Something Old, Something New

The 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition silver medalist is a graduate of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and former professor of piano at the Music College of the Conservatory. Yakov Kasman is now the distinguished professor of piano and artist-in-residence at the University of Alabama. He is going to be joined on the program by his 18-year-old daughter, Dina.

Program

Toccata in E Minor, BWV 914 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)—Dina Kasman

Fantasia in F minor for Piano four-hands, D. 940 by Franz Schubert (1897-1828)—Dina and Yakov Kasman

Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 by Sergey Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), arr. by Allan Richardson (1904-1978)—Yakov Kasman

Prelude in C sharp Minor, Op. 3, No. 2 by Sergey Rachmaninoff
Prelude in G sharp Minor, Op. 32, No. 12
Prelude in G Minor, Op.23, No. 5
—Yakov Kasman

Intermission

Sonata for Piano Four Hands by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

1. Mäßig bewegt
2. Lebhaft
3. Ruhig bewegt

—Dina and Yakov Kasman

Etude Op. 40, No. 1, “Prelude” by Nikolai Kapustin (b. 1937)
Etude Op. 40, No. 8, “Finale”
—Dina Kasman

“Suite 1922,” Op. 26 by Paul Hindemith
March
Shimmy
Nocturne
Boston
Ragtime
—Yakov Kasman

Grande Tarantelle, Op. 67 by Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869)
—Dina and Yakov Kasman

YAKOV KASMAN

Yakov Kasman’s debut in America in 1997 as Silver Medalist in the tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas was the culmination of several competition triumphs and tours in Europe and the Middle East, including prizes at the 1991 Valentino Bucchi Competition in Rome, the 1991 London World Piano Competition, the 1992 Artur Rubinstein International Competition in Tel Aviv, and the 1995 International Prokofiev Competition at St. Petersburg.

Since his American debut, he has given concerts in the United States, South America, Europe, Russia, and Asia, including recitals in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Paul, Atlanta, and Birmingham. He has appeared as soloist with more than seventy orchestras including the Buffalo, Oregon, Pacific, Syracuse, Memphis, Miami, Ft. Worth, Nashville, and Alabama symphonies, Athens State Orchestra, the Orchestre de Lille and Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier in France, the Singapore Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Orquestra Simfonica de Baleares (Spain), Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea), and the Moscow Philharmonia Orchestra.

Kasman has fifteen studio CD recordings on the Calliope label. His two CD set of the recordings of the complete sonatas of Prokofiev was awarded the “Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Academie du Disque” in France in 1996. Other CDs include solo works by Haydn, Scriabin, Stravinsky, and Rachmaninov. The International Piano Quarterly magazine recommended his CD of Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” as one of 14 equally ranked best in a survey of recordings over the past 75 years. His recording of Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1, and Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings, released in 2000, received the “Choc du monde de la musique” award in France, is rated highest for artistry and sound quality by Classics Today.com, and referred to as “superlative” in the American Record Guide. He has also recorded two CDs with Harmonia Mundi, the most recent one with the Pacific Symphony includes Piano Concerto No. 2 by Lukas Foss, released in 2001. In 2003 he completed a recording of all of the Scriabin piano sonatas and in 2004 recorded an All-Tchaikovsky CD featuring “The Seasons” and Grand Sonata in G-Major. In 2007 he completed a four-CD set of the chamber music of Shostakovich with the Talich Quartet on the Calliope label.

Yakov Kasman is also active as a teacher and adjudicator. He was a jury member of the Busoni International Piano Competition (Bolzano), International Piano Competition in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz (Kiev), the Corpus Christi International Competition, “Merzlyakovka invites friends” All-Russian Piano Competition in Moscow, Kalinnikov International Piano Competition in Orel and for four years has judged the Rocky Mountain Amateur Piano Competition (Colorado Springs). He has been guest artist and faculty at the Piano Texas International Academy and Festival (Fort Worth), and for several years at the International Summer Music Academy in Kiev.

Born in the city of Orel, near Moscow, Yakov Kasman began his piano studies at the age of five. A graduate of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and previously a professor of piano at the Music College of the Conservatory, he is now the Distinguished Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. His students are winners of regional, national and international competitions.

DINA KASMAN

Dina Kasman, 18, is from Birmingham, Alabama. She is a winner of numerous local, state, and regional competitions, including multiple MTNA competitions in Alabama and an alternate winner of the MTNA Southern Division in 2013. Dina won II and I prize of two consecutive Alabama Symphony concerto competitions. She has participated in the Kiev International Music Academy in Ukraine in 2013, 2016, and 2018 performing as a soloist with the National Symphony of Ukraine.

Dina is actively involved in Alabama’s musical and community life, playing piano recitals in Birmingham, Huntsville and Fairhope. This includes many charity events and working as a collaborative pianist with students as well as professional artists of high caliber.

In 2018, Dina became a winner of the Southern Adventist University Concerto Competition and took II place at the LaGrange Symphony Concerto Competition.

Dina recently entered the UAB Department of Music as well as the highly competitive University Honors Program. She studies with Yakov Kasman, distinguished professor of piano/artist-in-residence at UAB.

In addition to music, Dina was a part of multiple theater productions at Vestavia Hills High School. In the 2017-2018 school year, she won top acting awards at Alabama state theater competitions.