Piano - Staff
Chair and Senior Lecturer
Paul Rickard-Ford, (Pedagogy and Piano), BMus Melb PGCAS RCM GCAM UTS PhD Adelaide
Associate Professor
Stephanie McCallum, (Piano), DSCM(Performer) with Merit
DSCM(Teacher) ARCM LRAM
Gerard Willems, (Piano), DSCM(Performer) DSCM (Teacher)
Senior Lecturers
Daniel Herscovitch, (Piano), DSCM(Performer)
DSCM(Teacher) Reifeprufung Meisterklassendiplom Munich
Lecturers
Bernadette Harvey (Pedagogy and Piano), DM Eastman
Clemens Leske (Piano), BMus Julliard
Natalia Ricci BMus Cinc MMus RNCM
Natalia Sheludiakova (Piano), DipMus (Teach) BMus Ukraine MMus Moscow
Phillip Shovk (Piano), MA Moscow
Part-time staff
Natalia Andreeva (Piano), MMus St Petersburg
Lyall Duke (Piano)
Nikolai Evrov (Piano), DipMus Sofia
Joshua Tsai (Piano), BMus Johns H Balt LRSM
Alexandra Vinokurov (Piano), DipMus SCM Moscow
Chair
Paul Rickard-Ford, (Pedagogy and Piano), BMus Melb PGCAS, RCM GCAM UTS PhD Adelaide
Photo by Dan White (www.danwhite.com)
After completing his BMus at the Melbourne Conservatorium, Paul Rickard-Ford was awarded the Clarke Scholarship to undertake postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music, London where he gained the ARCM and the Dannreuther Prize for the most outstanding concerto performance.
He has won many major competitions and awards in Australia, including Commonwealth winner of the 1983 ABC’s Instrumental & Vocal Competition, and in 1984 was invited to perform before HRH the Duchess of Kent in a recital at the residence of the American Ambassador in London. He returned to Australia in 1985 to undertake performing engagements with the ABC and returned to the UK for further study in 1986 as the inaugural David Paul Landa Memorial Scholar. In 1988 he received an “Australia Achiever” award for his achievements in music and was presented with the award by the Prime Minister at a special reception in Sydney during the Bicentennial celebrations.
At the end of 1988 Paul returned to the UK where he gave recitals in London at St. James’s, Piccadilly, Leighton House and a series of recitals at Colnaghi Galleries as well as performing at various festivals throughout England. He remained in London until 1994 when he was appointed as a Lecturer in Piano at the Sydney Conservatorium. He is in demand as a recording artist, recitalist, examiner, adjudicator and master teacher throughout Australia. In 2000 he was invited to give masterclasses at the Beijing Central Conservatory and the Shanghai Conservatory and gave recitals at the Australian Embassy in Beijing and the Shanghai Concert Hall.
In recent years he has been a frequent performer on ABC Classic FM and has recorded Liszt’s complete “Annees de Pelerinage”, 2 all Schumann recitals, an all Chopin recital and several “Sunday Live” programs, all of which were broadcast nationally.
He is an acknowledged leader in the field of Professional Development for piano teachers and has been Artistic Director of the Sydney Conservatorium’s annual Summer and Winter Piano Festivals since their inception 10 years ago. Paul’s students have achieved great success at competitions and examinations throughout Australia and overseas and he has five times won the AMEB’s Teachers’ Shield for the most outstanding results. He was appointed Lecturer in Piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of music in 1994 and in 2006 was appointed as full time Lecturer in Pedagogy and Piano.
He completed his PhD in Music Performance at the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide on the late piano works of Schumann in 2010. In 2008 he was appointed as a Federal Examiner for the AMEB and has recently toured Malaysia giving masterclasses for the Sydney Conservatorium. Paul Rickard-Ford presently serves as Senior Lecturer in Pedagogy/Piano and Chair of the Piano Unit.
Associate Professor
Stephanie McCallum (Piano), DSCM(Performer) with Merit DSCM(Teacher) ARCM LRAM
Described as "one of Australia's foremost pianists", Stephanie McCallum has enjoyed an international career of over thirty years, appearing on over forty CDs (including fifteen solo CDs) and in hundreds of live solo and concerto performances. Playing a repertoire from the eighteenth to the twenty first century she is especially noted for her performances of virtuosic music of the nineteenth century, particularly the music of Liszt and Alkan, and also for her advocacy of demanding contemporary solo and ensemble scores. Her CDs have received widespread national and international acclaim.
