Faculty

Dr. Zatin has been awarded numerous prizes in the artistic and musical environment: first prize at the Kiev Competition for Young Composers and Pianists (1968); second prize at the Sergei Prokofiev Competition (1979); prize of the Brass Bulletin for his Triple Concerto for French Horn, Trumpet, Piano and orchestra (1981); prizes of the USSR Association of Musical Theatre Artists for the best musical of the year (1987 and 1990), among others. He was presented with the prestigious Mozart Medal in 2015 and in 1990 with the UNICEF Medal of Honour for his activities as pianist and conductor.

From 1990 to 1992, he was Artistic Director of the Musical Theatre and the principal conductor of the BACH Chamber Orchestra in Yekaterinburg, Russia. As a guest conductor with the Leningrad State Orchestra he made series of concerts and recordings for the USSR Central Radio station; as well as for ‘Melodiya’ record label with several orchestras and ensembles, as the conductor and pianist. In 1998, he produced the CD ‘Anatoly Zatin & BACH Chamber Orchestra’ with the University of Colima in Mexico. In 2000, he conducted the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra at the recording ‘Lalo-Sarasate-Korssakoff’ (Azzurra Music). He toured Italy, France and Austria as a guest conductor with the San Luis Potosi Symphony Orchestra (2005), participated at the Musicalta Festival in Alsace, conducted the Mozart International Piano Festival in Shanghai (2006), leaded the Rachmaninov Orchestra of Moscow’s Kremlin at the first international festival of the arts in Kyrgyzstan (2012) and conducted Verdi’s 200^th birthday gala with the Jalisco Philharmonic in 2013. In Mexico he has conducted the Mexico City Philharmonic, Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra, Jalisco Philharmonic, as well as symphony orchestras in Aguascalientes and Puebla. Renowned soloists as Boris Berman, Dmitri Bashkirov, Vladimir Viardo, Shigeyuki Takano, Elizabeth Vidal, Leonardo Villeda, Jesús Suaste, Jean Dubé, and Anton Querti have performed under his baton.

Throughout his career, Dr. Zatin has performed at the most prestigious music festivals in the world: the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Hungary, Musical Spring in St Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), the International Art Festival in Korea, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in England, the UNESCO Festival in Leningrad, the Black and White Piano Festival in Mexico, Musicalta in Alsace, the Silver Lyre Chamber Music Festival in St Petersburg, the Mozart Festival in Shanghai and many others. He has toured Sweden, Norway, Deutschland, Finland, England, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, China, Korea, the United States of America and Mexico on numerous occasions, performing at many of the world’s most important concert halls: the National Arts Palace and the National Auditory in Mexico, the Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, the Moscow Philharmonic Hall, the First Concert Hall in Stockholm, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Carnegie Weil Hall in New York, Foro Confalone in Rome, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in England, and the Philharmonic halls in Estonia, Georgia and Ukraine.

Dr Zatin has served as member of the jury at international piano competitions in Mexico, Ukraine (the Horowitz competition), the Netherlands, United States of America and Canada. His master classes in piano, conducting and composition can be appreciated at Zell an der Pram Austrian Master Classes, the Summer Music Academy in Kiev, Music on the Rhine in Germany, Schlern Music Festival in Italy, as well as in the United States of America, Japan, China and Mexico.

With the pianist Vlada Vassilieva he formed Duo Petrof in 2003, winning  numerous awards for their recordings, touring in Europe, Asia and America, and being praised by audiences and critics alike (www.duopetrof.com).

Dr Zatin is on faculty at the University of Colima in Mexico, where he also was also Chairman of the Music Department (2001-2011) and Dean of the Fine Arts Institute (2011-2016), as well as guest professor at the National Conservatory in Mexico City.

Many times, she was invited as an artist to festivals all over the world (the Slavic Music Festival in Paris, the I Piano Festival in San Jose, the Belize Classical Music Festival & etc.). In 2012 participated in the honourable recital dedicated to the Golden Anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, acted as Chairwoman of the American Protégé Concerto competition (New York), and as a jury member of several international piano competitions.

