Pianist Tamás Ungár has earned worldwide acclaim for his powerful performances and innovative programming. A regular guest artist at numerous music centers in the United States , he also performs and teaches frequently all over the globe. Between the 1997-99 seasons he performed over 70 concerts in America , Australia , Brazil , Colombia , Hungary , Romania , England , Taiwan , Hong Kong, The People’s Republic of China, Korea and Japan . Some of the highlights of recent seasons include performances with the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra, performing as soloist/conductor of Mozart Piano Concertos at the University of Leeds , as Artist-in-Residence and a return visit to present a solo recital and master class series at the Liszt Academy in Budapest . In addition to his performing commitments, Tamás Ungár has become one of United States ’ best-known and most respected teachers of the piano. As Founder - Executive Director of PianoTexas International academy & Festiva and member of the TCU Piano Faculty, he attracts students from across America and as far afield as Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Kazakstan, Korea, Hungary, Japan, Malaya, Mexico, Poland, Republic of Georgia, Singapore, Russia and Taiwan. His students have received prizes in national and international competitions, have performed in prestigious music centers including Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Recital Hall, New York City and have made numerous recordings. For the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, three of his students were invited to participate, an achievement reserved for very few teachers. Since 1989 Tamás Ungár has been a regular guest teacher at the most important music centers in China and in 2006 he was appointed as Artistic Director of the China Conservatory International Piano Festival in Bejing. Dr. Ungár’s most influential teachers included Alexander Sverjensky at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Lajos Hernádi at the Liszt Academy in Budapest and György Sebök at Indiana University , where he was awarded the Doctorate in Music. Prior to his present position he taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Purcell School, England and at the University of California at San Diego . Tamás Ungár records exclusively for CALA Records.

After winning the Chopin Competition in Israel ,he appeared with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra with Zubin Mehta , and upon winning the George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest , he played numerous concerts throughout Europe .Alongside his study of music at the Rubin Academy ,he succeeded in achieving a degree in law at Tel Aviv University .
Vardi continued his piano studies in Basel with Paul Baumgartaner and studied composition with Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen .He has performed widely as soloist with major orchestras under the baton of Semion Bychkov ,Sergio Commissiona ,Lukas Foss ,Kurt Masur ,Jerzy Maksymiuk , Zubin Mehta , Paul Paray , Paul Sacher and David Zinman ,among others .His concert tours have taken him to Eastern and Western Europe ,the United States ,Latin America ,the Far East ,Australia and Japan .His first Russian tour , in 1992 ,included performances in Moscow ,St .Petersburg and other cities .Vardi performs regularly as soloist-conductor ,playing the complete set of concerti by Bach and Mozart , part of which he has played on the Hammerfluegel .In recent years he has specialized in the literature of the Impressionist period , including the ertire repertoire of Debussy and Ravel . His RCA records have won international acclaim and prizes .
Mr. Vardi’s extensive repertoire includes various Israeli works , many of which were dedicated to him . In addition to his concert career ,Arie Vardi is a piano at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Hannover and at the Rubin Academy of Music ,Tel Aviv University , where he served as its director and chaired the Piano Faculty . More than 30 of his students have won first prizes in international competitions . Arie Vardi is best known to television viewers for his series “Master Classes”, the family series of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra which he conducts and presents ,and currently for his new series”Intermezzo with Arik”.
He has been a Jury member in most of the Leading international piano competitions , such as Beijing ,Cleveland , Hamamatsu ,Leeds ,Milan , Moscow ,Munich , Salt Lake City , Sydney , Tokyo , Vienna , Warsaw , and others .He is the Artistic Advisor and Chairman of the Jury of the Arthur Rubinstein International Master Competition.
Mr. Vardi has held Master Classes and presented Lecture recitals at the Juilliard School of Music ,the Paris conservatoire , the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory , the London Royal Academy , and many other major music centers.
In the 2001 season , Arie Vardi directed , conducted and played a series of five concerts with the Israel Chamber Orchestra .The series ,entitled “The Piano Concerto,” featured twelve concertos ranging from Bach to the 21st century .In the 2004-5 season he launched a new weekend series with the Israel Philharmonic , “Morning Intermezzo”, where he serves as couductor and presenter. Mr. Vardi was the recipient of the Minister of Education Award in 2004 for lifetime achievement .

Awarded a scholarship by the Study Foundation of the German Nation in 1970 to study with Pièrre Sancan in Paris. Studies with Jürgen Uhde, Dora Metzger and Günter Louegk in Stuttgart from 1972 to 1976. Master classes under Claudio Arrau, Wilhelm Kempff and others.
Winner of international competitions, including 1st prize „Viotti“, Vercelli, 1st prize „Maria Canals“, Barcelona, 3rd prize „Busoni“, Bozen and other prizes „Casella“ Naples and Geneva
Recitals and appearances as soloist at orchestral concerts in most European countries, the USA and Japan, performances on radio and television, LP and CD recordings.
Chamber music as piano partner of F.P. Zimmermann (at the Berlin Festival, Schwetzinger Festival and Ludwigsburg Festival and in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Cologne, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Riga and other cities) with Kurt Nikkanen, New York, (in Oslo, Berlin, Ludwigshafen), with the Brodsky Quartet, London, the cellists Julius Berger, Maria Kliegel, Ivan Monighetti and David Geringas, the violinists Valery Klimov, Saschko Gavriloff, Ulf Hoelscher and others.
Teaching appointment from 1977 onwards at the Frankfurt Academy of Music, Professor at the Dortmund Academy of Music since 1980, Actually Professor at Folkwang- Hochschule, Essen and Guest Professor at Musashino Academy of Music, Tokyo. Masterclasses regularly in Germany, Japan, Korea and Italy, others in USA and Russia.
Foundation of the International Summer Academy in Cervo/Italy in 1989 with responsibility for artistic management. Jury-member of important international Piano competitions. Artistic director of International Schubert-competition Dortmund.