She was born in Sydney, Australia, and studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Alexander Sverjensky and with noted Liszt player, Gordon Watson. After advanced studies in England with Alkan expert, Ronald Smith, she presented a critically acclaimed Wigmore Hall debut in 1982 where she gave what is believed to be the first performance of Alkan’s Chants, Op. 70. She is also credited with the first complete performance of Alkan’s Trois Grandes Études, Op. 76 in London (see Ronald Smith: Alkan, who was Alkan?, V. II The Music (London: Kahn & Averill, 1987), p. 90). Stephanie McCallum has appeared extensively as a soloist in the United Kingdom, France and Australia, and has toured Europe with The Alpha Centauri Ensemble. Recently she presented lecture recitals at the Royal College of Music and the Purcell School, London.
Stephanie McCallum has made many appearances as soloist in the Sydney Festival, and performed in Brighton, Cheltenham, Huddersfield, and Sydney Spring Festivals. A noted exponent of contemporary music, Stephanie was a founding member of the contemporary ensembles AustraLYSIS and Sydney Alpha Ensemble and was joint artistic director of the latter since its inception. She has performed with such groups as the Australian Chamber Orchestra, ELISION and The Australia Ensemble. Stephanie has appeared as soloist on two CDs by the Sydney Alpha Ensemble, Strange Attractions, and Clocks (featuring works of Elena Kats-Chernin). In 2000, she gave the world premier of Kats-Chernin’s Displaced Dances with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, a piano concerto written especially for her.
With the release in 2006 of a 2 CD set of Alkan's Douze études dans les tons mineurs, (described by Hugh Macdonald as "the Alps and the Himalayas of pianism, the one superimposed on the other") she is the first pianist ever to have recorded both of Alkan's sets of studies in the major and the minor keys (opus 35 and opus 39). Stephanie’s performances of the Symphony for piano solo and Concerto for piano solo have been described in the press as ‘titanic’, ‘awe-inspiring’, ‘stupendous’ and ‘virtuosic pianism of the highest calibre’.
Her recent disc on ABC Classics includes a Beethoven premiere recording – Für Elise: Bagatelles for piano by Ludwig van Beethoven. This disc contains the last piano piece that Beethoven wrote, never before published, performed or recorded.
A new CD of Schumann’s piano music, Scenes from Childhood, including the great Fantasie in C major Op.17, has just been released on ABC Classics.
For complete discography and reviews please visit Stephanie McCallum's personal website: www.stephaniemccallum.com
Gerard Willems(Piano), DSCM(Performer) DSCM(Teacher)
Gerard Willems is one of Australia’s finest concert pianists and leading Beethoven scholars. He is the first Australian and Dutch pianist to record the complete Beethoven Sonata cycle and Beethoven Concertos on CD for the ABC. The recordings of the Sonatas have been awarded the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Award) in 1999 for Volume 1 and again in 2000 for the complete set as the Best Classical Album of the year. The Concerto recordings were performed by Sinfonia Australis conducted by Antony Walker.
As a child in Tilburg, Holland, he toured Europe as a chorister and was awarded a professional scholarship for piano from the Brabant’s Conservatorium. With his family, Gerard migrated to Australia in 1958 where he entered the Sydney Conservatorium and graduated with High Distinction, studying with Gordon Watson. After winning many prizes at national competitions including the Queen Victoria Piano Competition Prize, he pursued advanced keyboard studies with Greville Rothon, Claudio Arrau’s assistant in Munich.
He settled in Amsterdam for several years where he made his debut in London in 1974, in Munich in 1977 and in Amsterdam in 1978 and returned to live in Sydney in 1981. Subsequently he has toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand and in December 2000 completed a tour of Israel with the Israel Camerata, playing Beethoven Concerto No.4, in Rehovot, Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv.
In 1981 he joined the staff of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he served as Chair of the Keyboard Unit until 2008. He has performed with all the major orchestras, toured for the ABC nationally and for Musica Viva. He has appeared at the Sydney and Adelaide festivals, with ensembles such as the Australia Ensemble.
