Professor Naum Grubert
Teaching Dates
July 26 - 30
Teaching Languages
English, Dutch, Russian
Naum Grubert was born in Riga. His principal studies were with the famous professor Gutman in Moscow. He was a prize-winner in the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1978, after having won the 2nd prize at the International Piano Competition in Montreal the year before. He toured extensively the Soviet Union and other European countries before he emigrated from Russia and became a Dutch resident.
His many impressive recitals, as well as concerts with among many others the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Köln Philharmonic, the Tonkünstler Orchestra Vienna, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Kirov Orchestra St. Petersburg, the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Orchestra, the Residential Orchestra, have earned him a reputation of superb musicianship:
“For all his virtuosity, he interprets the music as a philosopher or a thinker…”
Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung
“Grubert’s lyricism is balanced with his power and intellect”
The Times
He took part at the Lichfield Festival (Great Britain), the Cadaqués Festival (Spain) the Lockenhaus Festival (Austria) and the Gergiev Festival (Holland), among others. Naum Grubert has performed with conductors such as Paavo Berglund, Sergiu Commissiona, Jean Fournet, Horst Stein, Christopher Seaman, Vernon Handly, Matthias Bamert, Ernest Bour, Ed Spanjaard, Vassili Sinaiski, Thomas Sanderling, Valery Gergiev, Claus Peter Flor, Aldo Ceccato, Evgeny Svetlanov, Stanislav Skrovachevsky. His CD-recordings contain works of Schubert, Liszt , Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Beethoven and Chopin.
Naum Grubert holds a professorships piano in Amsterdam Conservatory. Among his students are many prizewinners of national and international competitions.
Professor Nikolai Demidenko
Reina Sofía School of Music,
Madrid, Spain
Teaching Dates
July 21 - 25
Teaching Languages
English, Russian
Nikolai Demidenko was a prize-winning pianist at the Montreal International Competition and the International Tchaikovsky Competition. The University of Surrey recognized his great contribution to the field of music by awarding him an Honorary Doctorate degree.
His virtuosity, passion and musicality led him to give concerts throughout Europe and America, as well as Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand etc. with outstanding directors and orchestras.
Frequent recitals in London include his participation in the Great Performers Series at the Barbican, the International Piano Series at the Southbank Center and the London Pianoforte Series at Wigmore Hall.
His extensive discography consists of more than 40 recordings. For Hyperion Records he has recorded over 20 award winning CDs including Gramophone Editor's Choice, BBC Music Magazine Best of the Year, Diapason D'Or. The Chopin CD recorded for AGPL received the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Chopin's album recorded for ONYX Classics won the 2010 MIDEM Chopin Special Award.
He studied at the Gnessin School of Music with Anna Kantor and graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the pianist and pedagogue Dmitri Baskhirov, later being his assistant teacher for several years.
Nikolai Demidenko, parallel to his career as a pianist, developed his pedagogical activity by giving masterclasses and consulting to young performers from all over the world. Since 2016 he systematically collaborates with the Fryderyk Chopin Institute offering master classes at the course organized in parallel to the "Chopin and his Europe" Festival.
He has been a member of the jury of many international piano competitions, such as the Franz Liszt Competition in Utrecht, the International Piano Competition in Leeds, the Piano Competition in Sydney, the ARD Music Competition in Munich and the 1st International Chopin Competition in period Instruments in 2018; he is currently invited to be a part of the jury in its second edition in October 2023.