Robert Koenig
Senior Judge
Robert Koenig is widely considered one of today's foremost collaborative pianists and brings a wealth of experience and esteemed cache to prestigious concert venues throughout the world. With a noted career that spans more than three decades, Robert's collaborations with high-profile artists and chamber ensembles across the globe has solidified his standing as an invaluable partner and resource to musicians near and far.
From coast to coast and throughout Asia and Europe, Robert regularly performs at such venues as New York's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Washington's Kennedy Center, Seattle's Benaroya Hall, Tokyo's Suntory Hall, London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Amsterdam's Het Concertgebouw. He has collaborated with many of this generation's most renowned musicians, including Joshua Bell, Augustin Hadelich, Sarah Chang, Hilary Hahn, Zuill Bailey, Sara Sant'Ambrogio, Miro String Quartet, and members of the Tokyo and Juilliard String Quartets. Of significance is Robert's frequent partnership with legendary late violinist Aaron Rosand, as well as his 30-year collaboration with renowned violinist Elmar Oliveira.
Robert's discography is vast and musically diverse, with lauded recordings on the Artek, Decca, Cedille, and Naxos labels. One of his many highlights includes a GRAMMY-nominated CD for Naxos of William Primrose Transcriptions for Viola and Piano with violist Roberto Diaz. A favorite at summer festivals in the United States and abroad, Robert has performed at such festivals as Ravinia, Aspen, Caramoor, Mostly Mozart, and Campos do Jordao Festival in Brazil. A strong advocate for the music of our time, Robert commissioned American Composer Lowell Leibermann to write Trio No.2 for Fute, Cello, and Piano Op.87 and performed the world premiere at the National Flute Association Convention in Nashville, TN.
A native of Saskatchewan, Canada, Robert is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with renowned collaborative pianist Dr. Vladimir Sokoloff. In addition to his decade-long association with the Juilliard School, where he served as staff pianist, he also served as Professor of Piano and Chamber Music at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. Robert currently serves as Professor and Head of Collaborative Piano at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was chair of the Music Department from 2019-2022. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors for the Santa Barbara Symphony and International Classical Concerts of the Desert, Robert is the CEO and Artistic Director of the newly created Bellosguardo International Piano Competition taking place in August 2028.
Robert Koenig is an official Yamaha Artist.
Craig Richey
Senior Judge
A native of North Carolina, Craig Richey received his high school diploma from the N.C. School of the Arts, his Bachelor of Music degree from the St. Louis Conservatory, and his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School.
Hailed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for his “No-nonsense pianism!” he made his New York debut with pianist Pamela Mia Paul as guest duo-soloist with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. He has appeared both in solo and chamber music recitals throughout the United States. His performances have been aired on National Public Radio and Voice of America Radio, which is broadcast worldwide. He taught for ten years at the renowned Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City and directed their esteemed chamber music program. His major teachers include Joseph Kalichstein and Martin Canin.
Mr. Richey’s students have been regular winners of the Bob Cole Conservatory Concerto Competition and have frequently garnered first and second prizes in solo and concerto competitions in California. His students have been accepted into both piano performance and collaborative piano programs at USC, UCLA, the Cincinnati Conservatory, Indiana University, Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory and the Peabody Institute. He is also a frequent adjudicator at competitions throughout the Southwest.
As a performer, Richey has collaborated with such notable artists as cellist Lynn Harrell, soprano Clamma Dale, clarinetist Daniel McKelway, and violinists Pamela Frank and Elaine Richey. Elaine Richey (1932-1997), Craig’s mother, was winner of the 1959 Walter Naumburg Competition and assistant to Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute.
Althea Waites – Stein artist for 2023/24
Junior Judge
Internationally acclaimed pianist Althea Waites has concertized extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia as a brilliant soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative artist. In addition to performances on concert stages around the world, she has also participated in numerous festivals as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and ensemble coach, including Aspen, Tanglewood, the Yale Summer Festival at Norfolk, the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Idyllwild Arts Festival in Southern California and as guest artist for the National Arts Festival at Makhanda on the Eastern Cape of South Africa.
