norway’s most famous music festivals and concert halls. His performances as pianist includes the Bergen International Music Festival, ULTIMA Contemporary Music Festival, Oslo Grieg Festival, The Hemsing Festival, Nordland Music Festival, the Music Festival of Northern Norway, the Northern Light Festival and the Opera in Oslo, Oslo Concert Hall and many other venues. In addition to this, he has performed regularly abroad giving concerts in Sweden, Vietnam, Portugal, Lithuania, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Italy and Russia. As a soloist, Kostopoulos has performed with many orchestras, including the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, Lithuaninan State Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Camerata, Tromsø Symphony Orchestra, Barratt Due Symphony Orchestra, Banda Sinfonica da PSP, Bodø Sinfonietta, the MiNensemble, Narvik City Symphony Orchestra, Bodø City Symphony Orchestra and LVO. Kostopoulos has worked with conductors such as Bjarte Engeseth, Arvid Engegård, Stephan Barratt-Due, Pierre-André Valade, Jonathan Stockhammer, Torodd Wigum, Alf Richard Kraggerud, Terje Boye Hansen, Jan Ludvig Jacobsen and Nicolas Carthy. Another important part of Kostopoulos’ career is his devotion to chamber music. His mother was a professional soprano, and already from the age of 13 he started to accompany her and perform concerts with her. Since then chamber music has been a natural part of his work as a pianist, resulting in collaborations with many of Norway’s leading musicians such as Catharina Chen, Guro Kleven Hagen, Audun Sandvik, Bjarne Magnus Jensen, Ragnhild Hemsing, Eldbjørg Hemsing, Cathrine Bullock, Ingebjørg Kosmo, Angelica Voje, Christian Mortensen and others. Internationally recognized and rewarded Since 2011 he has held the position as pianist in the MiNensemble. This is a chamber music ensemble based in northern Norway, touring throughout Norway as well as internationally. The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence. Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.
Thank you for joining us on today's episode on Inside the Taubman Approach. I'm your host, Dr. Benjamin Harding. Today we welcome Father Sean Duggan to the podcast. Pianist Sean Duggan is a monk of St. Joseph Abbey in Covington, Louisiana. He is also a professor of piano at SUNY Fredonia. Father Sean is a master pianist and a master teacher. His teaching and playing was and is enhanced in studying with Edna Golandsky. His work in the playing of Bach and memorization is renowned. We cover so much in this episode. Also - bonus! A video of this interview is available on our YouTube channel. Check out the show notes of the podcast for the link and for more information on Father Sean Duggan. YouTube Interview Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw5lYnjvjMQ Father Sean Duggan at SUNY Fredonia: https://www.fredonia.edu/academics/colleges-schools/school-music/music/faculty/Sean-Duggan Pianist Sean Duggan is a monk of St. Joseph Abbey in Covington, Louisiana. He obtained his music degrees from Loyola University in New Orleans and Carnegie Mellon University. He received a Master’s degree in theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. From 1988 to 2001 he taught music, Latin, and religion at St. Joseph Seminary College in Louisiana and was director of music and organist at St. Joseph Abbey. In September 1983 he won first prize in the Johann Sebastian Bach International Competition for Pianists in Washington, D.C., and again in August 1991. Having a special affinity for the music of Bach, in 2000 he performed the complete cycle of Bach’s keyboard works eight times in various American and European cities. For seven years he hosted a weekly program on the New Orleans NPR station entitled “Bach on Sunday.” He is presently in the midst of recording the complete cycle of Bach’s keyboard (piano) music, which will comprise 24 CDs. Before he joined the Benedictine order he was pianist and assistant chorus master for the Pittsburgh Opera Company for three years. He has performed with many orchestras including the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Leipzig Baroque Soloists, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the American Chamber Orchestra, and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia. From 2001 to 2004 he was a visiting professor of piano at the University of Michigan. Currently he is associate professor of piano at SUNY at Fredonia. During the fall semester of 2008 he was also a guest professor of piano at Eastman School of Music. He has been a guest artist and adjudicator at the Chautauqua Institution for several summers, and is also a faculty member of the Golandsky Institute. He continues to study the Taubman approach with Edna Golandsky in New York City. The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence. Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.
