Faculty:
Hailed as “Polish Virtuoso,” Krystian Tkaczewski is pursuing his splendid piano career in USA, Asia and Europe. He had his triumph in having Carnegie Hall Debut in April 2007. Anthony Aibel (critic of New York Concert Review) wrote among others: Tkaczewski was elegant, showed in-depth knowledge, played with passion, showed power-house technic. Reading of Rachmaninov and of Prokofiev was excellent. Szymanowski was exquisitely shaped, showing lovely shadings and contrasts of dynamics. He showed devotion and natural affinity for music of his homeland.
Krystian Tkaczewski was born in 1980 in Tarnów, Poland. In 2000 Krystian became a student of Olga Rusina at the Academy of Music in Wrocław, from which he graduated in 2004 with a Master of Arts degree. In 2007 Krystian received a graduate diploma. In 2014, Krystian Tkaczewski received Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Hartt School, University of Hartford in the studio of professor Oxana Yablonskaya. Krystian was also awarded The Honor Regents Award, for the best graduating doctoral candidate of the Hartt School and prestigious induction to Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society.
Krystian has been a laureate of over 25 international piano competitions in such countries as: Greece (Athens), Italy, Spain (Madrid), Macedonia, Czech Republic and USA (i.e. Iturbi, Artists International, Bradshaw and Buono, 5 Towns, Joyce Dutka, American Protégé, Web Concert Hall).
Dr. Krystian Tkaczewski was invited to take part in various festivals such as: Chopin Festival in Marienbad, Paderewski Festival, Chopin Festival in Gaming, Austria, Chopin Fest in Kosovo, Chopin Festival in Antonin, Poland, Festival of Polish Pianists in Słupsk, Lato z Chopinem Festival in Busko-Zdrój, Chopin Forum in Wrocław, Inter-Fest Bitola in Macedonia, El Paso Chopin Festival, Chopin Festival in Budapest and recitals at the Chopin House in Żelazowa Wola and Royal Lazienki in Warsaw. In the June 2006 Krystian featured as a soloist with Polish Radio Orchestra during 50th Anniversary of Society of Polish Artist Musicians gala in Royal Castle in Warsaw
Dr. Tkaczewski has been frequently invited to adjudicate at international piano competitions: Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, Roma International Piano Competition, International Piano Competition in Carnegie Hall, Solhi Al Wadi Piano Competition in Damascus, Rosario Marciano Piano Competition in Vienna, Chopin International Piano Competition in Budapest, Osaka International Music Competition, American Liszt Piano Competition in Los Angeles , Ragusa-Ibla Piano Competition in Ragusa, San Jose International Piano Competition, Isidor Bajic Memorial in Novi Sad, Serbia, International Piano Competition in Troisdorf, Germany, Princess Lalla Meryem International Piano Competition in Rabat, Western Australia International Piano Competition in Perth, Teresa Carreno International Piano Competition in Miami, Chopin Competition of Asia, Gershwin International Competition in New York, Campillos International Pia ni Competition, Cesar Franck International Piano in Brussels.
Krystian has concertized on five continents and 38 countries: USA, Canada, Panama, Mexico, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Phillipines, Vietnam, Syria, Jordan, Kosovo, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Australia, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine, Serbia, United Kingdom, Austria, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Andorra, Belgium, Brunei, Hungary and Macedonia. He featured with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Polish Radio Orchestra, Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leopoldinum Orchestra, Connecticut Virtuosi, Tarnów Chamber Orchestra and the Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra, conducted by E. Cumming, Ł. Borowicz, Z. Graca , M. Gawroński, K. Górski, M. Kolaska, A. Mackiewicz.
Krystian is also highly regarded as the clinician, serving as a guest artist to the Universities and as the lecturer of many master classes in such countries as: USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, China and Poland. His unique presentation on the interpretation of Chopin’s Mazurkas attracted numerous music institutions around the world.
