2021 GUEST ARTISTS
OUR STORIES
LANZO LUCONI
FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UNITED STATES/COSTA RICA
Born and raised in San Jose, Costa Rica, Lanzo Luconi has been the recipient of multiple scholarships, competition prizes, and festival awards around the world. He has performed in prestigious concert halls of Costa Rica, Europe, and the United States, where he made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2008 and was honored with the International Outstanding Professional Artistic Performance Award.
He has been invited to perform in many notable events including the Scarlatti World Marathon, the Kosciuszko Foundation Winner’s Recital, and the 6th Musical Composition Seminar, where he performed music by Costa Rican composers. Other engagements include performances at MusicFest Perugia in Italy and with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Lanzo belongs to one of the earliest generations of concert pianists from the Instituto Superior de Artes, the premier pre-college arts academy of Costa Rica. His formal music studies began under the guidance of Dr. Alexandr Sklioutivsky, Dra. Tamara Sklioutovskaia, M.M Ludmila Melzer, and Dr. Luis Monge. After completing his undergraduate studies at the National University of Costa Rica, Lanzo moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he obtained his master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University under the guidance of the renowned pianist and professor Enrique Graf.
Mr. Luconi is a devoted educator, continuously making extraordinary efforts to provide top quality educational opportunities, proving the undeniable positive impact in our society. He believes that the talent and passionate dedication of young musicians must be celebrated and shared with audiences worldwide. His students have won numerous national and international competitions, scholarships, college auditions, festivals and special performances.
Beyond the stage and teaching studios, Luconi has a great passion for learning and developing new projects, continuously pursuing studies in the fields of psychology, pedagogy, communication, business, and entrepreneurship.
In 2014, Lanzo founded the Costa Rica Piano Festival, which is the first of its kind in Central America, created to provide international musicians with the best learning opportunities through lessons with world renowned artists, competition, solo and orchestra performances, and valuable seminars, while enhancing Costa Rica’s growing music culture. This successful initiative led him to create other successful international projects such as the Costa Rica Chamber Music Festival, Music Entrepreneurship Seminars and consult as a business and cultural advisor for several companies, music studios and independent events.
He has taught masterclasses and participated as a speaker in numerous events from prestigious institutions like MTAC, HSPVA Houston, Booker T. School for the Performing Arts in Dallas, Lone Star College Montgomery, University of North Texas and the Music Entrepreneur Conference at Harvard University. He is also a frequent guest in the world famous podcast The Authenticity Show.
Lanzo is a faculty member at the Opus119 Conservatory of Music and teaches privately in his home studio.
LUIS MONGE
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
COSTA RICA
His career includes solo concerts and recordings with classical music and chamber music collaborations with recognized artists of modern Latin American music and Latin jazz. As a co-founder of the modern music and jazz quartet Swing en 4, he has recorded four CDs and has toured South America, Cuba, Canada, and Europe.
He has been continuously researching on African roots in the music cultures of the Americas, and obtained his Music Ph.D. in 2015 from the National University of Costa Rica. He was also the president of the Association of Composers and Authors of Costa Rica (ACAM) from 2009 to 2017 and is co-founder and board member of the Latin American Composers Alliance (ALCAM).
His compositions have received awards in Costa Rica and Belgium. He has ongoing audio productions with a variety of his piano solo compositions and other orchestral works.
Luis Monge is a Costa Rican pianist and composer with academic studies in Mexico, Costa Rica, Germany, and New York. Among his tutors are Karl-Heinz Diehl, Wilhelm Killmayer, Ludwig Hoffmann (Superior School of Music-Munich) and Gyorgy Sandor (Julliard School-NY). His early sensitivity and affinity for diverse Latin American music styles and jazz allowed him to develop, not only improvisation, but also arrangement and composition skills.
He has taught at universities in Germany, New Jersey, the United States, Costa Rica, and given master classes at universities in Guatemala, Mexico and Vilnius/Lithuania. Currently, Mr. Monge teaches piano and improvisation at the National University of Costa Rica and the Higher Institute of Arts. He is an active soloist, accompanist, and composer, as well.
GUEST ARTISTS
Mirian Conti
Argentina/United States
Argentine /American concert pianist MIRIAN CONTI’s recording output and international concerts have garnered praise and awards. In recognition of her extraordinary talent, a scholarship honoring Conti was established at The Juilliard School by the Edwin Bachman Estate. In addition, she was selected as one of 100 Outstanding Alumni to celebrate Juilliard’s centennial in 2005-06.. She is on the Faculty of the Juilliard School Evening Division in New York City since 2007, presenting new courses on Classical Piano Literature.