In 1982 he recorded Liszt’s Concerto in E flat with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of the anniversary of the Sydney Conservatorium. His concerto repertoire ranges from the classical works of Mozart and Beethoven through to 20th century works such as Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety” and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”. He has worked with such conductors as Sir Bernard Heinze, Nicholas Braithwaite, Douglas Gamley, John Lanchbery, Avner Biron and Patrick Thomas.
He established his own piano trio, “Mozartrois”, with whom he has recorded the complete Piano Trios of Mozart for CD in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House in 1991 for the Tall Poppies label to commemorate the bicentennial of Mozart’s death. He has recorded for Dutch, French, Israeli and Australian radio and has recorded for various labels such as BMG, WEA and Philips.
Gerard has also appeared in lieder recitals and chamber music concerts with singers such as Laures Elms, Ron Stevens, Jennifer McGregor, Beverly Bergen, the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, violinists Karen Adam and Ronald Thomas and violist Esther van Stralen.
In 2001, as the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Music Scholar, awarded by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, he researched Early Music training throughout the USA and Europe. In 2003 he was awarded a Centenary Medal for Services to Music.
In 2004, he appeared at the Adelaide Festival in recitals of Beethoven Sonata’s and works by Andrew Ford and Mary Finsterer. Last year, his DVD of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto won the World Music DVD prize in New York.
Senior Lecturers
Daniel Herscovitch (Piano), DSCM(Performer)
Melbourne-born pianist Daniel Herscovitch studied with Alexander Sverjensky at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, then continued his studies under Rosl Schmid in Munich. During his twelve years in Germany he not only performed extensively on the continent and in England but also undertook three extensive Australian tours. He appeared at several international festivals such as the Berlin Festival, the Zagreb Biennale and the Saarbrücken Tage der Neuen Musik, and his performances were broadcast by major European networks such as the BBC, RIAS Berlin and Bavarian Radio.
Since returning to Australia he has been active in both solo and chamber music, and has appeared at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts, the Mostly Mozart Festival, the New Directions Festival and the Festivals of Melbourne and Sydney. He has toured for Musica Viva and his New Zealand tours have included performances at the Bay of Islands Festival. He has been guest artist with Synergy, Flederman, the Song Company and the Australia Ensemble and has toured with The Seymour Group. He also made regular appearances at Roger Woodward’s Sydney Spring Festival of New Music. At the 2003 Sydney Symphony Contemporary Music Festival he was soloist with Natalia Ricci in the first Sydney performance of the Bartók Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra and in 2004 was again one of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s featured concerto soloists, performing the Mozart Double Concerto with Josephine Allan. He was co-founder of both Symeron and the eclectic collective and was also a member of the Apollo Trio. Others he has appeared with include Wanda Wilkomirska, Michael Kieran Harvey, Jane Manning, Stephanie McCallum, Darryl Poulsen, Ole Böhn and Gerard Willems.
Last year he made his third visit to the United States, performing and lecturing from Texas through to Washington DC. Early this year he also visited Germany and the UK. His repertoire ranges from Bach to Carter and includes contemporary Australian, Asian, European and American works, several of which he commissioned and premiered. In July 2012 he will be visiting Indonesia for a series of piano recitals and masterclasses. Further visits to the US and Europe are planned for 2013.
He has presented papers at conferences in Australia and Europe on ornamentation in Bach, and in Beethoven as well as on practice methods, and he is sought after as guest lecturer on subjects ranging from baroque performance to Bartók.
His recordings of repertoire ranging from Mozart to Smalley have been released on Tall Poppies, CSM, Continuum, Jade and ABC Classics labels. Two further CDs are scheduled for release later this year. His next recording project is the Chopin Sonatas, including the Cello Sonata with the British cellist Elizabeth Neville. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Piano at The University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he has also lectured for many years in chamber music and piano pedagogy.
Lecturers
Clemens Leske (Piano), BMus Julliard
One of Australia's most distinguished pianists, Clemens Leske has been concerto soloist with all of Australia's symphony orchestras (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Tasmanian, West Australian and Queensland) under such conductors as Vladimir Spivakov, Nicholas Braithwaite, Muhai Tang, Vernon Handley, Raimon Gamba and Tommy Tycho.
