Rising Stars Piano Series
Founded in 2003 by SCC board member and pianist, Liliane Questel.
Saturday, May 27
A Covid Times Production: Maddalena and Jacopo Giacopuzzi perform Moon River from California & Italy.
Pianofest Alumni
As a soloist and chamber musician, Jacopo has performed recitals at major festivals, venues, and concert halls throughout the United States, Europe and Japan.
Jacopo is a winner of 14 international competitions including the International Piano Competition San Dona` di Piave, Ibiza International Piano Competition, International Liszt Competition in Los Angeles, and the Beverly Hills National Auditions.
He has performed under the direction of world-renowned conductors such as Dian Tchobanov, Robert Wills, and others.
He has taught at the Conservatory of Verona E.F.Dall’Abaco, worked as a collaborative pianist at the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels, and has been invited to serve on competition juries and to give presentations, masterclasses and concerts throughout the US.
Born in Italy to a family of pianists, Jacopo studied in Weimar at the Liszt Hochschule, earned his first Master`s Degree cum laude in Piano performance under the guidance of Virginio Pavarana, a Master`s in Sound Design with Mauro Graziani at the Conservatory of Verona, obtained a Diploma at the International Piano Academy of Imola Incontri col Maestro with Leonid Margarius. He completed his studies as a graduate in Piano Performance at the University of Southern California with Professor Kevin Fitz-Gerald.
After attending the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Jacopo found himself embraced by this loving community and makes Santa Barbara his home, surfing at sunrise before heading to his piano. Verona is still his home as he continues his international career. His most recent musical engagements take him every summer to iPalpiti festival in Los Angeles, Pianofest in the Hamptons, the Maui Chamber Music Festival in Hawaii, and Japan.
Since she was a child Maddalena Giacopuzzi has distinguished herself in the musical overview by winning the First Prize in several National and International Competitions: in 2016 she won the Third Prize at the Rina Sala Gallo Piano Competition in Monza and in 2015 she won the First Prize at the 53rd “A. Speranza” International Piano Competition in Taranto and at the 6th Massarosa International Piano Competition. She was selected to take part to the final rounds of the Montreal International Competition in 2017, the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 2016, the Busoni Piano Competition 2017.
She has performed as soloist with the Orchestra of the Arena in Verona, Orchestra Monteverdi of Bozen, the Haydn Orchestra of Trento and Bozen, the Orchestra Verdi of Milan, the Orchestra of Sanremo, Orquestra Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico.
Maddalena Giacopuzzi received the diploma at the Conservatory “E. F. Dall’Abaco” in Verona under the guidance of M ° Adriano Ambrosini with full marks, laude and a mention of honour, while in April 2014 Maddalena graduated with the Master Degree at the Conservatorio “C. Monteverdi” in Bolzano, where she studied with M° Cristiano Burato. During the years 2010-2015 she attended the Accademia “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola where she studied with M° Leonid Margarius.
In 2017 she completed the Artist Diploma at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Roma, with M° Benedetto Lupo, receiving a scolarship offered by the Association Settimane al Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza.
Since February 2019 she is on the Piano faculty of the Conservatorio “G. Paisiello” in Taranto, Italy.
Saturday, May 6
YCA Winner
Twenty-four-year-old Chinese pianist Ying Li is the First Prize winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, as well as recipient of The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Prize and the Tri-I Noon Recitals Prize. She has received top awards in numerous national and international competitions including the inaugural Antonio Mormone International Prize, Sarasota Artist Series Piano Competition, Brevard Music Festival, International Liszt Piano Competition for Young Pianists, and was a finalist at Concours musical international de Montréal.
Ying has performed with many leading orchestras such as The Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Brevard Music Festival Orchestra, L’Accademia Orchestra del La Scala, and the NWD-Philharmoniker, and with conductors such as Lina Gonzalez-Granados, Xian Zhang, Eric Jacobsen, and Jonathon Heyward.
Ying will make her New York City recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and her Washington, DC debut at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater with additional US recitals at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Evergreen Museum & Library in Baltimore, Sunday Musicale in New Jersey, Southeastern Piano Festival, and the Honest Brook Music Festival.
Upcoming and recent recitals also include Sala Verdi in Milan, Hammerklavier International Piano Festival in Barcelona, Musica Insieme Bologna, Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna, Fazioli Pianoforti in Sacile, and the C. Bechstein Series at the Konzerthaus in Berlin. Ying was also featured on WQXR’s “Eine-kleine Birthday-musik,” a free, all-Mozart live streamed concert from The Greene Space in New York City, to celebrate Mozart’s 266th birthday.
As an avid chamber musician, Ying has appeared at prestigious festivals around the world including the Verbier Festival Academy, ClassicheFORME International Chamber Music festival in Lecce, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, La Jolla Music Society, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Artists Series Concerts in Sarasota, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival.
Ying began piano lessons at age five in China, and was a student at the Elementary School division of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, then she moved to Philadelphia in 2012, at age fourteen, to study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Jonathan Biss and Seymour Lipkin. After receiving the Bachelor of Music degree at Curtis Institute in 2019, she received her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School in New York with Robert McDonald, and continues her studies with McDonald at the Juilliard School’s Artist Diploma Program.
Saturday, April 1
Jung-Eun Kim is quickly becoming a sought-after pianist both as a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative artist. An Osher Foundation Scholar, Jung-Eun is currently completing an Artist Diploma in Piano Performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she also received double Master’s degrees in solo piano and chamber music with Yoshikazu Nagai and Jon Nakamatsu. She frequently concertizes in both the Bay Area and beyond. A native of South Korea, she made her solo debut with the Changwon Philharmonic Orchestra at age 11.
Since then, she has won several prizes both in the United States and South Korea including the Wideman International Piano Competition and Beethoven Piano Competition in Seoul. Jung-Eun has also been featured on numerous national radio engagements including From the Top, Hawaii Public Radio, and WUSF National Public Radio. As part of the Winners’ Concert at the Chautauqua Music Festival, she performed a solo recital of works from Bach to Rachmaninoff. In the Fall of 2019, she made her San Francisco debut as a winner of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition, performing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with conductor Edwin Outwater.
Equally captivating as a chamber musician, Jung-Eun and her San Francisco-based L’arc Trio received an InterMusic SF grant, which allowed them to commission a brand-new work titled “Ominous Machine” by Berkeley-based composer Vivian Fung. She and her piano trio, winner of the Barbara Fritz Chamber Award, pursues projects that combine new works and classic pillars of the piano trio repertoire into creative, modern programs. During her studies in the Chamber Music Program at SFCM, Jung-Eun performed alongside artists such as Tessa Lark, Norman Fischer, Ian Swensen, Jean-Michel Fonteneau and David McCarroll.
In her free time, Jung-Eun enjoys traveling, exploring new cuisines and reading music with friends.
April 1, May 6, May 27
The Rising Stars Piano Series was founded in 2003 by SCC board member and pianist, Liliane Questel, a graduate of the Brussels Conservatory and the Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory under the guidance of Leon Fleisher. The series mission focuses on performance opportunities primarily for participants and alumni of Pianofest of the Hamptons. These highly talented pianists attract a loyal following. The Tenth Anniversary Season in 2013 celebrated some of those musicians who by then were not “Rising Stars” anymore but celebrated performers.
The Rising Stars Piano Series is made possible by:
Liliane Questel, pianist
Southampton Cultural Center
Member of the Board
Founding Director, Rising Stars Series
Konstantin Soukhovetski, pianist
Member of the Board
Managing Director, Rising Stars Series