Piano Camp

PIANO CAMP with ZITTA ZOHAR

Dates: August 17 - August 22

Download Registration - Schedule - Tuition - Faculty - Philosophy

Camp Schedule:

August 17 Friday:

3:00pm-5:00pm - Check in at Music Academy
7:00pm - Concert by Kristin Stephenson

August 18 Saturday:

9:00am-Noon - Private lessons/ practice/games (Optional baroque dance class)
Noon-1:00pm - Lunch (Student brings lunch or money for Subway.)
1:00pm-3:30pm - Theory class/performance class
3:30pm-5:00pm - Private lessons/practice/games
5:00pm-5:30pm - Lecture/Masterclass
7:00pm - Concert by Rachel Kim

August 19 Sunday:

Same schedule as August 18
7:00pm - Concert by Cyrus Von Hochstetter

August 20 Monday:

Same schedule as August 18
7:00pm - Concert by Ari Livne

August 21 Tuesday:

Same schedule as August 18
7:00pm - Concert by Yee Ray and Yee Ren Low

August 22 Wednesday:

Same schedule as August 18
7:00pm - Student recital for full-camp students.

* All concerts are at Esber Hall, Penn State Music Building One. Lectures and Masterclasses are held in Room 122 in Penn State Music Building Two.

* Private lessons and theory/performance classes are held at the Music Academy.

* Optional baroque dance classes are offered by the Music Academy.

Camp Tuition:

We understand that not every family can make the commitment for a full camp, so we are offering different options for you to choose from.

Please note that teachers and parents of camp participants are welcome to attend all lectures, master classes and private lessons with their students at no additional charge.

Teachers without a student participating in the camp are welcome to sign up as an "Observer" to attend the lectures and master classes. This is a wonderful opportunity for teachers to explore, share, and grow within an educational community.

Full camp 9am-5pm/5:30pm: $700

Private lessons every day.
5-day concert passes included for 3 people.
Choice of lecture /masterclass with professor Zohar or theory and performance class with faculty.

Half-Day Camp 1-5pm: $550

30-min private lesson every day.
5-day concert passes included for 3 people.
Choice of lecture /masterclass with professor Zohar or theory and performance class with faculty.

Observer with Lesson 1pm-3:30pm: $250

Choice of theory/performance class.
One 30-minutes lesson

Advanced Observer with Lesson 3-5:30pm: $280

Observe lecture and masterclass
one 30-minute lesson in masterclass

Observer without Lesson: $200

Choice of theory/performance class 1pm-3:30pm
or lecture/masterclass 3pm-5:30pm

Daily rate for participants who prefer whole day schedule but can be in camp for only 1-4 days: $150

Optional Baroque dance class: $50

One hour each for 5 days.

Professional observer 3-5:30pm: $150

A courtesy for music teachers observing lectures and masterclasses.

Private lesson with Faculty: $110/hr
Private lesson with Professor Zohar: $200/hr

Note:
1. Teachers and parents of participants are welcome to attend lecture/masterclass/private lesson with student free of charge.
2. Deadline for registration is June 10th.
3. Late registration will be accepted with $25 late fee when space is available.
4. Baroque dance class is offered by Music Academy.

BIOGRAPHIES: PIANO FACULTY

MASTER TEACHER: Zitta Zohar

Zitta Zohar’s intriguing performing and teaching activities have gained her press quotes calling her "one of the most powerful artists of our time". She has synthesized and synergized her activities as a performing musician, lecturer, conductor, producer, artist and master teacher, congruently connecting her personal vision with its expression in the indelible link of body, mind, and emotion.

Born in Romania, she received her musical training in Europe, Israel and the Juilliard School in New York where she graduated with honors. Among her teachers were Florica Muzicescu, Ilona Vincze, Rosina Lhevinne, Dorothy Taubman, Guido Agosti, Leonard Shure and Claudio Arrau. She studied conducting with Laszlo Halasz (founder of New York City Opera) and Sergiu Celibidache. As the recipient of the Martha Baird Rockefeller grant, Zohar has made her New York debut at the prestigious Metropolitan Museum Series to critical acclaim.

A prize winner at several international competitions, including the Busoni International Competition, the Bach Competition in Israel, she has performed extensively around the globe, from the Library of Congress in Washington, DC to Tata Hall in Bombay where she gave the first live performance of Bartok Sonata in India.

