Soyeon Kate Lee - Artistic Director | Piano Faculty
The Julliard School
Korean-American pianist Soyeon Kate Lee (BM ’01, MM ’03, Artist Diploma ’05), who joined the Juilliard faculty in July 2022, won first prize in the Naumburg International Piano Competition and the Concert Artist Guild International Competition. Highlights of recent seasons include appearances at the National Gallery, Library of Congress, Gina Bachauer Concerts, Purdue Convocations, San Francisco Performances, and the Cleveland Art Museum. She is a regular participant in numerous music festivals including the Great Lakes, Santa Fe, and Music Mountain chamber music festivals, and has collaborated with conductors Carlos Miguel Prieto, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Jahja Ling, and Jorge Mester with the London, San Diego, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Naples symphony orchestras, among others. Lee’s discography as a Naxos artist spans the works of Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, and Clementi, and her eco-awareness album Re!nvented, on the E1 label, garnered her the Classical Recording Foundation’s young artist of the year award. She has commissioned works by prominent composers and has given world premieres of works written by Frederic Rzewski, Paola Prestini, Marc-André Hamelin, Alexander Goehr, Gabriela Lena Frank, Texu Kim, and Huang Ruo.
A laureate of the Santander International Piano Competition and the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Lee is a graduate of Juilliard and earned her doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her major mentors and teachers have been Richard Goode, Julian Martin, Robert McDonald, Jerome Lowenthal, and Ursula Oppens.
Prior to Juilliard, she was an associate professor at the Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, where she received the university’s highest honor in teaching, 2021 University of Cincinnati A.B. “Dolly” Cohen Award for excellence in teaching. During the summers, she serves on the piano faculty of the Bowdoin International Music Festival.
Ran Dank - Artistic Director | Piano Faculty
Eastman School of Music
A rare blend of virtuosity and intellectual prowess, Pianist Ran Dank has proven himself as one of the most thoughtful, and engaging pianists of our time.
Mr. Dank’s past seasons performances have included recitals at the San Francisco Performances Series, Gilmore, Ravinia, Carnegie Hall’s Zankel and Weill Halls, Steinway Hall, Gardner Museum, Kennedy Center, Town Hall, Yale School of Music, Philips Collection, Morgan Library, Pro Musica in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Portland Ovations, and have garnered critical acclaim from the New York Times and The Washington Post. Mr. Dank has performed as a soloist with the orchestras of Cleveland, Sydney, St. Luke’s, Portland, Eugene, Toledo, Hawaii, Kansas City, Vermont, Charleston, Jerusalem, Valencia, Phoenix, Hilton Head, among others, working under the batons such as Michael Stern, Jahja Ling, Michael Christie, Kirill Karabits, Jun Märkl, Pinchas Zukerman, Jorge Mester, Jaime Laredo, and Ken-David Masur. Mr. Dank’s recent performance of the monumental set of variations “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!” at the University of Chicago has been selected as one of the top ten performances of 2017 by the Chicago Classical Review.
Mr. Dank is also an ardent advocate for contemporary music, and has performed in recent seasons Kevin Puts’ piano concerto “Night,” the Tobias Picker concerto, “Keys to the City,” Frederic Rzewski’s “The People United Will Never Be Defeated,” William Bolcom’s Pulitzer-winning set of “Twelve New Etudes,” and has given, alongside pianist and wife, Soyeon Kate Lee, the world premieres of Frederic Rzewski’s “Four Hands,” and Alexander Goehr’s “Seven Impromptus.” Mr. Dank and Soyeon Kate lee have also featured the world premiere of multiple grammy-nominated pianist and composer’s Marc-André Hamelin’s “Tango” for piano four-hands.
The recipient of numerous honors, Ran Dank won a coveted place on the Young Concert Artists roster in 2009 and subsequently made his New York recital and Kennedy Center debuts. He has also won top prizes at the the Cleveland International Competition, the Naumburg International Piano Competition, the Sydney International Piano Competition, and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.
APEX Faculty
Logan Skelton - Faculty | Piano Faculty
University of Michigan
Logan Skelton is a much sought-after pianist, teacher and composer whose work has received international critical acclaim. As a performer, Skelton has concertized widely in the United States, Europe and Asia and has been featured on many public radio and television stations including NPR’s Audiophile Audition, Performance Today, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition, as well as on radio in China and national television in Romania. He has recorded numerous discs for Centaur, Albany, Crystal, Blue Griffin, Equilibrium, Supertrain, and Naxos Records, the latter two consisting of collaborations with fellow composer-pianist William Bolcom.
