Adjudicators

Karina Bruk

Dr. Karina Bruk is a member of the music faculty of Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, where she teaches piano and chamber music, and also coordinates the accompanying services for the department. She has performed solo, chamber music, and lecture recitals both in the United States (Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, among others) and abroad. Bruk has presented master classes and workshops at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (Newark, NJ), the Handel Haus (Halle, Germany), The Isidor Bajic Music School (Novi Sad, Serbia), and throughout the local area. She performs with pianist Paul Hoffmann as the Bruk-Hoffmann Piano Duo and with baritone Perry Fine as the Fine-Bruk Duo.

She is active in the field teaching collegiate students with visual and hearing impairment, helping them achieve their greatest potential, including winning competitions such as Bella Music Foundation and The Sound Espressivo, among others. Bruk is the first Mason Gross faculty member to teach a visually- and hearing-impaired music student, the first such student to earn a graduate degree at the school.

Bruk has been a recipient of numerous awards, among them the Genia Robinor Award for Teaching Excellence, presented by the Piano Teachers Society of America, the Certificate of Excellence in Piano Pedagogy, and the Recognition Award for the contribution to the field of Music Education presented by the Sound Espressivo Competitions. She has articles published in DSCH Journal and the Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century Encyclopedia, and has had scholarly works presented at the International Conference of Arts and Humanities in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Bruk has served as the graduate advisor and coordinator for graduate studies in music at Mason Gross School of the Arts and School of Graduate Studies, Rutgers University (2011–17), and as coordinator of the piano lab (2005–12). Bruk was also chair of the piano department at Newark School of the Arts (2003–11) and served there as an artist-in-residence (2011–14). She serves as a judicator for numerous competitions and festivals, among them Young Artist Talent Search Jeffrey Carollo Scholarship Auditions at NJPAC, the bi-annual NJ State Solo and Ensemble Festivals, Music Teachers National Association Competition, and others. Bruk holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music (BM, MM) and Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University (DMA). Her professional organization affiliations include World Piano Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, Piano Teachers Society of America, and the Music Educators Association of New Jersey.

Dan Goldsher

Israeli pianist Dan Goldsher is a devoted and well-experienced educator, who has vastly worked with students of all ages and levels, ranging from 4-year-old beginners to college-level music majors and adults. He brought dozens of children to successful performances on stage while teaching at several music schools in his native Israel, and also prepared advanced students for final exams and auditions. Dan received his Advanced Certificate in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at New York University. During his studies, he was an adjunct piano faculty member at NYU and taught private piano lessons to music major and non-major undergraduate students. In the end of his studies he was awarded a special certificate of distinction in recognition for outstanding performance and contribution in the graduate program in piano studies. He earned his master's degree at The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and his bachelor's degree at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv University, both degrees with honors. His major teachers included Asaf Zohar, Tomer Lev, Daria Monastyrski, and Jeffrey Swann. He has performed in the United States, Spain, Russia and Israel, and participated in international festivals and masterclasses, in which he worked with notable mentors such as Ann Schein, Peter Frankl, Jerome Lowenthal, and Boris Berman. Throughout his studies he was awarded various of excellence scholarships, among them the Rabinovitch piano scholarship, by which he taught piano to financially disadvantaged children, and the Ronen Foundation of America and America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships for artistic achievements.

Chiu-Ling Lin

Chiu-Ling Lin is an internationally renowned pianist, educator and former Artistic Ambassador of United States Information Agency to tour Peru, Argentina and Brazil. In October of 2019, she was inducted into the Steinway Teachers Hall of Fame, the first time such honors were given to teachers by the Steinway & Sons Piano Company.

Critics have written that she makes compositions “soar with her joyous and skilled interpretation.” She debuted at Carnegie Hall as winner of the East and West Young Artist Auditions. She has soloed with the Atlanta Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, Des Moines Symphony and Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra. Her appearances in New York, Boston, Chicago, England, Canada, South America 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.”

Dr. Lin received her bachelor’s degree from New England Conservatory and master’s and doctoral degrees from Indiana University. She was Artist-in-Residence at Indiana Univ. at South Bend and Professor of Piano at Drake University in Iowa where she taught for over 30 years. She now maintains a private piano studio in West Windsor, NJ. Her students have gained college positions, are artistic directors of opera companies and have performed at major performance venues in US and abroad.

Chiu-Ling is also a committed teacher and educator. She has recruited scores of exceptional piano students to Drake over the years, many of whom have gone on to professional careers in the world of music. She has a strong mission to pass on what she has learned and gained to the next generation of young musicians. She has offered dozens of workshops for piano teachers as well as master classes in cities across the United States and around the world. She has also adjudicated in competitions in Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, New Jersey and New York.

She is Bravura Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Director and Director of Bravura Summer Music and has taught Graduate Piano Pedagogy Courses at Rutgers University and Westminster Choir College. Dr. Lin also contributed to Keyboard Companion Magazine and records for the FJH Company. She is past president of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association, the recipient of the 2014 Foundation Fellow, 2015 NJMTA Teacher of the Year and currently serves NJMTA Board as Vice President of Student Activities.