She has been featured in radio programs on Kol Israel, Radio Free Europe, WQXR, WNYC, BBC and Swedish Radio. Her performance of music by Henry Cowell was televised in 23 countries. In 2005, she performed in India in front of a live audience of 2.5 million people for the jubilee of Sri Ravi Shankar.

Producer and performer of Bartok series at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and of the program "In the Name of the Holocaust" at Symphony Space, she has established chamber music festivals in Long Island, with the intention of creating a forum for presenting contemporary works.

Since 1997, Zitta Zohar devotes part of her time mentoring, teaching, lecturing and giving master classes. She has taught at the Taubman Institute in Amherst, at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore and currently teaches in her New York Studio. She has given lectures and Master Classes in the US, Europe and the Far East and since 2003 has addressed the World Piano Pedagogy on the issue of physical injuries among musicians, an important subject in her teaching and writings. In 2008 was appointed Visiting Professor at Kansas University.

Her students have been acknowledged in prestigious competitions: in 2007, Dan Tepfer won the coveted American Pianists Association fellowship and in 2008 Ari Livne has won the Gold Award at the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts' young ARTS week in Miami.

In 2008 Zitta Zohar was awarded the Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award.

SENIOR TEACHER: Kristin Stephenson

Since beginning piano studies at age three, Kristin Stephenson has won numerous awards, including first prize in the International Young Artist Piano Competition in Washington, D.C. Ms. Stephenson is a graduate of The Juilliard School and has studied with Oxana Yablonskaya, Robert McDonald, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Julia Bernstein, and Zitta Zohar.

A dedicated teacher, Ms. Stephenson currently teaches in her private studio and at the Trinity Music Academy in Concord, New Hampshire. Her students have won numerous awards at competitions, including the Granite State Auditions, Connecticut International Young Artist Competition, and Steinway Society of Massachusetts Piano Competition. Ms. Stephenson serves regularly as an adjudicator and has performed in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and in Spain and Germany.

SENIOR TEACHER: Kristin Stephenson

Rachel Eun-Ji Kim

The 1st prize winner of Yves Nat International Piano Competition, Serignan, France ('07), the 2nd prize from Puigcerda International Piano Competition, Spain ('06), has performed extensively in her native Korea, Europe and the United States.

Her debut performance in 2004 “was remarkable for both finesse in technique and poetry in interpretation” (The Herald Times).

An eclectic performer, she is at home as a soloist, a chamber music collaborator, and an imaginative improviser when performing with dancers (critical acclaimed by The New York Times).

A recipient of Associated Music Teacher League Award in 2008, she graduated Mannes College of Music with Honors, where she received the Bachelor of Music and the Masters of Music degrees under the tutelage of Yuri Kim.

An inspired and passionate teacher, she was invited to participate in the Mannes Outreach Program, collaborating with New York Public Schools. In the spring of 2008 she joined the PS 166, The Richard Rodgers School of the Arts and Technology and officially opened her own teaching studio. She participated in the State College Piano Festival in the summer of 2011 and has been invited back for August 2012.

She has been studying with Zitta Zohar since 2010.

Cyrus von Hochstetter

A multifaceted musician, Cyrus Von Hochstetter honed his “unique musical voice” by mixing successfully his training as a jazz and classical pianist, with those of composer, songwriter, bandleader, video and filmmaker. European-born, he won an award at the Young Lions Swiss Jazz Festival and was subsequently invited to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2004 and 2005.

His 16mm films were honored with an award from the International Film Festival in Kundl, Austria. His persona as a video artist was felicitously explored in a sold out multimedia concert at Merkin Hall, New York City, in 2009 with the “Ferdiko” duo where Cyrus Von H was commissioned to create a series of interactive videos that accompanied the live performance. As a bandleader, Cyrus von H. created his brainchild “Orange Democracy” - at the time his main output for singing and songwriting - which in 2009 won the “Downbeat Award” for outstanding performance. The band mixed some of the finest musicians from different genres - jazz, opera, classical - resulting in a uniquely fresh style, and as such able to bring in a public welcome in its diversity. His performances at Moods Jazz Club and Theater Rigiblick in Zurich, the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, Caramor Music Festival in Katonah, NY and his “Celebrity Apprentice” appearance with country star Clint Black on NBC proved his ability to attract an eclectic public, through personality, context and content.