She has CD recordings with music of W. Mozart, F. List, F. Chopin, I. Brahms, S.Prokofiev, C.Saint-Saens, F.Liszt – V. Horowitz, E. Wild – G. Gershwin, E. Grieg – G. Ginzburg.

Her students are prize-winners of the various piano competitions.

At the age of 11, Boris won first prize at the All-Siberia Piano Competition. At the age of 21, he won first prize at the All-Russia Piano Competition in Kazan, 1977.

Since then, Dr Konovalov has had numerous tours in many countries, including Russia, Israel, Germany, England, Austria, USA, China, South Korea and Canada.

The highlights of these concerts are performances at The Chopin Society in London and Jerusalem, at the International Festivals in Banff and in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and also recitals in Vienna, Austria.

Boris Konovalov performed his first concerto (Liszt, Concerto no. 1) at the age of 16. Since then he has been collaborating with distinguished conductors including Arnold Katz (Russia), Vassilij Sinaisky (UK), Robert Bernhardt (US), Lu Sha (China) , Alexei Kornienko (Austria) and others.

Dr Konovalov started teaching at the age of 23. His teaching experience includes Professor positions at the Novosibirsk Glinka Conservatory (Russia), the Jerusalem Rubin Academy and the Mevasseret Zion Conservatory (Israel), Alberta College Music Conservatory (Edmonton, Canada), and the Tom Lee Music Academy (Vancouver, Canada).

His masterclasses were held in the Art College of Nicosia (Cyprus), the University of Arizona (Tucson, USA), the University and the Arts High School (Seoul , South Korea), the Sapporo Conservatory (Japan), etc.

Dr. Konovalov is in great demand as an adjudicator at various festivals and competitions, including the North Shore Festival and the Russian Music Festival in Vancouver, Canada, the Canadian Music Competition (CMC) throughout Canada, Jerusalem music festivals in Israel and many more in Russia.

Boris Konovalov has released six solo CDs, recorded live from his concerts. He also recorded many concerts on radio and TV programs in Israel and Russia.

The vast repertoire of Boris Konovalov includes Beethoven’s 32 sonatas, about 40 solo programs and 30 piano concertos.

Currently, Dr Boris Konovalov is running his own studio in Richmond and North Vancouver, BC.

BM´06 at the Fine Arts Institute of the University of Colima as a student
of Dr Anatoly Zatin, MM´10 at the Mannes College of Music in New York City with Prof. Pavlina Dokovska. Since 2006, Ms Vassilieva is on faculty at the Music Department of the University of Colima in Mexico and visiting professor at the National Conservatory of Music. Her students have won top prizes at national and international piano competitions.

Ms Vassilieva has performed in the Carnegie Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, New York Historical Society; in Russia at the St Petersburg Musical Spring, Silver Lyre and ͞Sergei Oskolkov and Friends͟ festivals, Sviatoslav Richter´s Museum in Moscow. She has collaborated with conductors Anatoly Zatin, Alexander Treger, Scoot Yoo and Lin Daye, performing in orchestras of Mexico, United States, Russia and Ukraine. She performed at the First International Festival of the Arts in Bishkek with the Kyrgyzstan National Philharmonic in 2012, and in 2013 she made the first performance in Mexico of Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire, with the Jalisco Philharmonic conducted by Anatoly Zatin.

Ms Vassilieva has offered masterclasses at the Semper Music Festival in Italy, the International Piano Festival and Masterclass in Monterrey, as well as music colleges and universities in Mexico, United States and Canada. She is a member of the International Academy of Performing Arts and Sciences and serves as judge at music competitions. Critics and audiences alike appreciate her mature performances, impulsive character and stage presence.

Mr. Lévy recorded the complete piano works of Schubert and Brahms for the Canadian label, Palexa, and the complete works of Chopin for MusOpen. Frank Lévy recorded the complete Brahms Sonatas for piano and violin with violinist Bin Huang.