Skelton is a frequent juror for international piano competitions and regularly appears in such festival settings as Gina Bachauer, Amalfi Coast, Gijón, Eastman, Tunghai, Chautauqua Institution, American Romanian, Eastern, New Orleans, Poland International, Indiana University, Hilton Head Island, and the Prague International Piano Masterclasses. He is a popular presenter at music teacher organizations including numerous appearances at MTNA national conventions and EPTA World Piano Conferences, as well as serving as Convention Artist for state conventions in New York, Illinois, Michigan, Louisiana, North Carolina, Wyoming, Indiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Iowa. Moreover, he has given countless performances and masterclasses at colleges and conservatories throughout the world. His Centaur Records compact disc, of all 20th century American solo piano music, is titled American Grab Bag: Piano Music of Our Time. American Record Guide described this as a “fascinating recording,” commenting on Skelton’s “superb, wonderfully subtle and elegant playing … Bravo!”
As a composer, Skelton has a special affinity for art song, having written nearly two hundred songs, including numerous song cycles, many of which have been recorded commercially and performed internationally. Critics have noted the close fusion of text and music in Skelton’s songs, how words are “… illuminated with brilliance and deep emotional power” (American Record Guide). In Fanfare magazine reviews, Skelton as a composer of song has been singled out for his ability to “… plumb the depths of emotion … these are exquisitely crafted art songs in the American tradition … we are in the hands of someone who lives and breathes song.” His works are published by Muse Press. He has creatively reimagined various piano works of Liszt, Mozart, Bartók, and contributed substantially to the Gershwin complete editions of various piano works, as well as two piano arrangements of An American in Paris and numerous Gershwin songs.
A devoted teacher himself, Skelton has been repeatedly honored by the University of Michigan, including the Harold Haugh Award for excellence in studio teaching, and the Arthur F. Thurnau named professorship, among the highest honors given to faculty members at the university. Skelton’s own piano students and former students have competed and won awards in many national and international competitions including Hilton Head, American Pianist Awards, San Antonio, Leeds, Montreal, Honens, Cincinnati World, Hastings, Washington, Astral Artists, Bartók-Kabalevsky-Prokofieff, Fischoff, Jacob Flier, Iowa, Frinna Awerbuch, Naumburg, Kappell, National and International Chopin, Eastman, Crescendo, Dallas, Missouri Southern, Los Angeles Liszt, Wideman, Concorso Internazionale di Esecuzione Musicale, Schimmel, Liszt-Garrison, Grieg Festival, Del Rosario, Beethoven Sonata, Ithaca, Piano Arts, Heida Hermanns, Dubois, Schmidbauer, Peabody Mason, Janáček, Seattle, Kingsville, New York, Oberlin, Idyllwild, as well as numerous Music Teachers National Association national competitions. His former students hold positions of prominence in music schools and conservatories throughout the world. He has served on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music, Missouri State University, and is currently the Artur Schnabel Collegiate Professor of Music in Piano, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Music, and Director of Doctoral Studies in Piano Performance at the University of Michigan.
Sarah Rhee - Executive Director
Eastman School of Music
Dr. Sarah Rhee is a pianist and pedagogue who has performed internationally as both a recitalist and orchestral soloist. Her performance engagements include appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Rome Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra London, Genesee Symphony Orchestra, and Eastman Symphony Orchestra.
Alongside her performing career, Dr. Rhee is an accomplished chamber musician who has appeared in prestigious venues including Alice Tully Hall, the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, and the Eastman Kodak Theatre. She is deeply engaged in piano pedagogy at the local, state, and national levels and is a regular presenter at national conferences, including the Music Teachers National Association. As a member of “Keys to Inclusion,” she contributes to initiatives that champion the music of underrepresented composers and broaden the scope of the traditional piano canon.
Dr. Rhee has maintained a distinguished record of teaching at both collegiate and preparatory levels and is a frequent adjudicator for regional, national, and international competitions. A committed leader in the field of piano pedagogy, she currently serves as President of the Rochester Piano Teachers Guild.
Dr. Rhee holds the Doctor of Musical Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate, as well as a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. Her principal teachers include Nelita True, Julian Martin, and Ronald Turini. She has served on the faculty of Bloomsburg University and Nazareth University and is currently Assistant Professor of Piano Pedagogy at the Eastman School of Music.