Invitation to attend Princeton

The Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium 10th year anniversary, coming up at Princeton University this July!

We are very excited about celebrating our 10th Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium at Princeton this year, with special and inspiring programs.

The Golandsky Institute has been an incredible success, attracting pianists and other instrumentalists from all over the US and the world. Whatever their level and aspirations, whether students, professional performers, teachers, or passionate amateurs, attendees have found that the Golandsky Institute offers the kind of programs that are tailored to their needs. Many participants  come to improve their playing,  others have  unanswered questions, unresolved problems, or playing-related injuries.  Often, musicians are in the midst of an active performing career, and need the practical solutions which will allow them to  continue playing.  Many  experience dramatic transformations over the eight-day Symposium, and acquire an incredible amount of knowledge which is why so many return year after year.  These results are due to the highly trained faculty who continue to learn and expand their knowledge.

When I decided to found the Golandsky Institute in 2003,  my  vision depended from the beginning on the invaluable partnership of John Bloomfield, Robert Durso, and Mary Moran (shown in accompanying pictures).  Our relationship started many years ago, when they came to me as students. Through their talents, intelligence, hard work and dedication to the learning and development of the Taubman Approach, they became experts and masterful pianists and teachers in this work, and are now in great demand. That, combined with their warmth, kindness,  generous  natures and our ability to work together so well, made them natural partners.

The founding, development and accomplishments of the Golandsky Institute has been remarkable, and could not have happened without John, Robert, Mary, and the many others who have contributed so much along the way.  We look forward to continued growth and exciting developments in the future. Hope you will join us in July this year, for this unmissable 10th anniversary.

The Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium featured in the New York Times!

Click here to read the recent article about the Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium.

Review of Ilya Itin’s recital at the Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium and Piano Festival

Itin: Expressive, not flamboyant

David Patrick Stearns, Inquirer Classical Music Critic

Ilya Itin is part of the Golandsky Institute’s annual International Piano Festival.

PRINCETON, N.J. — Glancing at the lineup for the Golandsky Institute’s annual International Piano Festival here, one might initially assume that it’s yet another laudable program to put young classical artists on a solid career path, starting on the right (or correct) foot. Why, then, is one of the festival’s most important recitals by the well-into-middle-age pianist Ilya Itin?

The Golandsky Institute actually has a much broader reach, to pianists young, old, professional and otherwise, to acquire a piano technique with minimum danger of injury and to play without pain, no doubt the indirect legacy of pianists such as Gary Graffman and Leon Fleischer who, at the height of their considerable careers, lost the use of their right hands.

Itin, who placed well in the prestigious Leeds Competition and has a good career in Europe and the Far East, is apparently the institute’s poster person. The idea is the physical freedom that allows pianists to be all that they can be. Music education veterans say that many such institutes exist with similar missions.

Evaluating the Golandsky Institute’s effectiveness is well beyond the scope of an armchair observer. At Itin’s recital Friday in Richardson Auditorium here, one can only say what one heard (a pianist with easy command of every aspect of his instrument) and what one saw with a good view of the keyboard (which was practically nothing). He seemed hardly to move at all.

That’s significant for those of us who witnessed the flamboyant rise of Lang Lang from the Curtis Institute, who represents the opposite of physical economy — and is seen, all too often, with worrisome Band-Aids on his hands. For Itin, lack of physical movement did not translate into a lack of expressive range in the least. Were that the case, one would certainly hear it in his formidable concert program including Chopin’s Preludes Op. 28 and Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit.

Chopin’s 24 intentionally fragmentary preludes are like shards that hail from different worlds, almost like a series of archaeological objects. Whatever one might think of how Itin characterized the preludes individually, he gave each one its own coloristic tint, while also giving keen attention to the way they’re sequenced with an intelligent tempo scheme. So there was unity — amid maximum diversity.

The greater feat, though, as in Ravel, who often inspires modern pianists to render feats of scene painting. Itin’s approach was the opposite of that, emphasizing what the notes say (as opposed to how they sound). The music could have seem dry from a descriptive standpoint. Yet the final movement’s depiction of the mythical, demonic Scarbo — who usually seems fairly harmless with scene-painting pianists — was malevolent bordering on terrifying. Undoubtedly, Itin is a major pianist, with an ease about him that makes you want to listen to him for hours.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/20120716_Itin__Expressive__not_flamboyant.html#ixzz20nM47ULY

This year’s Golandsky Institute International Piano Festival

Read about the exciting line-up of performances at this year’s Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium and Piano Festival 2012.

The majority of these amazing pianists have benefited hugely from studying the Taubman Approach.

Don’t miss this fantastic week at Princeton University, this year from July 7-15.

Read feedback from past Golandsky Institute Summer Symposium participants!

Read what previous participants of the Summer Symposia at Princeton had to say about the richness of the program, and what they gained, both professionally and personally from the experience.

