Tamás Vásáry, Dann Competition Highlight Big Piano Week at Oberlin

Hungarian pianist Tamás Vásáry will devote the week to teaching at Oberlin Conservatory, a visit that includes a free public master class with Oberlin students on Thursday, April 21. The class takes place at 7 p.m. in the Bertram and Judith Kohl Building’s Clonick Hall (77 W. College St.).

Also this week, renowned pianists Boris Slutsky and Steven Spooner will lead a pair of free public master classes in conjunction with the 2016 Arthur Dann Piano Competition, which takes place at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 24, in Finney Chapel (90 N. Professor St.).

Slutsky’s class begins at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 23, in Stull Recital Hall (third floor of Bibbins Hall, 77 W. College St.); Spooner’s class will be held Sunday, April 24, also at 7 p.m. in Stull Hall.

Vásáry’s residency is part of the inaugural year of the Oberlin-Como Piano Academy, a groundbreaking partnership that makes Oberlin the North American home of Italy’s esteemed International Piano Academy Lake Como. Each year, up to three students are selected from around the world to be Oberlin-Como Fellows, a designation that is accompanied by intensive instruction on campus with Oberlin’s piano faculty as well as exclusive access to legendary performers—such as Vásáry—who serve Oberlin-Como residencies at Oberlin during the academic year.

This week, Vásáry is working in private sessions with Oberlin-Como Fellow Dàvid Bekker as well as Tony Yike Yang and Zitong Wang, first- and second-place winners, respectively, of the 2014 Cooper International Competition at Oberlin. Bekker, the first student enrolled in the Oberlin-Como program, was named a 2016-17 Rising Star by the European Concert Hall Organization, an honor that ensures numerous solo recital opportunities for the young pianist throughout Europe in the coming year.