Mr. Lévy’s recent appearances include solo recitals in Chile, Brazil, China, Russia, Kuala Lumpur, Switzerland, Italy, Canada and the United States. Frank Lévy has given numerous lectures and master classes at universities, conservatories and music festivals around the world. His recent lectures include “The Art of Practicing: From Concept to Sound,” “From the Fortepiano to the Fazioli”, “Schubert and the Suspension of Time,” “Musical Offerings for a Monument: Masterpieces by Beethoven, Liszt and Schumann,” “Practicing Piano Creatively” and “The School of Piano: Understanding the Interaction between the Piano Mechanism and the Human Body.”

Frank Lévy, who grew up in Switzerland, entered the Geneva Conservatory at the age of fifteen and earned the bachelor’s and master’s degrees studying with renowned pianist and pedagogue Louis Hiltbrand, and the doctorate in performance studying with Maria Tipo.  After winning the Kiefer-Hablitzel Prize, Frank Lévy went to study with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory, from where he received the Artist Diploma. Mr. Lévy also studied with Emanual Ax, Samuel Sanders, Margo Garrett and Dorothy Taubman in New York, Vlado Perlemuter in Paris, Maria Curcio, Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia in London.

Overseas he has conducted the St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra, members of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Kamerata, among others. He has participated in festivals such as Kustendorf Bolshoi Festival, Festival del Mayo, Cervantino International Festival and Monteux Music Festival among others. He recently collaborated with the Symphony Orchestra of the National Polytechnic Institute participating as a guest on more than five occasions including concert in the Senate of the Republic. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and a master’s degree from Moscow State University of Arts. He has perfected his studies in orchestral conducting, opera and ballet at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Vienna Conservatory with celebrated teachers such as Mariss Jansons, Vasiliy Sinaisky, Georg Mark, Jorma Panula, Srba Dinic and Peter Feranec. Mr. Sagaydo has musically directed the production of Bela Bartok’s opera “The Castle of Bluebeard” within the framework of the UNAM Impulse Festival. In 2018 the COLECTIVO BARROCON-TIME founded a classical orchestra formed by the best young musicians in Mexico City presenting their concert seasons at the Alcázar Del Castillo de Chapultepec. He is currently guest conductor of the Eduardo Mata University Youth Orchestra of UNAM, the institution with which he is maintaining a continuous and fruitful collaboration.

He started piano lessons with his father, Vladimir Fouxman (distinguished teacher at the Kemerovo Music College). Among the biggest influences on his musical education were Lev Naumov in Moscow, Michael Boguslavsky, Victor Derevianko, and Pnina Saltzman in Tel Aviv.

Mr. Fouxman moved to the US in 1998 to complete his DMA at Arizona State University. Concert engagements in the United States have included recitals at Scottsdale Steinway Hall, Chicago Steinway Hall, Arizona State University, University of Utah, Indiana University South Bend; a live broadcast on WFMT radio station in Chicago; and performances at the New York International Piano Festivals, as well as concert tours in Russia and Costa Rica. In 2015 season he performed an opening recital at the Russian Music Festival in Vancouver, Canada and Schlern International Festival in Italy. His appearances for 2016 included recitals and master classes at Weber University (Utah), Brownsville, Edinburg, and Canyon Universities (Texas), performances with Irkutsk Philharmonic orchestra in Russia, and solo recitals in Vancouver, Canada. The 2017 appearances include Weber University (Utah), Arizona State University, Canyon University (Texas), solo recitals and master classes in Vladivostok and Irkutsk (Russia) in Hamburg and Kassel (Germany), Finland, and Italy, among others.

Having a deep belief in the purity of music, Dr. Fouxman gives preference to a constant search for new ways of self-expression and perfecting the musical craft. In his playing critics emphasize his piano mastery, along with a deep and highly personal approach to music making. They also note that his attention to shaping the melodic line, voicing the music texture, and beauty of sound, link his work to the performing values of the past.

An integral part of Dr. Fouxman’s musical activity is his highly respected pedagogical work. At the core of his approach to teaching piano is the music itself, where a clear picture of the composer’s intentions and thorough analysis of musical content dictate the means of technical execution, and inspire personal emotional connection with music and performance.