Conti has recorded 21 albums for Naxos Grand Piano, Albany, Koch International, Toccata Classics, Island, Parnassus, XLNT, and Steinway & Sons labels, and was awarded the Albéniz Medal for her performance of the complete Iberia in Camprodon, Spain. Her latest recording on Naxos Grand Piano, recorded at Yamaha Studios, features solo piano music of Lalo Schifrin, the internationally renowned composer of classical, film and television scores. Conti is the editor of Schifrin’s published scores by Keiser Music Publishing. Her most recent recording "Tangorama" Volume 1, on the Grand piano Naxos label is an anthology of argentine tangos from the 1900's to 1960.
Conti has appeared worldwide as a soloist and with many orchestras in Europe, Asia, Africa, South and Central America, Canada, and throughout the United States. Conti has performed at concert halls all throughout the USA, her native country Argentina, England, Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Latvia, Morocco, Montenegro, Canada, Colombia, Portugal, Ecuador, Uruguay, Mexico, and many cities throughout China.
Her lecture-recitals and master classes on the piano music of Spain and the United States have been presented at leading colleges and universities in the U.S., South America, and China. She has organized and directed a host of competitions and festivals to promote promising young musicians. Conti is the director of 5@5 at DiMenna, 6@6 at Yamaha, Teachers del Norte-Pianists del Sur (2008-2019), Grandes Maestros Argentinos (2016-17) and Director of PianoSolo-Internacional Master Class Series inaugurating in 2018 the first live remote masterclasses between New York and Buenos Aires using the Yamaha Disklavier technology.
Mirian Conti is an official Yamaha Artist and Yamaha Master Educator.
VLADIMIR KHOMYAKOV
United States
Vladimir Khomyakov performs over fifty recitals a year as a concert pianist, conductor, chamber musician, and soloist with the world’s best symphony orchestras, such as Houston Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Tomsk Symphony, Novosibirsk Symphony, among others. He has concertized internationally in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine, China, South Korea, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Holland, Spain, Italy, Sweden, performing in major concert halls such as those of Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, St. Petersburg Conservatory, Seoul Arts Center, Dresden Semper Opera House, Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, Mozarteum Hall in Salzburg, Concert Hall of the Artists in Rome, Flagey Studio Four in Brussels, Zipper Hall and Royce Hall in Los Angeles, Miller Theater in Houston to name a few. Since 2013 Vladimir Khomyakov is officially represented by the Classical Music Artists Management (Moscow - New York).
Vladimir Khomyakov is a top prizewinner of numerous prestigious piano competitions, including St. Petersburg Open Piano Competition (Russia), Anton Rubinstein International Piano Competition (Germany), Emil Gilels International Piano Competition (Ukraine), ISAM International Piano Competition (Germany), Maria Canals International Piano Competition (Spain), Jose Iturbi International Piano Competition (USA), Hilton Head International Piano Competition (USA), and Ima Hogg International Competition (USA).
He has several published recordings on CD and DVD. His performances are frequently broadcast on radio and television in Germany, Belgium, Russia, South Korea, China, Canada, and the United States.
Vladimir Khomyakov was born in Kirovograd (USSR) into a family of professional musicians. As graduates of the Odessa State Conservatory, Vladimir’s parents were a great influence and inspiration in his musical upbringing. He began his first piano lessons at the age of four with his mother, and in two years he continued his music studies at the Chelyabinsk Special Music School. At age ten, Vladimir performed his first solo debut at the Chelyabinsk State Philharmonic Hall, Russia.
He is a graduate of the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory (St. Petersburg, Russia) where he studied under the tutelage of Professor Alexander Sandler. Thereafter he received a Doctorate degree from the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory (Moscow, Russia), in the studio of Professor Yuri Martynov. Subsequently, Khomyakov moved to Los Angeles, California, where he obtained, with honors, an Artist Diploma and Doctorate in Musical Arts (DMA) at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, in piano performance under legendary pianist and professor Daniel Pollack; and in instrumental conducting under Professor Larry Livingston.
Additionally, Vladimir Khomyakov has participated in a number of international performance courses, including those by Dmitry Bashkirov (Mozarteum University, Salzburg, Austria), Mikhail Voskresensky and Jan Marisse Huizing (Holland Music Sessions, Bergen, Holland), Arie Vardi (Tel Aviv University, Israel), Alexey Nasedkin, Naum Shtarkman, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Vera Nosina, and many others in Europe.