During his studies at the Juilliard School, New York, Clemens Leske regularly appeared at Lincoln Center in the famed 'Bang on a Can' and 'Focus' festivals of contemporary music and won numerous prizes and awards, including the ABC Young Performer of the Year, the David Paul Landa Memorial Scholarship (Australia), and the Hattori Award (London).
Leske has regularly performed with the Australian String Quartet, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Virtuosi and at such festivals as the Barossa International, Huntington, Spring and Adelaide. He was recently soloist with the Bangkok Symphony performing the Schumann piano concerto for the King of Thailand's birthday concert, and with the Sydney Symphony performing the Tchaikovsky concerto, to great acclaim.
Leske has released three discs of solo piano and chamber music and has recorded extensively for Australian radio stations ABC-FM, 2MBS and 5UV.
In May 2005 Leske gave his London debut in the Royal Festival Hall, performing Rachmaninov's First Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As a result of this success, he has been invited to perform Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Eastbourne Festival in February 2008.
Recent appearances include a performance at Eastbourne Festival UK as soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, performances in the eight-piano Steinway Spectacular, a performance of Bach's 'Goldberg' Variations at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, the World Premiere of Carl Vine's 'Anne Landa Preludes' (2006) and a solo recital as part of Historic Houses Trust’s ‘House Music’ series at Government House.
Other engagements have included four appearances as soloist with the Sydney Symphony at Angel Place and the Opera House, performing Mozart's K413 Piano Concerto in July next year; and a national tour with the very successful "Steinway Spectacular" stage show.
Future engagements include four appearances as soloist with the Sydney Symphony in July 2009, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto in F Major, K413, and three performances of Strauss' "Burlesque" with the same orchestra, under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy, in May 2010.
He is currently Lecturer in Keyboard at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
For more information please visit Clemens Leske's personal website: http://www.clemensleske.com
Natalia Sheludiakova (Piano), DipMus (Teach) BMus Ukraine MMus Moscow
Natalia Sheludiakova studied piano in Moscow with Professor Oleg Boshniakovich at the Gnessin Institute. In 1981 she won the All-Russian Chamber Music Competition in Leningrad and was awarded the prize for the best accompanist in the 1988 and 1989 All-Soviet Cello Competitions. She has accompanied cellists in the Tchaikovsky competition and performed as a chamber musician with many acclaimed artists including Igor Oistrakh (violin), Victor Simon (Principal Cello, Bolshoi), Douglas Cummings (Principal Cello, LSO), Anthony Camden (Oboe), Yuri Semenov (Principal Cello, Moscow Symphony), Dimitri Jablonsky (cello) and Alexander Kniazev (cello).
Natalia was a member of the faculty at the Gnessin Institute from 1983 and Moscow Conservatorium from 1989 and a member of the prestigious Moscow Philharmonic Society.
Arriving in Australia in 1992, Natalia was a member of the piano faculty at the Brisbane Conservatorium of Music until coming to Sydney, where she has taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music since 1994.
Natalia has performed chamber music with many of Australia’s finest instrumentalists including Ronald Thomas, Georg Pedersen, Wanda Wilkomirskaya, Carmel Caine, Frank Celata, Mark Walton, Esther van Stralen and Marina Marsden. She has played extensively as a member of the Sydney Trio and Ku-rin-gai Virtuosi in recitals, broadcasts & recordings on both ABCFM and 2MBSFM, and tours including Hong Kong, Denmark, Moscow and throughout Australia.
Natalia has given numerous masterclasses throughout Australia and overseas for Conservatoria in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Wollongong, Paris, Hong Kong & Copenhagen. Natalia’s students have gone on to postgraduate studies in the USA, France, Germany, England and Poland at elite institutions including Yale, Oxford, the Sorbonne and Chopin Conservatorium.
Phillip Shovk (Piano), MA Moscow
Phillip Shovk is considered to be one of Australia's foremost concert pianists , chamber musicians , accompanists and teachers.