He has given concerts all around the world. Most recent recitals includes Rome, Berlin, Moscow, Prague, Shanghai, Beijing and Paris. He has recorded on CD Brahms' complete works for piano as well as several other CD's dedicated to Liszt and Schubert, getting top critical reviews: Choc/Le Monde de la Musique; Telèrama, best CD of the year/Neue Musikzeitung.
His book on Brahms' piano work is considered a milestone in this field and has already been translated into German.
Andrea Bonatta has been several years the Artistic Director and Chairman of the jury of the International "F. Busoni" Piano Competition, has created the "F. Busoni" International Piano Festival and has been the Vice President of the World Federation of International Music Competitions of Geneva.
Andrea Bonatta is now the Artistic Adviser of the 'Feruccio Busoni' Piano Competition in Bolzano and the "Franz Liszt" Competition in Utrecht. He is Honorary Professor at the Shanghai Conservatory as well as founder and director of the Piano Academy-Eppan.
He is often a member of the jury at the most important international competitions, also as president of the jury (Bolzano, Weimar, Vercelli, Utrecht, Dortmund, Terni, Pretoria, Ettlingen, Moscow, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Seoul, Taipei, Hilton Haed, Bydgoszcz, Cleveland). He very much likes chamber music and has played as a duet with pianists such as Paul Badura-Skoda and Valentin Gheorghiu or violinists like Domenico Nordio or Sergei Krylov.
Andrea Bonatta gave masterclasses in Tokyo, Shanghai, Peking, London, Prag, Utrecht, Melbourne, Montepulciano, Seoul, Forth Wort, Hannover and many others. Besides his activity as a soloist, he recently started a very successful activity as a conductor, conducting Concertos from the piano as well as great symphonic works (first Brahms Symphony) with orchestras such as Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza and Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra (Seoul).

the Norwegian Recording of the Year in 1976 for a recital of Norwegian Baroque Composers, the Lindeman Prize ("Performer of the Year") 1984, the Grieg Prize in 1985 (Bergen) and 1992 (Oslo). He is a Knight of the St. Olav Order, appointed by the King of Norway for his activities for Norwegian music in general.
From 1975 to 1981 Einar Steen-Nøkleberg was Professor of Piano at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Hannover, Germany, an appointment which made him Germany's youngest professor.
Einar Steen-Nøkleberg's international career has included repeated solo recitals in London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Moscow, Mexico City, New York, Hamburg and Copenhagen. He toured the U.S.A. and the former Soviet Union several times. Concerto appearances include the London Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Copenhagen Royal Chapel, the China Philharmonic, Beijing, the Yumiori Philharmonic Orchestra and the NHK in Tokyo and the Oslo and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras in Norway. His recording of the Grieg Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra was chosen by the BBC Saturday Review as the best version of this much-recorded concerto.
His recently released monumental recording of all Grieg's piano music, a 14 CD set, for Naxos Records is recieving international acclaim. He is currently publishing H. Kjerulf piano works (3 CD's) on Simax, and H. Saeverud piano works (5 CD's) on Naxos.

He has been Head of Keyboard Studies at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts since 1989. A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, he is Visiting Professor at the Shenzhen Arts School, Xian Conservatory of Music, Xinghai Conservatory of Music and Wuhan Conservatory of Music in China. He has served on the faculty of the Cliburn Piano Institute (USA), International Institute for Young Musicians (USA), Colburn Academy Festival (USA), Beijing International Music Festival and Academy (China), Shanghai International Piano Festival (China), Singapore International Piano Institute (Singapore), Asia International Piano Academy and Festival (Korea) and Tel-Hai International Piano Master Classes (Israel).
He has given many masterclasses in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, UK, Germany, Netherland, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Gabriel Kwok has been a jury member of many international competitions including the Asia Mozart Bicentenary, Rome, Vianna da Motta, Gina Bachauer, Hong Kong, China, Missouri Southern, Hilton Head, Minnesota Piano-e, Darmstadt Chopin, Tokyo PTNA, Rio de Janerio BNDES and Singapore Chopin International Piano Competitions.
He has collaborated with many distinguished artists in concerts, among whom were Pierre Amoyal, Alexander Ballie, Siegfried Behrend, Alan Civil, Eugene Fodor, Lu Siqing, Albert Markov, Yuri Mazurkevich, Clarence Myerscough, Roberta Peters, Qian Zhou, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jenny Ren, Aaron Rosand, Nathaniel Rosen, Rohan de Saram, Hansjoerg Schellenberger, Jeffrey Solow, Leon Spierer, Richard Stolzman, Wang Jian and Xue Wei.

Following initial studies in his native Dublin he studied in Vienna with the renowned pedagogue Dieter Weber, won First Prize at the Beethoven International Piano Competition in Vienna in 1973 and made a special study of Beethoven with the legendary German pianist Wilhelm Kempff.
Since then he has toured the world in recital and concerto appearances and makes regular visits to Europe, the USA, Japan, Korea and China.
His recordings on the Telarc label have brought him particular renown. CD Review described his box set of the complete Beethoven Sonatas as "Beethoven playing at its best"; the New York Times named his recording of the Beethoven Bagatelles as the best available; his recording of the John Field Nocturnes spent many weeks on the Billboard charts and his recently released recordings of the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andreas Delfs have been greeted with great acclaim.
For his services to music he has been decorated with "l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" by the French Government, the "Ehrenkreuz fur Wissenschaft und Kunst" by the Austrian Government, the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese Government and has received many other awards.