Recipient of several scholarships and awards including the Chopin scholarship in 1995, Wroclaw Music Academy Academic Scholarship for 2001-2004, the Polish Minister of Culture Scholarship in 2002,2005, 2007 (Mloda Polska), City of Tarnów President's Scholarship for 2001- 2002, Musical Club of Hartford 's E.B.Storrs Scholarship and Tadeusz Sendzimir Memorial Fund. He was awarded for his contribution to the cultural heritage of the State of Connecticut during Immigrant Day at State Capitol in Hartford in 2012. Krystian received proclamations for his achievements from Governor of Connecticut, Secretary of State of Connecticut, Mayor of Hartford. Krystian Tkaczewski received the prestigious Congressional Recognition in honor of “inspiring pianists throughout the world with the music of Chopin.” by US Congressman John Larson. In 2015, Krystian Tkaczewski received the prestigious title- The Ambassador of Tarnow, for promoting his home town in the world. In 2015 received from Minister of Culture of Poland the Medal Merit to Polish Culture for his activity promoting Polish music. In 2016, Krystian Tkaczewski has planted his own tree "oak fastigiata" in Park Zdrojowy in Busko in observance of his artistic and managerial achievements for Busko Zdroj. Moreover, He received the silver honorable badge from The Society of Lovers of Busko-Zdroj in July 2015. In 2021, maestro Krystian Tkaczewski was awarded with Gloria Artis Medal-Merit to Culture of Poland. Dr. Tkaczewski was awarded with the "sun" in the fame alley of Park Zdrojowy in Busko-Zdroj in the observance of the highest acclaim and respect for an extraordinary merit and gratitude for passion and engagement in the building the local culture and promoting city of Busko-Zdroj in Poland and worldwide.
Krystian Tkaczewski is an active member of the Society of Polish Musical Artists SPAM since 2004. Krystian is a founder and artistic director of Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford and the artistic director of Connecticut Chopin Foundation. Krystian Tkaczewski was an artistic director of International Chopin Festival “Lato z Chopinem” – named afer Barbara Hesse-Bukowska 2014-2025, as nominated by deceased Barbara Hesse- Bukowska. Krystian has been also a founder and artistic director of Paderewski International Piano and Krystian Tkaczewski International Piano Competition in Busko-Zdroj. International Festival Ambassador of Tarnow, Maestro Krystian Tkaczewski and his guests, Future Stars International Piano Competition. Staring 2026 will have been appointed as the founder and artistic director of International Piano Festival "Music without Borders" in Busko-Zdroj. In October 2026, Dr. Tkaczewski will launch Chopin Chapter of Hartford Chopin International Piano Competition, being the main advisor and jury member of this event. In the year 2024, Dr. Tkaczewski was appointed as a Special Guest Artist of International Center of Xiamen Institute of Technology. Since 2025 has been an International Art Consultant and member of Professional Committee of the Piano Museum in Shenzhen, China in the observance of his distinguished achievements in the field of piano artistry and invaluable contributions to academic research.
Dr. Tkaczewski has received the prestigious “Extraordinary Ability in Arts” permanent residency in United States of America as one of a small percentage of those who have risen to the top in their field of endeavor.
Krystian Tkaczewski
Poland/USA
Artistic Director
The virtuoso pianist is an expert in the interpretation of Russian piano music. As a sought-after pedagogue he is piano professor at the University of Arts in Osaka/Japan.
This successful pianist was born in Japan. He studied piano performance at the University of Music “Mozarteum” in Salzburg. He continued his studies at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and graduated at the University of Music and Drama in Hannover/Germany. The virtuoso pianist is prize winner of several international competitions such as „Citta di Senigallia“, „F. Busoni“ (Bolzano) und „Marguerite Long“ (Paris). More than 50 recitals per year as well as numerous CD productions (i. e. Skrjabin and Mussorgsky) show his artistic activities. Besides his pianistic career Masahi Katayama is in great demand as a pedagogue. First he had a position as an assistant of the well known pianist Andrei Gavrilov after understudying of his sudden illness.
Currently he is a piano professor at the University of Arts in Osaka/Japan. He is frequently invited to hold masterclasses in Japan and abroad.
Masashi Katayama
Japan
Vovka Ashkenazy, who is of Russian and Icelandic parentage, began piano lessons at the age of six with Rögnvaldur Sigurjónsson in Reykjavík, where his family lived at the time. Ten years later he went to England to study with Sulamita Aronovsky at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He also benefitted from occasional study sessions with pianists such as Leon Fleisher and Peter Frankl.
Vovka Ashkenazy made his debut in London at the Barbican Centre in 1983 with the London Symphony Orchestra under Richard Hickox, performing Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. Since then, his career has taken him all across Europe, and to Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Americas. He has participated in the Marlboro Festival in Vermont, as well as the Edinburgh and Spoleto festivals. Orchestras he has appeared with include nearly all the major British orchestras as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Australian Chamber, the Berlin Symphony, the Berne Symphony and the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestras. Conductors he has worked with include his father, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Semyon Bychkov, Martin Fischer-Dieskau and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, at venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, the Sydney Opera House, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Royal Festival Hall, London.