A 2009 graduate of Manhattan School of Music, Cyrus Von H. studied jazz with Jason Moran, Fred Hersch, and Garry Dial. He is currently studying classical piano with Zitta Zohar and pursuing a master degree at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYC, in interactive arts and technologies.

Ari Livne

A winner of the 2008 Gold Award at the young ARTS week sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA), Ari Livne was selected the same year as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, one of three pianists nationwide.

His performances with the Seattle Symphony, the Berkeley College Orchestra, and at the Kennedy Center and Benaroya Hall have met with public and critical accolades.

Invited to appear in concert as the Seattle Chamber Music Festival’s Emerging Artist, he was a two-time winner of both the University of Puget Sound’s Concerto Competition and the Northwest Chopin Competition. In addition, he has won the Washington MTNA competition, the Eastside Scholarship Competition, and the WMEA competition. He was the youngest chosen participant in the Tel-Hai International Master Classes in Israel, and has spent summers studying and performing at the Aspen Music Festival.

Upon graduation, Ari Livne has been accepted at major music schools, including The Juilliard School. Having decided though to study at Yale University, majoring in Music, he is continuing his studies with Prof. Zitta Zohar, with whom he has been studying for the last four years. He has regular consultations with Professors Wei-yi Yang, Boris Berman, and Claude Frank at Yale, while his previous teachers include Michi Hirata North, Irina Akhrin, Randolph Hokanson, and Norman Krieger.

SPECIAL GUEST: Yeeray Low

Yeeray was born in Singapore and moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his family when he was 8 months old. He was diagnosed with high functioning autism at age 2. He developed beautifully until about 14 months of age when he started to lose his language and later lost it completely. An intensive home program based on Applied Behavioral Analysis was started for him at age 3. A consultant and a few therapists were trained and hired to work with him one-on-one at home. He made rapid progress and was integrated fully into a Montessori school at age 4. He remained at a Montessori school until age 8 when he showed strong desire to be home schooled so that he had sufficient time to pursue music. At age 9, he was diagnosed with mild-moderate non-progressive type hearing loss in both ears. He has been wearing hearing aids since he was 10 years old.

While Yeeray was attending a Montessori school at age 4-5, he would come home and tell us about the animal songs that he sang at circle time at school. He would sing them to us happily. Later, after talking to his classroom teacher, we realized that all the animal songs were made up by him! He had been composing songs at circle time at school instead of listening to stories!

Yeeray used to hum a lot. This behavior was considered a “stim” in the autism circle and was strongly discouraged. Nothing we were taught to put this behavior into “extinction” worked. One day at age 8, Yeeray was humming profusely again. His mother had a "flash" of idea and decided to give him a music staff paper. Yeeray immediately took the paper and wrote down his composition - Dinosaur Waltz for piano solo! He had actually been humming his own compositions all this time!

Yeeray started taking Suzuki piano lessons at age 4. Playing the piano had helped him tremendously in his motor skills development and coordination. Soon he was able to hold a pencil and write. In a year's time, he no longer qualified for occupational therapy and began to participate in regular PE classes at schools. More importantly, it helped build up his self-esteem. Two years later, he started playing the violin and then viola at age 9. He started playing in a youth orchestra and chamber groups at age 7. His formal composition study began when he enrolled at Juilliard Pre-College in Fall 2007 as a composition major studying with Ira Taxin. Prior to that, he received occasional compositional guidance from his former piano teacher, John Ruggero.

His compositions have been performed in winners recitals, personal recitals, and Juilliard Pre-College Student Composers' Recitals. His symphonies have been read by Juilliard Pre-College Symphony Orchestra and Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra. He was awarded Honorable Mention in music in the 2010 Davidson Fellows Scholarship. His compositions were among the Finalists of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Morton Gould Young Composer Awards in 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008; and Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) Student Composer Awards for Classical Composers in 2008. He was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2009 New York Art Ensemble (NYAE) Young Composer Competition. He won the national second prize at the National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Young Composers Contest in 2007 and 2006. He was the winner of the 2006-2007 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) North Carolina state Junior Composition Competition, and second prize winner of the 2007 MTNA Southern Division Junior Composition Contest.