• “This week has shifted a paradigm in my approach to the piano…This technique provides and describes the tools to solve problems. I no longer feel like there is a limitation to what I can do and how well I can play, and the feeling is liberating.”
• “I have never experienced such a nurturing and welcoming community in the music world – one without pretension or competition. And yet the quality of the performances and the instruction is unparalleled.”
• “wonderful insights and pedagogy”
• “The training you gave me has been invaluable. No pain at all!”
• “I wanted to thank you once again for such a wonderful week. I learned so much and had so much fun! I also want to mention what a nice collegial atmosphere the Institute has—which is pretty uncommon”.
• “This is a huge thank you to all of you for an amazing week at Princeton. It exceeded my expectations in every way. All of the sessions were terrific…I look forward to a continuing association with you all”.
• “I wanted to thank you so much for the great work you did during the Summer Symposium. For me was the first time there and, for sure, not the last!”

• “It’s been more than a month since the lecture on Un Sospiro at the summer symposium in Princeton, and just in case you’ve ever wondered whether your lecture changed anybody’s life, I’m pleased to report that I started learning the etude… (more out of curiosity than anything else, since I’d never dared to play anything by Liszt before). I must say, it was remarkably easy to learn the whole piece because of all the meticulous detail you wrote down on the score, especially with regard to fingering! I love practising the piece, and it’s now going to be part of my exam repertoire this term. Thank you so much for all the work you did to make the etude playable with ease. I am sorely in your debt!”

Hopefully you can join us and share the wonderful learning environment at Princeton this year.  July 7-15.

My new sessions at the Golandsky Institute Symposium at Princeton University July 7-15 2012

This year I’m going to diversify my presentations.  I will still do masterclasses the same way that I did before, give problem-solving sessions in front of the whole group, but have decided that it’s time to devote some special attention to three particular groups.

I will be giving a private session to each of these groups: performing pianists, those in the Golandsky Institute Professional Training program, and participants who are coming to Princeton for the first time. That will give me a chance to spend quality time with each group, get to know you,  and address your particular questions and needs.

I am very much looking forward to meeting and working together with you. I hope to see you at Princeton this July. Just remember that the discount for earlybird registration expires on April 15th. However, registrations at the normal price will continue after this date.

The unique benefits you can gain at The Golandsky Institute at Princeton University this July.

What makes the Golandsky Institute Symposium and Festival at Princeton University unique from any other symposium or festival in the world, is that pianists walk in the first day with unanswered questions that to them seem insurmountable. Eight days later, they leave with some key solutions to their problems, and the knowledge that there is a wealth of concrete information available.They also realize through speaking to others at the Symposium who have gotten help that learning the Taubman Approach has led to them to achieve unimaginable results at the instrument.

These are the activities available in the program:

– Private lessons, where each person’s problems are diagnosed and new strategies implemented. Many participants feel a change straight away.

– First-time participants are allocated an experienced practice assistant, who works with them regularly throughout the week to reinforce what was learned at lessons.

– Lectures about basic elements of the technique by expert Golandsky Institute faculty.

– Interactive technique clinics to have practical experience of implementing ideas discussed in technique lectures, and the opportunity to have questions answered.

– Lectures on applying the Taubman Approach to key works in the repertoire.

– While there are performance opportunities available, there is no pressure to perform. The emphasis is on your learning, tailored to meet your specific needs.

– Masterclasses featuring high-level pianists performing advanced works.

– This Symposium is geared to teachers, students of any age, as well as performers. As such, we also have special classes on how to apply this technique to teaching beginner, intermediate and advanced students.

– Despite the busy schedule, there is practice time written into the schedule.

– World class guest presenters, lecturing on subjects such as Debussy, Bach, and pedaling.

– See Edna Golandsky work with students on stage in short segments, witnessing how some issues can be solved in a short time.

– Being in the midst of this group dynamic in an open-minded and supportive atmosphere, you may feel for the first time that you are not alone, and there are many people who are or have been in the same situation. It gives hope, through meeting people who previously had serious issues, and are now not only problem free, but thriving. – You may also feel for the first time that in fact nothing is wrong with you, but rather with the way you do certain things in the piano.  You find out these problems are not in your head, but in your hands.

– Coming to the Golandsky Institute does not mean that you have to “subscribe” to the Taubman Approach.  It only means that you may see solutions and benefits to your own playing and teaching that you didn’t see before. It’s able to put you altogether on a new track.

– As a bonus, registration includes access to the Piano Festival which runs simultaneously, with inspiring concerts in the evenings.

– Experience the warm, positive atmosphere without  competitiveness. There is a generosity of spirit, giving, benefiting others, and a deep sense of satisfaction.  AND LOTS OF FUN!

Read more at http://www.golandskyinstitute.org/summersymposium/symposium_overview1!