Vovka Ashkenazy is very active as a chamber musician and has recorded a CD of Italian music for clarinet and piano with Dimitri Ashkenazy, his brother, with whom he toured Japan in 1997, 2000 and 2002. He has also performed and recorded with his father, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and their recordings on DECCA include Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Rachmaninoff’s Suite for Piano Four Hands, Schumann’s Andante and Variations for Two Pianos, Two Cellos and Horn, a 2009 release of a CD with French music for two pianos, and a 2011 release of a two-piano CD entitled Russian Fantasy, which includes transcriptions by Vovka Ashkenazy of Borodin's Polovetsian Dances, as well as Mussorgsky's Night on the Bald Mountain. A further two-piano recording, with music by Howard Blake, came out in 2013. Their two-piano concert activities have recently included performances in Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK, as well as seven tours of the Far East, the most recent being Japan in April/May 2016. Vovka Ashkenazy has also worked together with the Reykjavík Wind Quintet and has released two CDs with this ensemble on the Chandos and the Cryston (Japan) labels.
Alongside his concert activities, Vovka Ashkenazy also devotes his time to teaching. He has given master classes in Europe, the United States, China, and South Korea, and has also coached on the chamber music courses at Pro Corda in the UK. He was Professor of Piano at the Conservatoire Gabriel Fauré in Angoulême, France, from 1998 until 2007, when he moved to Switzerland. In addition to his post at the International Piano Academy in Imola, he also teaches on the Master of Advanced Studies in Performance and Interpretation course at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland (CSI) in Lugano.
Vovka Ashkenazy has contributed, through performances, to several charitable causes, including Action for Children and Cystic Fibrosis Trust in the UK, Telethon in Switzerland, and the Bridges Peace Foundation in Cambodia and the Philippines. He was made Honorary Artistic Adviser of the Guangzhou Opera House in November 2010, and is currently Artistic Director of the Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition in Monza, Italy.
He currently resides in Ticino, Switzerland, with his family
Vovka Ashkenazy
Iceland
Hironao Suzuki is widely recognized as a pianist carrying on the tradition of the Neuhaus method of the Russian Piano School and also as one of Japan’s leading piano teachers—most of his pupils have won prizes in national and international competitions.
Born in 1978, Mr. Suzuki studied at the Yamaha Music School since the age of three. He further studied at the Yamaha Master Class with the late Vera Gornostaeva, a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, for eight years since the age of 11. He then graduated from Accademia Pianistica “Incontri col Maestro” in Italy. While he was a student, Mr. Suzuki performed in Tokyo, Paris, Milan, and London, among other cities.
Mr. Suzuki was appointed as an overseas artistic research trainee for the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan in the fiscal year of 2002 and served for three years. He has studied with Vera Gornostaeva, Petras Geniusas, Fumiko Eguchi, Jun Kawachi, Takayuki Kuniya, Shinji Urakabe, Franco Scala, Piero Rattalino, Gérard Frémy, Riccardo Risaliti, and Leonid Margarius. He was tremendously influenced by advice from Alexei Nasedkin and Boris Petrushansky, as well.
He won a special prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 6th place at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, and 5th place at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. In addition, Mr. Suzuki was a finalist at the Clara Haskil International Competition and the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, Germany. At the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, he received high acclaim for his solid technique, sense of structure, and rich lyricism. Mr. Suzuki’s determined efforts during the competition were featured in an NHK documentary, which gained a lot of attention when it aired nationwide.
He has been extremely active as a pianist since 2004.
He was chosen to play at the Sai-no-kuni Saitama Arts Center’s “Pianist 100” series, where Murray Perahia and many other outstanding pianists have performed in the past, and he was acclaimed as “an excellent contrast of masculine dynamism and touching lyricism.” In addition to recitals in Italy, France, Germany, and Japan, Mr. Suzuki has performed with the Osaka Symphony Orchestra, the Haydn Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and the Gunma Symphony Orchestra. His recital in Kioi Hall, Tokyo, received good reviews, and the performance was aired on “NHK BShi Classical Music Club” for three consecutive years, rapidly gaining attention from those in the music field. He has also received good reviews for his duo performances with Ayako Uehara and Kazune Shimizu.
Mr. Suzuki released two CDs on the Harmony label: Etudes Symphoniques and Rachmaninoff. The late Hiroko Nakamura, a famous and influential pianist in Japan, commented on Mr. Suzuki’s Schumann album with the words, “such elastic phrasing can rarely be heard among Japanese pianists” and called it the “greatest album of all time.” This album received high acclaim from varied sources, including music magazines.
