ADJUDICATORS
Marie-Christine Delbeau has performed to critical acclaim in recitals throughout the United States and Europe. Il Messagero fervently noted “…it was particularly compelling to follow the development of the music as guided by this great American pianist so in tune with the music, which she so intimately interprets.”
She was a concerto soloist with numerous orchestras including the Delaware Symphony, Midland-Odessa Symphony, Austin Symphony and the Mid-Atlantic Chamber Ensemble. She has also performed in concert at the Weill Recital Hall /Carnegie Hall in New York City, and other distinguished performances include a solo recital for State Days at the Kennedy Center, a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Washington DC concert hall, where she represented the state of Delaware. Ms. Delbeau was also in the featured performance of the national conference of the Lincoln Center Institute for Arts in Education at Lincoln Center in New York City.
In addition to her appearances as soloist, Ms. Delbeau is an active chamber musician. She performed in the first critically acclaimed gala concert “Fiddlefest” at Carnegie Hall with violinist Diane Monroe. On this concert, Ms. Delbeau shared the stage with Ithzak Perlman, Isaac Stern, Midori, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, Samuel Sanders, Mark O’Conner and Billy Taylor. She was invited to appear again with Monroe in a “Fiddlefest” gala performance at the Tönhalle in Zürich, Switzerland, where she performed with legendary violinist Isaac Stern.
As a member of the Johannes Piano Quartet, she performed in recital at the Philadelphia Arts Alliance and at the Festival at Mt. Gretna with Robert Chen, current concertmaster for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra principal violist Choong-Jin Chang and Los Angeles Philharmonic principal cellist Peter Stumpf. Ms. Delbeau has also performed as a member of the Lenape Chamber Ensemble with these artists and violist Roberto Diaz,
in Philadelphia Orchestra Connection Series concerts and in numerous other recitals regionally and nationally with some of these artists.
Ms. Delbeau was also a member of Contrasts: Chamber Artists of Philadelphia, a group dedicated to featuring works by contemporary African-American composers. She has performed in recital with the eminent violinist Robert Mann and has also performed in concerts with the Mendelssohn String Quartet. Delbeau studied with pianists John Perry, Tong-Il Han and Jerome Lowenthal, amongst others, and holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Texas.
Pianist Russell Hirshfield has received acclaim for his brilliant technique and his original and powerful interpretive insights across a wide repertoire. Russell Hirshfield received his musical training in New Haven, CT and later studied at the Eastman School of Music, Boston University, and the University of Colorado, studying with Robert Spillman, James Avery, Anthony di Bonaventura and Alvin Chow.
He has performed in recital regularly throughout the world, giving concerts across the United States, Brazil, China, Belgium, England, Serbia, Costa Rica and South Africa, including recent performances at the Holywell Music Room in Oxford and the Royal Flemish Academy in Brussels.
His latest solo recording entitled Alexander Scriabin: Early Works (Navona, 2020) features a brilliant program of Scriabin’s earlier, and lesser-known, works for solo piano, in superb performance. His recording Seeker – The Piano Music of Piet Swerts (Phaedra Records) was released in 2017, and was featured in Europe on Belgian Radio Klara, and received critical acclaim in Holland (Opusklassiek), Belgium (Flanders Art Magazine) and the United States (American Record Guide). His recording Mad Dances – American Music for Saxophone and Piano, with saxophonist Dan Goble, was released by Albany Records in 2010. Recent acclaim for Alexander Scriabin – Early Works has led to an invitation to perform the Scriabin Piano Concerto with the Oxford Philharmonic during the 2021-22 season.
Currently, Russell Hirshfield is Professor of Music at Western Connecticut State University. He has presented master classes and conference lectures throughout the United States and abroad. He was a member of the Artist Faculty for the 2019 International Piano Festival in Bačka Palanka, Serbia, the 2015 Piano Master Class Series at New York University, and the 2013 Oxford University Piano Festival in England.
Chiu-Ling Lin is an international-renowned pianist, educator and former Artistic Ambassador who made extensive solo appearances in South America. Critics have written that she makes compositions “soar with her joyous and skilled interpretation.” Dr. Lin made her Carnegie Weill Recital Hall debut as the winner of the East and West Young Artist Auditions. She has soloed with orchestras such as the Atlanta Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, Des Moines Symphony & Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra. Her appearances in New York, Boston, Chicago, England, Canada, and throughout the Far East have featured her unique mix of music by Chinese and Western composers. Her virtuosity is showcased in the CD, “Portraits of China.” As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with world-renowned artists such as Marina Piccinini, Marcos Granados, and Ignat Solzhenitsyn.
Dr. Lin is committed educator who received her bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Indiana University. She is Emeritus Professor of Piano of Drake University in Des Moines, IA where she taught for 37 years before moving to West Windsor, NJ where she maintains a private piano student. She is past president of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association and the recipient of the 2014 Foundation Fellow. She is also the NJ-DE-PA tri-state representative of the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music and the Program Director of Bravura Summer Music at Lawrenceville School, NJ.