2026 FACULTY
OUR STORIES
LANZO LUCONI
FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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.
In his role at the Music Teachers' Association of California (MTAC) Irvine Branch, Lanzo brings over five years of dedicated service on the board. His recent appointment as Branch President highlights his deep commitment to music education and leadership within the community.
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.
VLADIMIR KHOMYAKOV
Russia / United States
Vladimir Khomyakov is celebrated by audiences and critics for his extraordinary virtuosity, captivating artistry, and profound emotional depth. Merging the rich traditions of Russian and American piano schools, he infuses his performances with a unique blend of sensitivity and passionate artistry. Khomyakov's versatile career spans roles as a soloist, conductor, and chamber musician, collaborating with esteemed symphony orchestras such as the Dresden Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Novosibirsk Philharmonic, and Ningbo Symphony, among others. Renowned for his deep affinity for the Romantic and post-Romantic repertoire, Khomyakov's interpretations of works by Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Prokofiev are distinguished by their power, eloquence, and profound emotional qualities, while staying faithful to classical stylistic canons. His enthralling stage presence, imaginative interpretations, and remarkable intelligence profoundly resonate with listeners, bearing testament to his exceptional talent.
He was born in Kirovograd, Ukraine, into a family of professional musicians, graduates of the Odessa Conservatory. Starting piano lessons at the age of four with his mother, Vladimir continued his studies at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia with Alexander Sandler, Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria with Dmitry Bashkirov, the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow with Yuri Martynov and Mikhail Voskresensky, and the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, CA with Daniel Pollack. He emerged as a top prizewinner in prestigious piano competitions, including the St. Petersburg Open (Russia), Anton Rubinstein (Dresden, Germany), Emil Gilels (Odessa, Ukraine), Maria Canals (Barcelona, Spain), Jose Iturbi (Los Angeles, CA), Hilton Head (Hilton Head
Island, SC), Ima Hogg (Houston, TX), and many others.
Undertaking extensive concert tours across the globe, Vladimir has performed in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, China, South Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Canada, and the United States. He is a regular guest at international music festivals such as the Costa Rica Piano Festival, Holland Music Sessions, The Sounds From the Silk Road in China, and Ivo Petri International Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy. In addition to his performing career, Khomyakov shares his expertise as a visiting faculty member at Stetson University in DeLand, FL, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. He served as an associate professor at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA, and is frequently invited as an adjudicator for competitions and to conduct master classes across Russia, China, Europe, Latin America, and the United States.
Pamela Beine
Costa Rica/Belgium
Since she started her path through music, Pamela has been recognized by her detail, her musical sensitivity and her way of communicating through music. Born in 1998, Pamela Beine is an belgian-costarrican international classical pianist and music teacher. She started her music lessons at the age of 5 under the Yamaha method. Later on, she coursed the Preuniversity Program from the National University of Costa Rica, under Dr. Alexandr Sklioutovski's direction and his team.
She coursed her carrier studies at the Conservatori Liceu in Barcelona, with Stanislav Pochekin. She graduated top of her class and obtained an excellence scholarship to study a Master Degree also at the Conservatori Liceu. Recently, she graduated from her Master Degree at the Utrecht's Conservatorium in the Netherlands.
Pamela has played international concerts and won several competitions around the world. In Costa Rica, she has played at the Salón Dorado, Eugene O'Neil Theatre, Auditorio Nacional, as well as the Foyer and Main Hall of the National Theatre. Internationally, some of the venues Beine's played are the Weil Hall in Carnegie Hall, New York, Barclay Theatre in Los Angeles, Jardi dels Tarongers and Sala Parés in Barcelona. Also, the Lithuanian Academy of Music in Vilnius, Lithuania, JM Fentener van Vlissingenzaal and Tivoli Vredenburg in The Netherlands. She debuted with the Kostromá Symphonic Orchestra in Kostromá, Russia, conducted by Pavel Gershtein.
Pamela is active as a soloist and as a chamber musician. Beine has collaborated and received guidance by great musicians internationally. She has worked with institutions such as Musical Innovators, Intel, Yamaha and Q Foundation. Actually, she has been named CREA Ambassador. Pamela stands out as a musician with her delicacy and musical conversation.