Currently, Mr. Suzuki is frequently invited to various masterclasses as a professor, and holds public lessons and a series of public seminars, which also receive good reviews. In 2018, he gave a lecture for the “Intensive Seminar” series hosted by The Piano Teachers’ National Association of Japan, which has featured Bruno Rigutto and Vladimir Tropp in the past. Advertised as “Teachers all over the nation come to learn the pedagogic method from Mr. Suzuki to understand how he became a leading figure in piano pedagogy at such a young age,” the public learned his innovative teaching methods that combine his own theory with the Russian Piano School of piano pedagogy.
He was also a member of the faculty at "Ambassador Tarnow" International Festival in 2018 (Poland).
Mr. Suzuki is also invited regularly to be part of the jury in numerous international competitions such as:Cesar Franck International Piano Competition (Brussels) , Krystian Tkaczewski International Piano Competition(Poland), International Chopin Piano Competition in ASIA, Future Stars International Piano Competition.
After leaving his post as full-time lecturer, Mr. Suzuki is currently a guest associate professor at the Nagoya College of Music and a lecturer at the Showa University of Music.
Hironao Suzuki
Japan
Doctor of Piano Performance, St. Petersburg State Conservatory of Music, Russia.
Department of the Chinese Conservatory of Music’s secondary school.
The Beijing Municipal Education Commission bestowed the title of “Outstanding Teacher Award” on vocational schools for their participation in skill competitions.
Teacher for the “Top Talents” Program at the China National Conservatory of Music.
Korean instrument manufacturer Young Chang’s appointed piano virtuoso for China.
Has served as music director for multiple international piano festivals.
He graduated from the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in Russia and studied under Professor Ekaterina Murina, a renowned Russian People’s Artist and Head of the Piano Department.
Since 2009, he has served as a piano instructor at the middle school of the China Conservatory of Music. His
students have won numerous awards in both domestic and international competitions. One of his students, Yang Fan, was selected for the “Top Talent Development Program” of the China Conservatory of Music for the 2022-2023 academic year and was shortlisted for the main competition at the 19th Warsaw Chopin International Piano Competition in 2025.
In recent years, he has actively collaborated with several online platforms specializing in classical music, regularly disseminating classical music culture to music enthusiasts from various backgrounds. The platforms involved include Aimei Di Classical Music Channel and Joy Music Magazine.
Xuan Dong
China
Participants:
Born in Arizona, Ayla is a classical pianist and violinist, and a top-prize winner in many national and international competitions. She began learning the piano at the age of three and made her concerto debut with the Civic Orchestra of Tucson at six, having won first place in their competition. Since then, she has performed as both a pianist and a violinist with many orchestras such as Orchestra Manhattan, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Repertory Orchestra, Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orches, Orquestra do Algarve of Portugal, Sierra Vista Symphony, among others, performing music of Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Saint Saens, Prokofiev and Mendelssohn. Conductors Ayla has collaborated with include Maurizio Colasanti, Deyan Pavlov, Michael Butterman, Laurent Brack, David Wroe, Toru Tagawa in the United States, Japan, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria, and France
Ayla has won first prize twice at the Chopin International Piano Competition in Connecticut. She has won many competitions for both piano and violin, such as the Krystian Tkaczewski International Piano Competition in Poland, the WPTA Spain Piano Competition, Mimas International Piano Competition in Italy, Orbifold Global Music Competition in Bulgaria, Pacific Stars International Piano Competition, Sound Espressivo Music Competition, Young Artist Piano Seminar Concerto Competition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and many more.
She has participated and performed in many festivals and master classes across the world, including the Colburn Piano Seminar, Cleveland Institute of Music Young Artist Piano Seminar, Lato z Chopine in Busko-Zdroj Poland, Heifetz PEG, SIMA classics in Legnica Poland, Piano Concerto Festival in Faro Portugal, Paris France and Florence Italy, International Piano Festival in Tarnow Poland, Orbifold Global Music Festival in Bulgaria, Philadelphia International Music Festival in Cremona Italy and Miami.
Ayla is currently the concertmaster of the Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra. She has also performed in many local concerts, including the Tucson Folk Festival, the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music Gala, and others.
Also, she is attending the School of Ballet Tucson, has participated in some of their professional productions, such as the Nutcracker, and has performed a lead role in Spirit Garden.
Most recently, Ayla performed Liszt's Totentanz with the Paducah Symphony Orchestra at the Carson Center, KY, and also the Mozart Violin Concerto and the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto with the Orchestra Manhattan at Carnegie Hall, NY.