Praised by the Los Angeles Times for “superb technique and profound musicality,” Ms. Waites has a long and distinguished history of championing new music by American composers and has received several honors and commendations for her work. She has also been guest soloist for National Public Radio’s Performance Today, KQED in San Francisco, KCET/Los Angeles, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Geneva Conservatory of Music in Switzerland, Wigmore Hall in London, Merkin Hall in New York City, concerts for the UC/ San Diego World Music program in Indonesia, Phillips Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to name a few.
Her recording credits include Black Diamonds, a landmark CD of music by African-American composers as well as the premiere recording of Florence Price’s 1932 Sonata in E Minor, Along the Western Shore and Celebration, a 2012 recording featuring new music by American composers. This CD also includes works which have been written for and dedicated to Ms. Waites in celebration of 60 years as concert artist and teacher.
Ms. Waites holds degrees from Xavier University of Louisiana and the Master of Music degree in Piano from the Yale School of Music where she studied with Donald Currier. Previous teachers and mentors include Alice Shapiro, a protégé of Rosina Lhevinne, Russell Sherman and Sister Mary Elise Sisson.
Previous teaching positions and affiliations include California State University/Long Beach for the Cole Conservatory of Music and collaborative work with pianist Mark Uranker as the Orpheus Duo in performances of music from the traditional repertoire and new music for two pianos.
Ms. Waites is in demand for masterclasses, lectures, workshops, recitals and residencies at colleges and arts institutions throughout the United States, and her commitment to community service is evident through her work with many outreach programs in retirement homes, hospitals, churches, missions and any place where music can be used as a tool for peace and the elimination of racial and political division.
Althea Waites is a Yamaha artist and her recordings are now incorporated on her new label, Kuumba Music.
Awards and Honors
2023: Leonard Stein Resident Artist for PianoSpheres/ 2023-24
2020: Pioneer Award for outstanding service as a concert artist and teacher of music; presented by the Black Faculty Association of California State University/ San Bernardino
2017: Ovation Award presented by the Standard Bank of South Africa for excellence in performing four recitals of music by American composers. Standard Bank is the major sponsoring organization for the National Arts Festival which is presented in June and July at Makhanda on the Eastern Cape of South Africa.
1993: Brody Arts Fellowship, California Community Foundation/ Los Angeles
1991: National Association of Composers/ USA
1990: Min-On Cultural Award, Soka Gakkai International Society
1988: Los Angeles Sentinel Woman of the Year
1987: Brody Arts Fellowship, California Community Foundation/ Los Angeles
1986: League of Allied Arts Fellowship, International Congress of Women in Music
1977: National Organization for Women
Antoinette Perry
Junior Judge
Antoinette Perry, born into a family of professional musicians, gave her first public performance at the age of four. Since then, she has concertized extensively throughout the United States, Germany, France, England, and in over 15 cities of the People’s Republic of China. She has been heard often on NPR and the Bravo! Channel, and has recorded for the Crystal, Harmonie, Pacific Rainbow, Pacific Serenades, Excelsior, and Navona/PARMA labels.
Le Dauphine Libéré has lauded her “irreproachable technique” and “a musical comprehension which could only belong to one of the Greats.” Germaine Vadi of Les Affiches de Grenoble et du Dauphine wrote : “One felt oneself to be in the presence of a great pianist—an absolute art of nuance, her subtle touch, and finally her perfect musical understanding, which permits her to assimilate the music of all cultures.” The LA Times has praised her “exceptional artistry” (Bruce Burroughs), her “superb Schubert in every respect” (Albert Goldberg), and, in a performance with the LA Mozart Orchestra: “The centerpiece was Mozart’s Piano Concerto in G, K. 543, in a wonder of pertinent, pointed musicality…expressive…richly detailed…”(John Hanken).
Artist-faculty Emeritus at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Ms. Perry performed in over 100 concerts during her 25-year tenure. Other festivals include Bravo!International, Lansum International, Zhengzhou International, Saarburg International, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Chamber Music Sedona, Ojai Festival, Taipei International, 20th Century Unlimited in Santa Fe, and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, among others.
