Piano Faculty
NELITA TRUE
Eastman School of Music
Since Nelita True made her debut at age seventeen with the Chicago Symphony in Orchestra Hall and her New York debut with the Juilliard Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall, her career has taken her to the major cities of Western and Eastern Europe, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Iceland, New Zealand, Brazil, Australia, Canada, India, and to Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as to all fifty states in America. She was a visiting professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, performing and conducting master classes and has been in the People's Republic of China more than 20 times for recitals and master classes.
Ms. True has been described in Clavier Companion as “One of the world’s most sought-after and beloved pianist-teachers.” Her students have won top prizes in national and international competitions, and many of her former students now serve on the faculties of major schools around the country. Formerly Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland, Ms. True is currently Professor of Music at the Eastman School of Music. She was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching at Eastman, the 2002 Achievement Award from the Music Teachers’ National Association, the Lifetime Achievement Award in Graduate Education from the University of Rochester, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Keyboard Pedagogy Conference (USA).
Ms. True has been a jury member for the China International Piano Competition (Beijing), the Queen Sonja International Piano Competition (Oslo), the National Piano Competition in Brazil, the Horowitz Competition (Kiev), the Concours de Musique in Canada, the PTNA (Tokyo), the Lev Vlassenko Competition in Australia, and the Gina Bachauer, New Orleans, Hilton Head, and William Kapell International Piano Competitions in the U.S.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan as a student of Helen Titus, Ms. True went on to Juilliard to study with Sascha Gorodnitzki, and then earned the DMA with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory. In Paris, she studied with Nadia Boulanger on a Fulbright grant.
JEFFREY COHEN
Manhattan School of Music
American pianist Jeffrey Cohen continues to draw international attention for the brilliance and artistry of his interpretations. Mr. Cohen has been praised by The New York Times for the “lucidity and poetry” of his playing.
Both as soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Cohen’s performances have taken him to three different continents. Recitals include appearances for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, Bargemusic, the Phillips Collection, Mostly Music Series of Chicago, Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing and the National Arts Center of Ottawa. In the summers, Mr. Cohen has been a faculty member or guest artist at major music festivals including Bowdoin, Waterloo, Musicorda, Orford, Summit, Texas Music Festival and the Seoul Summer Music Camp. He currently serves on the summer faculty of the MusicAlp International Academy of Music in Courchevel, France. Mr. Cohen’s debut compact disc, a collection of French chamber music, received critical acclaim in Fanfare magazine. He has performed for broadcasts on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” the CBC Radio Network, Radio Canada, Radio France and WQXR.
In addition to his concert activities, Mr. Cohen’s teaching gifts have established him as a leading piano pedagogue of his generation. His students have won prizes in major competitions and enjoy successful careers as teacher/performers. For the past twenty years, Mr. Cohen has been a piano professor and member of the artist faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he currently serves as Coordinator of Piano Master Classes. He has given master classes at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, the Central Conservatory in Beijing, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore, Barnard College, Wilfrid Laurier University and throughout Korea and Taiwan.
A native of Tucson, Mr. Cohen studied at Indiana University where he worked with noted pianist Menahem Pressler and received the coveted Battista Memorial Award. He is a past Laureate of the Beethoven Foundation and a prizewinner of the Sherman-Clay Steinway Piano Competition. He resides in Manhattan with his wife, violinist Lucie Robert, and their son, Jeremy.
STEPHEN DEITZ
South Shore Conservatory
Stephen Deitz began his piano studies at the age of six, studying with Levin Houston and Evelyn Swarthout Hayes of Washington, D.C. He studied with Adele Marcus and Oxana Yablonskaya, both of the Juilliard School, and completed his M.M. at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, as a student of John Perry. Although beginning his doctoral studies with Nelita True at the University of Maryland, College Park, he interrupted them after being named Artist-in-Residence at the Dunbarton School of Music in Bermuda. He subsequently resumed doctoral studies at the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Solomon Mikowski, Constance Keene, and Jeffrey Cohen.
MONIQUE DUPHIL
Oberlin College Conservatory of Music
At the age of ten, Monique Duphil entered the Conservatoire National Superieur de Parisand studied under Jean Doyen, Marquerite Long and Joseph Calvet. Having won the First Prize in piano at 15, she graduated the following year with the Grand Prize in Professional Chamber Music. Later studies were with Harriet Serr and Vladimir Horbowski.
A Paris debut with orchestra at 15, performing Mendelssohn's G minor Piano Concerto, followed by prizes in four international competitions, including the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, launched Monique Duphil on a worldwide career.
In recognition of her spectacular debut in the United States with the Philadelphia Orchestra, substituting on a few hours' notice for cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, Ms. Duphil was honored to be reengaged by Eugene Ormandy to appear with him four times in 1980 performing two concertos on each occasion. Invited to Berne by Charles Dutoit, she recorded the Ginastera Piano Concerto No. 1 in live performance for the Swiss Radio. Yoel Levi chose Monique Duphil to premiere Roger Sessions' Piano Concerto with the Cleveland orchestra.
Some of the numerous symphony orchestras Monique Duphil has performed with are the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, Quebec, Warsaw, Bern, Munich, Paris Lamoureux, Caracas, Mexico, Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, Tokyo Metropolitan, Sapporo, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Singapore, under the direction of Ormandy, Markevich, Shostakovich, Smetacek, Wislocki, Akiyama, Fukumura, Sir Alexander Gibson, Peter Magg, Charles Dutoit, Thomas Sanderling, Gerard Schwarz, Edouardo Mata, and a host of others.
As a distinguished chamber musician, Monique Duphil has partnered with many renowned artists, including Henryk Szerying, Ruggiero Ricci, Karl Leister, Pierre Fournier, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Cho-Liang Lin, the Vienna String Quartet, the Musikverein Quartet, and the Salzburg Mozarteum Trio.
Her upcoming performances include engagements in Eastern Europe, Japan, South America, and tours with the New Zealand Symphony, and orchestras of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Ms. Duphil was on the faculty of the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts before her appointment to the faculty at the renowned Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Ohio.
REGINA YUNG, Collaborative Pianist
South Shore Conservatory
A native of Hong Kong, Regina Yung has performed as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician in numerous venues throughout Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Her performances have been broadcast on radio and television on RTHK in Hong Kong, GLR Classical Radio in London, WQXR Radio and WNBC television in New York. She was also interviewed and reviewed by a number of major publications, including The South China Morning Post of Hong Kong, The Times and The Evening Standard of London, and the String Magazine in the United States.
As a teacher, Ms. Yung has taught at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Oberlin College Conservatory, the Manhattan School of Music and its Summer Music Camp. She was also on the piano faculty of the Amadeus and Concordia Conservatories and an adjunct faculty member at the Concordia College in Bronxville, New York.
Regina Yung graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and received a Performance Certificate from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She obtained her Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College Conservatory, and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Manhattan School of Music.
Ms. Yung is a member of the Piano Faculty of South Shore Conservatory.