Ayla Moreno
Japan/USA
Duoduo is 22 years old. She started playing piano at the age of six, now learning from Dr. Zhao Yun, a Doctor of the Moscow Conservatory and currently a professor of the Piano Department in Sichuan Conservatory of Music. She will continue to pursue her master's degree at the Royal College of Music in the UK.
Her competition achievements and honors include: • 2025: First Prize in the Youth Group of the 15th Maria Herrero International Piano Competition (Spain) • 2025: Invited to perform at the 79th Ljubljana International Music Festival (Slovenia) • 2025: Invited to cooperate with the Tarnów Chamber Orchestra for a performance (Poland) • 2024: Participated in the "Lato z Chopinem" Music Festival (Poland) • 2024: Second Prize in Category D of the 12th CÉSAR FRANCK International Piano Competition (Belgium) • 2024: Third Prize in the "Piano Masters" category of the IX Krystian Tkaczewski International Piano Competition (Poland) • 2024: Second Prize in the "Piano Masters" category of the IX Future Stars International Piano Competition • 2023: First Prize in Group B, Rachmaninov Best Performance Award, and Laureate Special Award (Group A and B) of the 11th Isido Bajik International Piano Competition (Serbia) • 2023: First Prize in the Concerto Group of the Singapore International Piano Competition (Sichuan Division) • 2023: Second Prize in Group B of the Russian International Olympic Music Competition
Duoduo Nie
China
Michał Oleszak was born in 2000 in Wrocław. He began learning to play the piano at the age of 7. In 2013, he started his education at the Wojciech Kilar Music School Complex in Rzeszów. Three years later, he became a student at the Zenon Brzewski Secondary Music School in Warsaw. After graduation, he continued his studies at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the class of Prof. Alicja Paleta-Bugaj, Prof. Joanna Ławrynowicz-Just, and Prof. Konrad Skolarski. He completed his studies with distinction.
He is a laureate of piano and chamber music competitions, including: 1st place at the International Competition in Košice; 1st prize at the Julius Zarębski International Piano Competition; 3rd place at the International Chopin Competition in Narva; 1st prize at the International Piano Competition in Busko-Zdrój; and 1st place at the Warsaw Chamber Music Forum. The pianist was also the highest-ranked Pole at the prestigious I. J. Paderewski International Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz in 2025.
He also developed his piano skills in masterclasses led by professors such as Janusz Olejniczak, Piotr Paleczny, Anna Malikova, Kevin Kenner, Andrzej Jasiński, Philippe Raskin, Stephan Möller, Wojciech Świtała, Robert Szreder, Maria Szwajger-Kułakowska, Bernd Goetzke, Ewa Kupiec, Elżbieta Stefańska, Ewa Pobłocka, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Grigory Gruzman, Krystian Tkaczewski, and Ludmil Angelov.
He has performed in Poland and abroad, including at the University of Oxford, Salamanca Hall in Gifu, Japan, the Estonian Opera Theatre in Tallinn, the Polish Institute in Sofia, the Kosice Philharmonic, Ehrbar-Saal in Vienna, the Opole Philharmonic, the Lower Silesian Philharmonic in Jelenia Góra, the Podkarpacka Philharmonic in Rzeszów, the Castle in Łańcut, the Krzysztof Penderecki European Music Centre in Lusławice, Paderewski Center in Kąśna Dolna, the Mirror Hall in Tarnów, many cities in Germany and the Netherlands, Studio Concert Hall S1 of Polish Radio, the Royal Baths, the National Philharmonic, as well as the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
He also collaborated with Polish Radio Program Two, Polish Radio Chopin, and Radio RDC. The pianist represented Poland at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan.
Michał Oleszak
Poland
Haruki Takeuchi, 20, has studied piano with Stephanie and David Northington until graduating from Farragut High School, Tennessee. Currently studying at New England Conservatory, Boston.
Haruki was honored to be selected as a Festival Student of The 2023 Gina Bachauer Piano Festival, 2022 scholarship recipient of The Chopin Foundation of The U.S. Haruki was awarded The 3rd place,The Best Chopin Etude, and The Best woman Composer in The 10th YAMAHA International Piano Competition USASU, The Winner of The Tennessee The 2nd place in The 2022 Chopin International Piano Competition Hartford, The Winner of The 2021 Pacific International Piano Competition, The Finalist in The 2021 Music Teachers National Association National Competition, and The Winner of The 2019 Memphis International Piano Competition