As a young artist she and was one of only two women representing the United States in the 6th Van Cliburn International Competition (1981) and subsequently received a fellowship to the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood. A highlight of her later career was the opportunity to perform the Mozart Double and Triple Concerti with Leon Fleisher, Katherine Jacobson, and the Aspen Chamber Symphony, to commemorate the Aspen Music Festival’s 150th anniversary and Leon Fleisher’s 75th birthday.
As a chamber musician, Ms. Perry has collaborated with many of the world’s greatest artists, including John Perry, Leon Fleisher, Brooks Smith, Ralph Kirshbaum, Ronald Leonard, David Shifrin, Eugene Fodor, Henri Temianka, Joachin Valdepenas, Carol Wincenc, and actors Michael York and Walter Matthau. She has performed with members of the American, Chicago, Cleveland, Emerson, Juilliard, Angeles, Paganini, Sequoia and Takacs String Quartets, with concertmasters of the Chicago Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Hague Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Baltimore Philharmonic, and the Orpheus, Los Angeles and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestras, as well as principals of the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, the Gulbenkian and Zurich Tonnehalle Orchestras, the Toronto and San Francisco Symphonies, and the LA, Stuttgart and Saarbrücken Operas. Other collaborators were faculty members at Juilliard, Eastman School, Manhattan School, Peabody Institute, Beijing Central Conservatory, Seoul National University, Glenn Gould Conservatory in Toronto, R.D. Colburn School, the Shepherd School at Rice, and the Universität der Künste in Berlin. In LA she collaborates regularly with members of the USC and UCLA faculties and well as with prominent film industry musicians.
She also enjoys bringing new music to audiences, having premiered works by Michael Patterson, Roger Bourland, Mark Carlson, Steven Christopher Sacco, John Steinmetz, Bevan Manson, Donald Keats, Roland E. Curb and Chikako Iverson.
Ms. Perry served on the UCLA piano faculty for 12 years before joining the faculty of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in 1996, where she currently teaches. She has given over 200 master classes, most notably at the Eastman School of Music and as artist-in-residence for a week at the Beijing Central Conservatory. Former students are enjoying successful careers as performers and pedagogues throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
Her wonderful teachers have included John Perry, Carlo Zecchi, Gilbert Kalish, Richard Goode, Danielle Martin and Richard Angeletti. As a child she was surrounded with the beautiful, rich sounds of her pianist mother, Lillian Haslach Teddlie, her bass-baritone father, Paul Krueger, and later her stepfather, baritone Antonio Perez.
She is the proud mother of Sean, Maureen and Michael Perry, and currently lives, hikes, reads and practices yoga in Altadena, California.
Teaching Philosophy
Music is a most compelling force when arising spontaneously from the artist. Of course this spontaneity must be tempered more or less by one’s knowledge of harmony, structure, rhythm, etc., and the ways in which these elements affect interpretation. In the art of classical music, formal training is vital. But then the teacher must understand his or her limits and know when to step back to allow each student to find his or her individual voice. A great teacher opens a student’s eyes to possibilities without insisting on an imitation of sorts.
Being objective is our most difficult task as teachers. I strive to enable a student to access his or her creative spark without stepping on the composer’s personality (that certainly wouldn’t serve the music!) or needlessly imposing the teacher’s vision on the student.
But our musical instincts don’t come from a vacuum. I insist that my students listen to great singers and orchestras, live or otherwise, as much as possible. One must understand what is special about our art in general, and about each era and style in particular, before one can begin to search for his or her own best interpretation, or before instinct can come into play.
Students must understand that there are a myriad of possibilities. In our performance classes I solicit comments in the hopes of training students to be constructive in their criticism while remaining open-minded to a full range of interpretive possibilities. Sometimes we are left with questions rather than answers, which might bring us closer to the truth!
Of course technique is tremendously important in piano playing—-physical mastery is not only essential for great artistry, but variety and nuance in one’s technical approach expands one’s artistic vision. Fortunately I myself have been exposed to many wonderful teachers, and in my teaching I try to amalgamate as well as build on what I have learned. As a certified instructor of yoga, I also weave in elements I have learned from my meditation and yoga practice—elements such as proper breathing, body scanning, body awareness, mental focus, etc….
Life is short, so I try to work with the whole person to ensure that he or she ENJOYS this process of self-discovery to allow the artist within to shine.