His performance awards include the Judges Prize at the Rodney and Lorna Sawatsky Rising Stars Concerto Competition in 2010 with his playing of Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 2; second prize winner of the North Carolina Symphony Youth Concerto Competition (Junior Division) in 2007 and 2006; second prize winner of the Peter Perret Youth Talent Search (Senior Division) in 2007; winner of the 2006-2007 MTNA North Carolina state Junior Piano Performance Competition and honorable mention of the 2007 MTNA Southern Division Junior Piano Performance Competition.

Yeeray and his younger brother, Yeeren, have been accompanying each other and collaborating in duo ensemble since the early days of their music education. They performed together as soloists, Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos, with the Raleigh Civic Chamber Orchestra in 2008. Although the two brothers enjoy listening to and playing the same music, their compositional styles are completely different from each other. Besides music, they enjoy the same academics such as math and science, and activities such as magic tricks, brain teaser puzzles, swimming, bicycling, and carve-boarding.

SPECIAL GUEST: Yeeren Low

Yeeren started composing at age 3 at the same time when he started piano and violin lessons. He first used his own self-invented notation system to compose. Before age 4, he was able to read music and notate music with standard notation. He would practice music notation by writing down the entire piece of music he had learned from memory. He started playing violin in a youth orchestra and chamber groups at age 5, and viola in these groups at age 7. His formal composition study began when he enrolled at Juilliard Pre-College in Fall 2007 as a composition major studying with Ira Taxin. Prior to that, he received occasional compositional guidance from his former piano teacher, John Ruggero.

Yeeren taught himself to read, spell, and write at age 2. His favorite books at age 2 were atlases from which he taught himself the names of more than 200 countries, provinces and states, and their capitals. He was called "The Walking Atlas" by teachers at age 3 at a Montessori school. He also had a great love for mathematics and learned algebra at age 5. At age 6, he asked to be home schooled in order to focus his attention on music.

Yeeren won the Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) Student Com- poser Award for Classical Composers in 2011, 2010, and 2008. He is a three-time Carlos Surinach Prize winner (awarded each year to the youngest winner) of the BMI Award. He is the only one in the history of the BMI Award to have achieved three wins by the age of fourteen. Yeeren was named a Davidson Fellow Laureate by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development and awarded $50,000 scholarship in 2010. He won the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards in 2010 and 2009, and was awarded Honorable Mention in this contest in 2011. He was awarded Honorable Mention in the New York Art Ensemble (NYAE) Young Composer Competition in 2010 and 2009. He won the national 1st prize at the 2006 National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Young Composers Contest. He won the national 2nd prize in this contest in 2005.

His compositions have been performed in winners recitals, personal recitals, Juilliard Pre-College Student Composers' Recitals and Juilliard Pre-College Piano Forum. His symphonies have been read by Juilliard Pre-College Symphony and Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra. His Bagatelles for piano quintet was read by the Ciompi Quartet at Duke University in North Carolina in 2007.

Besides composition awards, Yeeren was the winner of the Peter-Perret Youth Talent Search in North Carolina in the Junior Division in 2006 and 2005. His performances as a soloist with the Winston-Salem Orchestra in North Carolina include the third movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, at age 8 in 2005; and the first movement of Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3, at age 9 in 2006. He also performed at age 10 as a soloist, Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen, with the Raleigh Civic Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina in 2007. He performed at age 11 as a soloist with his older brother, Yeeray, Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos, with the Raleigh Civic Chamber Orchestra in 2008.

Yeeren and Yeeray have been accompanying each other and collaborating in duo ensemble since the early days of their music education. Although they enjoy listening to and playing the same music, their compositional styles are completely different from each other. Besides music, they enjoy the same academics such as math and science, and activities such as magic tricks, brain teaser puzzles, swimming, bicycling, and carve-boarding.

Camp Philosophy:

Full-camp students in this piano camp will benefit from hands-on training by Zitta Zohar and her faculty team, each an expert in the prevention and rehabilitation of injury associated with piano training. In addition, attending teachers and parents are given an opportunity to learn new concepts with which they may guide the student throughout the year. Finally, for all of us who understand the lonely hours that must be spent practicing the piano, without the social environment of a band or orchestra, this piano camp is an opportunity to validate each young soul in his path toward mastering the instrument. Now, he/she will have the opportunity to learn in the company of peers, to establish musical friendships, to connect with like-minds... and to have fun with music! That's what makes our camp so special!

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