Collaborative Piano Summer Workshop

Led by Dr. Michael Bukhman, assistant professor of collaborative piano and chamber music at TCU, the event will begin with a talk and presentation on collaborative piano skills and post-graduate careers, followed by one-on-one virtual lessons with all interested participants on the duo repertoire of their choice. Registered participants in the Fort Worth area who would like in-person instruction at TCU are invited to make those arrangements with Dr. Bukhman.

New in 2021: Participants will have an opportunity to attend seminars with professional young duos and ensembles, as well as chamber music series curators, in an illuminating introduction to the business possibilities of our art. Guest artists will be announced by late April 2021 and updated on this page. The event will conclude with a Q&A session to address any relevant topics, including financial aid and the unique new collaborative piano program at TCU.

Each participant will receive a private lesson with Dr. Bukhman via Zoom or FaceTime (or in person for local participants). With the students’ consent, lessons may also be observed (audited) by other participants. Pianists are welcome to perform with or without their own duo partners, as circumstances may allow. When singers/instrumentalists are not available, we will utilize singing and playing to assist in the process, and learn to read, hear, and internalize non-piano parts of various types. We will learn that, in the absence of actual partners, our eyes and ears can be trained to combine forces and create an acute awareness of the missing sounds, resulting in faster and more accurate learning.

Enrolled participants will receive a detailed schedule of their activities approximately one week prior to the workshop.

For any questions about the workshop, including date conflicts or technology set-up, please contact Dr. Bukhman at m.bukhman@tcu.edu

Due to COVID-19, this summer’s event is FREE for all participants (registration required via link below).

Pianist Michael Bukhman is becoming widely known as a top chamber musician, adjudicator, and pedagogue. He is the first Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano and Chamber Music at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. Prior to his appointment to TCU, Bukhman served on the staff and faculty of the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA, and previously taught at Bard and Vassar Colleges. While at Bard College, Bukhman founded Play/Chat@Bard, a concert series showcasing young musicians in performance with informal conversation. In the Spring of 2017 Bukhman was Guest Artist-in-Residence at the Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, OH. He was also recently invited to present solo and chamber masterclasses at Soochow University in Taipei, and previously performed and presented masterclasses at Shenandoah University, Concordia College, and Towson University.

Recent highlights include a violin-piano tour in China, with masterclasses and concerts presented at eight leading music institutions in four major Chinese cities. Previous Asia tours included recitals in several cities in China, and a Japan recital debut in Tokyo’s Ginza Yamaha Hall. In commemoration of Beethoven’s 250th year, Bukhman recently performed the Triple Concerto with the TCU Symphony Orchestra under maestro Germán Gutiérrez, with faculty colleagues Jesús Castro-Balbi and Elisabeth Adkins. In Fall 2020, Bukhman returned to the Oberlin Conservatory to continue the virtual Beethoven celebration in a solo sonata performance as part of a 2-day, complete 32-sonata project. His 2013 performance with violinist Itzhak Perlman in Sarasota, Florida, was lauded for its “brilliant playing” and having “pushed the audience to the edge of frenzy” (Herald-Tribune). In June of 2016 Bukhman performed a duo recital with Grammy award-winning violist Kim Kashkashian to great acclaim at the American Viola Society Festival in Oberlin, OH. He has also collaborated with Nobuko Imai, Donald Weilerstein, Dawn Upshaw, the Grammy award-winning Attacca Quartet, Metropolitan Opera soprano Rebecca Ringle, Peter Frankl, and many others. Recent music festival appearances include the PianoTexas Festival in Fort Worth, the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, and the Heifetz Institute. Previous summer festival appearances include Yellow Barn Music Festival, The Perlman Music Program, and the Ojai Music Festival. Passionate about serving the community through music, Bukhman was a regular roster pianist on Boston’s charitable Music for Food concert series, performing with Kim Kashkashian and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, among others. Under his leadership, Music for Food has established a local Fort Worth chapter in 2019 to great acclaim, garnering thousands of dollars in its first two concerts to benefit the Tarrant Area Food Bank.

Bukhman attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as a student of Robert Shannon, where he became the first in that institution’s history to graduate with Honors in Piano Performance. As part of his Honors project, Bukhman recorded and self-produced the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues of Shostakovich, performing ten of them on one recital. He holds MM and DMA degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Robert McDonald. An award-winning pianist, Bukhman’s accolades include: medalist in the 2009 Hilton Head International Piano Competition; top-ranked winner of the 2005 Jacob K. Javits Fellowship; first-prize winner at the 2006 Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings; and laureate of the 2006 Gina Bachauer Competition at the Juilliard School.