Welcome to Inside the Taubman Approach sponsored by the Golandsky Institute. I am your host Benjamin Harding. Today’s episode is fascinating. Yegor Shevtsov is one of the most interesting people that I have ever met. He truly is a Renaissance man. He’s an intellectual: he speaks many, many languages; he devours repertoire, literature, poetry, and art. He grew up being a dancer, then studied economics in Amsterdam. He then came to the United States and pursued music at Manhattan School of Music all the way through the doctoral level. We were students together at Manhattan School of Music in the studio of Nina Svetlanova. Yegor is one of the most kind and humble people I have ever met as well - a joy to talk to. What surprised me today in this interview is how he came to the Taubman Approach for a very practical solution. You'll see what I mean. Let me read an excerpt found on our website from Yegor. From Yegor Shevtsov: I am a working pianist, and I owe that honor in no small measure to Edna’s precise, encouraging and constructive teaching. Both she and her wonderful colleagues at the Institute are an incredible resource to pianists of all levels, from beginner students to those wishing to recover from injury to those who simply look to be better pianists, better musicians. I came to Edna to get help with very practical and concrete problems: I needed to perform some pieces that I could not play well. Over the years, I have brought to her Chopin and Scriabin Etudes for gigs, Beethoven and Brahms Sonatas for competitions, Strauss and Stravinsky orchestral excerpts for auditions. From fingerings to articulation, from sound quality to rhythmic vitality – Edna leaves no stone unturned. What separates her from other teachers is of course the fact that she enables you to explore all those categories as rooted in the anatomical evidence of playing the instrument. Through studying with her, I have become not just a better performer, but a better musician and a better teacher myself. Edna is an embodiment of a Master Teacher. Thank you, Master. Yegor Shevtsov Pianist, Arctic Philharmonic, Bodø, Norway Pianist, Ballet West, Salt Lake City, UT Pianist, Mark Morris Dance Group Ensemble, Brooklyn, NY Faculty, MSM Precollege, New York, NY DMA, Manhattan School of Music https://markmorrisdancegroup.org/profile/yegor-shevtsov/ The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence. Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.
Today's episode is from the Golandsky Institute Online Workshop on August 6, 2020 in the heart of the global pandemic. Our founder, Edna Golandsky, answers questions related to passages in Chopin. Of note is the first 6 minutes or so of the presentation. Edna brings to our attention the clear idea of which, yes, the Taubman Approach can help with the reversal of injuries and bring healing to pianists. However, there is so much more to this approach. The heights of where the technique can take you is limitless. Encountering this work at a surface level will help you. In a previous episode with the pianist Robert Dvorkin, Robert remarks that encountering the Taubman Approach for the first time is like taking the thorn out of the lion''s paw - but that is only the beginning. When a pianist invests in understanding this work and studying it deeply with a qualified teacher, the rewards are immense artistically. So without further comments, let's get into today's episode. The video of this lecture is available on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPX4QH3VfiE The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence. Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.
Today’s episode features a conversation with Josu de Solaun as he describes the new heights and depths of artistic expression he experienced in studying the Taubman work with Edna Golandsky. Josu was not injured when he came to the Taubman approach. He wanted to understand what he did well at the piano and to discover his limitations in order to play with more freedom, power, speed and artistic expression. https://www.josudesolaun.com/ In the 2023 edition, the ICMA jury expressed: "Josu de Solaun is one of the most impressive discoveries of the past decade. Not only is he a technically impressive pianist, but his interpretative imagination also knows no limits. His interpretations ideally reflect De Solaun's ability to engage with works symbiotically and at the highest energy levels. Free of aesthetic dogmas, the pianist creates cosmoses of a solitary nature." He is also the sole Spanish pianist to win first prizes at the José Iturbi (2006) and George Enescu (2014) international piano competitions since their inception in 1980 and 1958, respectively. Esteemed pianists like Elisabeth Leonskaja (1964) and Radu Lupu (1967) have previously won the Enescu Competition. In 2019, President of Romania Klaus Iohannis appointed him Officer of the Order of the Cultural Merit of the Republic of Romania, acknowledging his artistic work and promotion of George Enescu’s music—whose complete works for piano he recorded under the NAXOS label—and Romanian musical culture globally. Josu, trained by Salvador Chuliá and pianists María Teresa Naranjo and Ana Guijarro in Spain, later studied in New York under pianists Nina Svetlanova and Horacio Gutiérrez, enabling him to exhibit his musical artistry in various forms. Further studies in New York included composition with Giampaolo Bracali and conducting with Robert Isaacs and David Gilbert, along with chamber music with Robert Mann (Juilliard Quartet) and Isidore Cohen (Beaux Arts Trio). Jessica Duchen of BBC Music Magazine praised: "De Solaun allows the expression to lead at all times, no matter how intense the virtuosity. There is always an elastic vitality in his interpretations, a warm and intimate approach to his phrasing, and a beautiful, sweet tone." Justo Romero in Scherzo declared: "It is difficult to imagine a more powerful and creative pianism. De Solaun is one of the most interesting virtuosos of the contemporary keyboard. Spanish and non-Spanish. A vigorous, wise pianism, of refined workmanship and great musicality. We are before a true colossus of the piano, a true virtuoso, in the old style, who makes use of his resplendent technique and the extroverted dramatic, his strong artistic nature to conjugate versions that combine brilliance and effusiveness, fire and delicacy, always with an intense pianistic foundation, all with naturalness, strength, power, sonorous opulence, and intense expressive sense." The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence. Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.