After studying at the Sydney Conservatorium High School with George Humphrey and graduating with the Frank Hutchens Prize for being the most promising performer of his year he continued his studies at the Moscow State Conservatory with Professor Valery Kastelsky ( himself a student of Heinrich Neuhaus ) graduating as a Master of Fine Arts.
In 1987 he become a Laureate at the Vianni di Motta competition in Lisbon and in 1988 at the Sydney International Competition , where he was awarded the Hephzibah Menuhin Prize and the Best Australian Pianist Prize. He was awarded a Best Accompanist prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994 .
He has performed to great acclaim in Russia, Georgia, Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Singapore, New Zealand and China, where he has been involved in recording traditional Chinese music.
Phillip Shovk has also adjudicated at many of Australia's leading competitions including the Sydney International Piano Competition, Sydney Eisteddfod, Yamaha Youth Competition, Hephzibah Menuhin Competition and many others.
He is currently teaching at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Bernadette Harvey (Pedagogy and Piano), DM Eastman
Bernadette Harvey is one of Australia's most sought after performers. She received her early training at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and her Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts at Eastman. After teaching in Boston at
the New England Conservatory and the Longy school of Music, she returned to Australia in 1997. She has been active in Australia's musical scene ever since, championing and commissioning new works by Australian composers, touring Australia for Musica Viva with Australian and international artists, recording and performing live broadcasts for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and performing at various festivals around Australia (Huntington, TURA new music festival, Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Castlemaine). She is a core member of the Sydney Soloists, (an ensemble consisting of the Principle players from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra) as well as a regular guest with other noteworthy Australian ensembles (Ensemble Offspring, the Australia Ensemble, New Sydney Wind Quintet). In 2009, Bernadette was invited to play at the Tucson Chamber Music Festival and has been invited back in 2011 and 2013. In 2010 her chamber music engagements include live radio broadcasts for the World New Music Days, tours with oboist Diana Doherty, Ensemble Offspring, and many other solo and chamber music performances around Sydney.
Bernadette joined the Keyboard Unit of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2009 where she teaches Piano and Piano Pedagogy.
Natalia Ricci (Piano/Accompaniment), Bmus (USA), Mmus (UK)
Australian born pianist Natalia Ricci enjoys a successful career as chamber musician, soloist and teacher, having performed and recorded internationally over the past 30 years in the USA, Canada, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe including the capitals of London, Paris, Oslo, Prague, Berlin and Madrid.
Appearances in international music festivals have included the Gradus International Music Festival, Spain, the Banff Summer Chamber Music Festival, Canada, the International Bartok Festival, Hungary, the London Objective Music Festival, the Deia International Festival Mallorca and the Sydney Symphony Contemporary Music Festival.
The recipient of numerous international awards and prizes, Natalia has made many recordings for the BBC, ABC, Canadian, Italian, Norwegian and New Zealand national radios and has also appeared in live concert telecasts in Italy, Norway, Spain and Australia.
As a collaborative artist, Natalia is especially recognized for her work with string players and has performed with renowned artists such as Ruggiero Ricci, Leonid Gorokhov, Kolja Blacher, Adelina Oprean, and Martin Rummel.
Natalia received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Cincinnati, USA and her Masters of Music from RNCM in the UK. Her most influential teachers have been the Hungarian pianists/pedagogues Bela Siki and Gyorgy Sebok, the Czech pianist Jiri Hlinka, and the Russian pianists Sulamita Aronovsky and Tatiana Nikolayeva.
Natalia joined the permanent staff of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1999 where she has taught in both the Piano and Ensemble departments. In 2009 she was invited to New Zealand for the year to take up the position of Senior Lecturer in Piano at the University of Auckland. While there, she gave concerts in Auckland, the North Island and Tonga. As well as her class of Piano Performance majors, she taught Accompaniment at post-graduate and undergraduate level and coached Chamber Music. On her return from Auckland, Natalia took on the role of Keyboard Coordinator of Chamber Music at the Sydney Conservatorium coaching many chamber music groups in addition to her other teaching and accompanying duties.
Natalia has had extensive experience teaching piano at all levels from children to university students, in Norway, England, Spain, New Zealand and Australia. Together with her husband, Gian-Franco Ricci, she has given numerous master-classes and piano workshops in these countries and their students have enjoyed many successes in eisteddfods and competitions at local, national and international level.