Dr. Khomyakov is an on-going jury-member of ISAM International Piano Competition (Michelstadt, Germany), Pacific Musical Society Music Competition (San Francisco, CA), Yuri Yegorov Open Piano Competition (Kazan, Russia), LANSUM International Music Festival and Competition (Los Angeles, CA), numerous national MTNA competitions in the United States. He regularly teaches Master Classes in Russia, China, Europe, Latin America and the United States.
Vladimir Khomyakov is a visiting faculty at the University of Southern California and assistant to Professor Daniel Pollack, as well as music faculty of the Saddleback College (Mission Viejo, CA).
Ana María Orduz
Colombia
Colombian pianist Ana Maria Orduz-Espinal had her debut in Carnegie Hall in 2016 as part of the Amazonas Concert Series. She has also performed in several national and international festivals and has been the recipient of many scholarships and awards, including first place in the Città di Padova international competition (Italia) with the Betancur-Orduz piano duo. Dr Orduz has performed as a soloist with the Medellín Philharmonic, Eafit Symphony Orchestra, the University of Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the University of Iowa Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Amadeus, UdeA Chamber Orchestra, UdeA Symphony Band, and the IMDE chamber Orchestra. She has also performed as a chamber musician and solo pianist in Colombia, USA, Chile, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, Malaysia and Singapore.
Her music education started at the instituto musical Diego Echavarria in Medellín, latter she was awarded full scholarships to obtain her undergraduate at the University of Memphis where she graduated Suma Cum Laude, and her Masters and Doctorate degrees at the University of Iowa. Her interest in piano pedagogy has allowed her to lecture in the USA, Malaysia, Brasil, Panama, Chile, Spain and Colombia. She is the founder and director of the Pianissimo Foundation (pianissimo.com.co), the Orduz-Garcia duo(orduz-garcia.com) and along with Rene Lecuona the Piano Festival of the Americas. Dr Orduz is an associate professor and the head of the Piano area at the University of Antioquia and a professor at EAFIT University in Medellin, Colombia. Orduz is a Yamaha Artist since 2017.
SERGIO SANDÍ
Costa Rica
Hailed as one of Central America’s leading young artists of his generation, Costa Rican-born pianist Sergio Sandí is a multifaceted performer and educator currently based in New York City. Mr. Sandí was awarded Costa Rica’s National Prize in 2004 for extraordinary musical achievement as the Best Solo Performer. Maintaining an active performance career, Mr. Sandí has appeared in concert numerous times in his native Costa Rica, and has been invited to perform in Guatemala, France, Lithuania, Italy, Spain, Mexico, China and the USA. Mr. Sandí has appeared as featured soloist under conductors Carl St. Clair, José Serebrier, Irwin Hoffman, Daye Lin, Hal France, and Dieter Lehnhoff with the Costa Rica National Symphony Orchestra, Costa Rica Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Millennium Orchestra of Guatemala, the Camerata Bach of Leipzig, and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra.
At the age of fifteen, Mr. Sandí won the Costa Rica Young Soloist Competition and subsequently made his orchestral debut with the Costa Rica National Symphony Orchestra, playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Soon after, he performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini with the National Symphony in their official subscription series. Mr. Sandí was also top prize-winner at the Stanislaw Moniuszko International Piano Competition and the Bartók-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition. In 2007, Mr. Sandí performed the World Premiere of maestro Dieter Lehnhoff’s Second Piano Concerto in Guatemala with the joined forces of the Millennium Orchestra of Guatemala and the Camerata Bach of Leipzig. In 2009, the National Theater of Costa Rica asked Mr. Sandí to select a new Steinway concert grand piano from the Steinway factory in NYC for the Theater. Mr. Sandí performed the inaugural concert debuting the new piano, featuring solo piano works spanning over 200 years. In 2014, Mr. Sandí made his Carnegie Hall debut as part of the Sandí-Cullell piano duo, a concert featuring works and transcriptions written for two pianos, with several works commissioned for the occasion.
Also, together with Grammy Award-winner maestro José Serebrier, Mr. Sandí performed various works of Mr. Ye Xiaogang in Costa Rica, including the “Starry Sky Piano Concerto” in 2016. In 2019 Mr. Sandí performed again this concerto with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra at the Shenzhen Music Hall, as part of the opening gala concert of the 2019 Belt and Road International Music Festival in Shenzhen, China.
In addition to maintaining an active solo and chamber performance career, Mr. Sandí earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he was also employed by the Keyboard Skills department. Dr. Sandí is a specialist in Western Classical piano repertoire of the 18th and early 19th centuries, and is regularly invited to MSM as a guest lecturer on a diverse range of topics. His particular interest and passion lies in the performance practices of Beethoven and Mozart. Past principle teachers in NYC include Arkady Aronov and Seymour Bernstein, the latter of whom was recently featured in a film by Ethan Hawk, entitled “Seymour: An Introduction.”
