Winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, pianist Paul Schenly has been a soloist with major United States orchestras, including the Atlanta Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and New York Philharmonic. He made two United States tours with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and toured with the same orchestra in Europe. He has appeared in many summer festivals, including repeated performances at the Hollywood Bowl, the Ravinia Festival, Blossom Music Center and the Mostly Mozart Festival.

Mr. Schenly appeared in the Great Performers Series at Lincoln Center, and in acclaimed recitals at Carnegie Hall. He has performed with many of the world's leading conductors including James Levine, Erich Leinsdorf, Christoph von Dohnányi, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Edo de Waart, Mstislav Rostropovich, Robert Shaw and Aaron Copland, Michael Tilson Thomas and Kiril Kondrashin.

Born in Munich, Mr. Schenly lived in South America before coming to the U.S. at age five. Currently, he is the head of the Cleveland Institute of Music Piano Department and holds the Reinberger Chair in Piano. He earned a Master of Music degree from CIM, where he studied with Victor Babin.

Mr. Schenly has served on the juries of several national and international competitions and his students have won many national and international prizes. He is on the advisory board of the American Pianists Foundation and on the nominating committee for the Gilmore Piano Foundation. He has recorded for Sine Qua Non and RCA. Mr. Schenly is artistic director of the Cleveland International Piano Competition and is the founder/director of Pianofest in the Hamptons.

His website address, including video of his performances, is www.PaulSchenly.com.

Acclaimed for the immediacy, sensitivity and depth of his interpretations, Sergei Babayan’s performances reveal an emotional intensity and bold energy, equipping him to explore stylistically diverse repertoire. He is known for his innovative programming, often including modern works by composers such as Lutosławski, Ligeti and Arvo Pärt, and extending the boundaries of mainstream repertoire for which he continues to be acclaimed, excelling in Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann as much as the Russian heritage of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Prokofiev.

A student of such legendary teachers and musicians as Gornostayeva, Naumov, Pletnev and Vlasenko at the Moscow Conservatory, he was not permitted to leave the country and be free to compete and study in the West. He was the first pianist from the former USSR who was able to compete without government sponsorship after the collapse of the system. Immediately after his first trip outside of the USSR, Mr. Babayan won consecutive first prizes in several major international competitions including the 1990 Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition (now the Cleveland International Piano Competition; 1990 Palm Beach International Piano Competition; 1991 Hamamatsu Piano Competition; and 1992 Scottish International Piano Competition. He is also a Laureate of the Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition, the Busoni International Piano Competition and the Esther Honens International Competition in Calgary, Canada.

Since that time, Mr. Babayan has had major engagements and concert tours throughout Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, South America, China and the U.S. His New York recitals at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, performances with The Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony and Detroit Symphony have been met with huge critical acclaim, as have his many subsequent recital and concerto performances throughout all the major cities in the U.S.

His recordings of Scarlatti, Ligeti, Messiaen, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Ravel, Schubert, Liszt, Vine, Respighi and Prokofiev have garnered high acclaim, including a "Critic's Choice" in The New York Times praising his "extraordinary technique and ability to play densely harmonized works with illuminating transparency and a daunting measure of control." American Record Guide joined in the accolades, praising his "phenomenal level of color and imagination." Of the recording of Scarlatti sonatas, American Guide said: "It can stand proudly beside that of Horowitz ..."

Mr. Babayan has appeared with many major orchestras throughout the world, including The Cleveland Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Nationale de Lille and the New World Symphony. His performances with the Detroit and Baltimore Symphonies were received with great enthusiasm by audiences and critics alike. Mr. Babayan has collaborated with such conductors as Michael Christi, Valery Gergiev, Hans Graf, Neeme Järvi, Kazimierz Kord, Theodore Kuchar, David Robertson and Yuri Temirkanov. His concerto repertoire is constantly growing; at this point he has performed 51 concertos. Mr. Babayan is an enthusiastic advocate of new music and has an immense repertoire. His unusual and imaginative recital programming has always elicited interest and praise. Deep interest and love for the music of Bach has led him to study more recently with Helmuth Rilling.

Mr. Babayan was appointed to the CIM faculty in 1992. An acclaimed teacher and sought after teacher, his students have won major competitions throughout the world. His student Daniil Trifonov was the recent winner of the recent Rubinstein Competition and the Tchiakowsky Competition.

Blair McMillen has established himself as one of the most versatile and sought-after young pianists today.  The New York Times has called his playing "lustrous," "riveting," and "brilliant... prodigiously accomplished and exciting."  Known for imaginative and daring programming, he plays a repertoire that spans from late-medieval keyboard manuscripts to today's up-and-coming younger generation of composers.

Recent appearances include Miller Theatre's 15th-anniversary "Piano Revolution" recital series, the Moscow Conservatory, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Concerten Tot en Met (Amsterdam), Harvard University, CalArts, Caramoor, Casals Hall (Tokyo), and Carnegie's Zankel Hall.   Recent solo programs have included performances of selections from the Codex Faenza (penned in the early 1400's), a New York recital of music inspired by the art of improvisation, and the U.S. premieres of solo pieces by Frederic Rzewski and Giacinto Scelsi.  During the 2005-06 season, Mr. McMillen made his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist under the baton of David Robertson.

A solo CD "Soundings" — featuring the works of Liszt, Scriabin, Debussy, Copland, and Bolcom — was released to rave reviews.  Recent recordings include Concert Music of Fred Hersch on Naxos, Multiplicities '38, a multi-composer recording of solo piano music on Centaur, and Music of Ralph Shapey with violinist Miranda Cuckson on Centaur.  Mr. McMillen resides in New York City and serves on the piano faculty at Bard College.

Anthony Molinaro is the 1997 winner of the prestigious Naumburg International Piano Competition and one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. Acclaimed for his "edge-of-the-seat brilliance" and "musically imaginative mind," Mr. Molinaro has appeared as soloist with over fifty symphony orchestras, headlined at major jazz clubs throughout the world, and composed and arranged music in both the classical and jazz genres (including his Piano Concerto No. 1 and arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue for piano and big band). His recordings include "The Bach Sessions" featuring J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations and A Major and F Minor Concertos with The Academy of St. Martin in The Fields, "New Blue" featuring his singular solo rendition of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and "Live" - a duo album with Grammy Award winning harmonica virtuoso Howard Levy. Mr. Molinaro has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, Downbeat magazine and in the 2010 book, The New Face of Jazz. In addition to the release of Here, There and Everywhere and an accompanying U.S. and European tour, Mr. Molinaro's 2013-2014 season will include performances of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #3 and his Carnegie Hall debut.

Additional faculty for 2013 will be announced as soon as arrangements have been finalized.