Judges 2011

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.

S and H Productions of Kansas City produced a series of four videotapes, “Nelita True at Eastman,” featuring her performances, lectures, and teaching. These videos are currently being seen on five continents. She has been featured in articles in Clavier, Piano Today, The European Piano Teachers’ Journal, and is the subject of cover stories in Keyboard Companion and Clavier Companion.

Roger Pines, Lyric Opera of Chicago

Roger Pines is dramaturg at Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he joined the staff in 1995. Previously he was director of education at San Diego Opera. He has also held positions at The Dallas Opera and Glimmerglass Opera. At Lyric he functions as  program editor and associate magazine editor, while also undertaking numerous research projects, presenting pre-performance lectures and other public speaking throughout Chicago, moderating for podcasts and artist roundtables, coordinating all music for Lyric’s annual “Operathon” on WFMT98.7 FM, and serving as special lecturer and consultant for Lyric’s young-artist program (the Ryan Opera Center). This season is his first as commentator for the Lyric Opera live opening-night broadcasts.

A frequent judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at both the Regional and District levels since 1991, Mr. Pines has also judged for several other important competitions nationwide, including the Scholarship Auditions of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Loren L. Zachary Awards, the Merola Opera program of San Francisco Opera, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Mr. Pines regularly undertakes repertoire research and counseling for internationally prominent artists. He has also led master classes at Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory (Ohio) and DePaul University.

Mr. Pines’s writing includes numerous articles and reviews for leading American and European publications, including The Times (London), Opera News, Opera, and International Record Review, as well as programs of major opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. His program notes have appeared in CD booklets for the Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Erato, and RCA/BMG labels. Most recently he has prepared material to accompany Deutsche Grammophon’s re-release of Beverly Sills’s Norma recording and for Decca recital discs by sopranos Renée Fleming, Nicole Cabell, and Danielle de Niese; tenors Juan Diego Flórez and Jonas Kaufmann; and bass-baritone Erwin Schrott. Mr. Pines has written more than 30 surtitle translations, many of which have been rented by companies throughout North America.

As a lecturer, Mr. Pines has been associated with major arts organizations in Chicago, Cleveland, and San Diego, as well as numerous opera-related conferences and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Courses on Verdi operas and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville prepared by Mr. Pines have been presented online by OPERA America, to whose publications he has long been a regular contributor.

Last season Mr. Pines made his fourth appearance as a panelist on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts’ “Opera Quiz.”

Daniel Cataneo, The Juilliard School

Mr. Cataneo is an international clinician in Dalcroze Eurhythmics and its relationship to performance. He is a frequent recitalist, guest piano soloist throughout U.S., Europe, and Asia; a musical consultant, Viking Penguin Press; Artistic director, the Cape May Institute, Cape May, NJ; Executive director, the Robert Abramson Dalcroze Institute of Music; Co-founder, the Northern New Jersey Conservatory, 1989. Former faculty, Manhattan School of Music, 1985-89. Current faculty member at Temple U. and the Dalcroze Institute at Juilliard. He holds a B.M. and M.M. in piano from the Manhattan School of Music; M.Ed., Ph.D. studies, Columbia U; Dalcroze license, Manhattan Dalcroze Institute, with Robert Abramson. He has studied piano with Robert Goldsand, composition with David Diamond and Ludmilla Ulehla, harmony and analysis with Saul Braverman and conducting with George Manahan and Dino Anagnost.

Maria Schleuning, Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Maria Schleuning has been violinist for the Dallas-based contemporary music ensemble Voices of Change since 1996, and was appointed Artistic Director in 2009. An advocate of new music, she has worked with many of the leading composers of our day, and has premiered many new works, the most recent being “Dream Catcher”, a solo violin work written especially for her as a gift by Augusta Read Thomas. The world premiere performance was on May 3, 2009 in Dallas, TX.

An active chamber musician, Ms. Schleuning has performed in venues such as New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as numerous festivals throughout the United States and Europe. Since 1993 she has been a faculty member at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine, and has served in the same capacity at Idyllwild Arts in California since 2007. She has recorded with Continuum in New York, as well as in Dallas with the grammy-nominated Voices of Change, and the Walden Piano Quartet.

A member of the Dallas Symphony since 1994, she has been featured as soloist with the orchestra on many occasions. Other solo highlights include appearances with the Oregon Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra on a tour of Eastern Europe including concerts at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Rudolfinum in Prague. She studied with Josef Gingold at Indiana University, where she was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate; with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School in London, with a grant from the Myra Hess Foundation; and with Joel Smirnoff at the Juilliard School, where she received her Master’s Degree.

Becky Brown, Da Camera of Houston

Becky Brown is the current Artistic Administrator for the Da Camera Society of Texas which presents chamber music and jazz concerts in Houston.  Ms. Brown is responsible for collaborating with artistic director, Sarah Rothenberg in planning the concert season and dealing with all artistic matters.  Prior to Da Camera, Ms. Brown was the Artistic Assistant at the Houston Symphony for three seasons.

Ms. Brown is a graduate of Drake University where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in bassoon performance.  Her teachers have included Coreen Nordling and Jay Light.