Mina Hirobe-Perry has performed in recitals as soloist, chamber musician
in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Luxembourg, North America, China,
Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. She also enjoys concertizing two piano/four hand repertoire. She earned her Bachelor and Master Degrees with honor at Musashino Academia Musicae in Tokyo, where she studied with Prof. Tetsushige Maruyama and Prof. Konstantin Ganev, who was the assistant professor of the eminent pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus at Moscow Conservatory. After three years of concertizing throughout Japan and teaching piano privately, she moved to Germany where she earned her Artist Diploma and served as a correpetitor at the
Hochschule für Musik Detmold. She continued advanced study at the Glenn
Gould School of Music in Toronto, Canada.
Ms. Perry’s belief in teaching is to enable her students to discover their unique style in music making, along with developing their technique for beautiful sound production. As a dedicated teacher, her students have won numerous competitions locally and nationally, including three CAPMT (MTNA California division) state winners. Her students also have been accepted to prestigious music conservatories and universities such as Juilliard, Manhattan, San Francisco, Eastman, Cleveland, Peabody, USC, UCLA, Indiana, and Hochschüle für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin.
In 2013, Ms. Perry founded the Southern California Music Institute, a non-profit organization 501(c)(3), where she serves as the president. The institute’s mission is to provide an opportunity for all youth to receive quality musical guidance. In conjunction with the institute, she founded the John Perry Academy of Music International Piano Festival, which is a summer program that is carefully designed for exceptionally gifted young students. She was also a Founder and Director of the Honors Piano Performance Seminar at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, where she taught private piano lessons, two piano/four hand ensemble, and piano chamber music. Currently, she focuses on guiding exceptionally gifted young pianists at her private studio in Princeton, NJ
In summer, Ms. Perry enjoys performing and teaching at summer festivals world wide such as Summer Music on the Shannon in Ireland, Academie Internationale de Courchevel in France, Vianden International Music Festival in Luxembourg, Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, Music Fest Perugia, Hotchkiss School Summer Portal Piano Program in Connecticut, and John Perry Academy Summer festival in New Jersey. She is also frequently invited to give master classes as well as to judge piano competitions nationally and internationally.
Mirian Conti, an Argentine-American concert pianist, is a Yamaha Artist, a member of the Yamaha Master Educators, and a graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School in New York, where she earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano. She currently serves on the faculty of Juilliard’s Extension Division, where she teaches Piano Literature.
Mirian Conti’s recordings and international concert career have received widespread critical acclaim and numerous awards. In recognition of her extraordinary talent, the Edwin Bachman Foundation established a scholarship in her honor at Juilliard. She was also selected as one of Juilliard’s 100 Outstanding Alumni for the school’s centennial celebration in 2005–2006. She studied on scholarship with Richard Fabre and Josef Raieff, and among her other teachers were Genny Blech, Edmundo López, Freda Rosenblatt, and Byron Janis.
Conti has performed throughout the world as a soloist and with numerous orchestras across Europe, Asia, Africa, Central and South America, Canada, and the United States. She has appeared as a soloist and with chamber orchestras at Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, as well as in concert halls across Argentina, Poland, Vietnam, Latvia, Morocco, Spain, England, France, Italy, Montenegro, Colombia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Mexico, and China.
Conti has recorded 22 albums for Albany, Koch International, Toccata Classics, Island, Parnassus, XLNT, Steinway & Sons, and Naxos Grand Piano. She was awarded the Albéniz Medal for her performance of the complete Iberia in Camprodon, Spain. Her lecture-recitals and masterclasses on the music of Spain, Latin America, and the United States have been presented at major colleges and universities throughout the United States, South America, and China.
She has organized and directed numerous competitions and festivals to promote young pianists. Conti served as director of 5@5 at DiMenna in New York City, 6@6 at Yamaha in New York City, Maestros del Norte-Pianistas del Sur (Argentina/USA), and the Great Argentine Masters Masterclass Series. She is president of the PianoSolo Foundation, established in 2025, and directs Piano a Piano, a Yamaha-sponsored program that uses the Yamaha Disklavier to connect participants remotely throughout Latin America in support of emerging pianists and artists.
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