PABLO GALDO
Spain
Pablo Galdo is considered as one of the most renowned Spanish pianists and most outstanding of his generation. Some of the world's greatest pianists and masters have been unanimous in highlighting his talent and musicianship.
He studied at the “Vigo Superior Conservatoire” ,where he graduated with special distinction and extraordinary prize, at the “University de Alcalá de Henares”, at the “Zoltán Kodály Institute”, at the “Franz Liszt Academy of Budapest” ,at the “Mozarteum University in Salzburg”, where he obtained his Postgraduate Diplom, and at the “Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Moscow” (Russia) . His professor included Nicasio Gradaille, Ferenc Rados, Rita Wagner, András kemenes, Imre Rohmann and Elisso Wirssaladze.
Besides he has received classes and advices from many renowned and prestigious international masters, including Alicia de Larrocha, Zoltán Kocsis , Tamás Vasáry, Dimitri Bashkirov, Várjon Dénes, Heinz Kämmerling, Alexei Volodin, Marta Gulyás, Haewon Song, and Almudena Cano, among others.
He has performed in more than 35 countries: France, Greece, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Iceland, China, South Korea, Russia, Slovenia, Croatia, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Oman, Kuwait, Italy, Kazakhstan, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Lebanon, Republic of Iran, Lithuania, Turkey, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and the United States. He has performed with different orchestras in Spain, Hungary and Austria, and he has been finalist and awarded in various piano competitions.
He has represented Spain abroad on numerous occasions, being invited to inaugurate the "Aula Cervantes Reykjavik", performing for the President of Iceland, performing within the "Spanish Language Week" in Slovenia, to celebrate the National Day of Spain in Hungary, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Spain and Kazakhstan, and to celebrate the 40th anniversary of new relations between Spain and Russia.
He has played 4 hands and 2 pianos with pianists as Zoltán Kocsis, Stephen kovacevich, Lilya Zilberstein, Tamás Vásáry, Cyprien Katsaris, Jorge Luis Prats, Imre Rohmann, or András kemenes, and with cellist Asier Polo or violist Rocío Gomez, among others.
Also he was selected to participate in young performers concert cycles and festivals such as ¨Jeneusses Musicales" (97.98), "Teresa Berganza Association"(99), "Young talents of Budapest in the Buda Castle” (01) “Pedro Barrié de la Maza Foundation" (04) and the "Juan March Foundation" (07).
He has currently recorded a DVD, produced by IRIS, of works by Albéniz, Liszt and Rachmaninoff, a CD produced by MANS with works of Bach, Chopin and Liszt, and other CD produced by the same discography with works of Albéniz. He has also recorded for the Spanish Television, Galician Television and Hungarian Radio. The composer Saúl Chapela has dedicated to him his piano work “22 variations on two cells”.
Pablo Galdo has given master classes at the ¨Tchaikovsky Conservatory“ in Moskow, “ Frederick Chopin University” in Warsaw, “Academy of Arts of Iceland”, Buchmann-Mehta school in Israel, “Istanbul State Conservatory”, Tbilisi State Conservatory, Music academy of Baku, at the “Baremboim-Said Foundation” in Palestine, at the the “National Conservatory of Jordan”, “National Conservatory of Lebanon”, “Verona Conservatory of music”, at the “Academy of Music and Theater of Vilnius” (Lithuania), “Yahsar University in Esmirna” (Turkey), “Macedonian University in Thesalonika” (Greece), “National Music Academy of Estonia", "National University of Kazakhstan", "Superior School of Music of Neuquén" (Argentine) , and in different Music Institutions across Spain. He has been invited , since 2013 and everyear, to teach masterclasses at the International Music Academy “Forum Musikae” in Madrid. He is jury member in several international competitions and among his students are prize winners of international competitions.
He is the new artistic director, since January 2016, of the Galitian Classical Music Association, founder of “Vigo international music Festival” and artistic director and president jury at international Vigo competition “City of Vigo”. Recently he was awarded with the “Gregorio Baudot prize” to his artistic career, silver medal at the Global music awards to the category of classical pianist and instrumentist (years 2017 and 2018), and with the Gold badge of his city of birth in January 2018.
He currently combines his concert activity with his position as piano professor at the “Vigo Superior Conservatory of Music” (Galicia, Spain) and at the "Alfonso X el Sabio" of Madrid.