Yakov Kasman
Silver Medalist in the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
YAKOV KASMAN’S debut in America in 1997 as Silver Medalist in the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth was the culmination of several competition triumphs and tours in Europe and the Middle East, including prizes at the 1991 Valentino Bucchi Competition in Rome, the 1991 London World Piano Competition, the 1992 Artur Rubinstein International Competition in Tel Aviv, and the 1995 International Prokofiev Competition at St. Petersburg.
Since his American debut, he has given concerts in the United States, South America, Europe, Russia and Asia, including recitals in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Paul, Atlanta, and Birmingham. He has appeared as soloist with more than seventy orchestras including the Buffalo, Oregon, Pacific, Syracuse, Memphis, Miami, Ft. Worth, Nashville and Alabama symphonies, Athens State Orchestra, the Orchestre de Lille and Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier in France, the Singapore Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Orquestra Simfonica de Baleares (Spain), Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea) and the Moscow Philharmonia Orchestra.
Kasman has fifteen studio CD recordings on the Calliope label. His two CD set of the recordings of the complete sonatas of Prokofiev was awarded the “Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Academie du Disque” in France in 1996. Other CDs include solo works by Haydn, Scriabin, Stravinsky, and Rachmaninov. The International Piano Quarterly magazine recommended his CD of Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” as one of 14 equally ranked best in a survey of recordings over the past 75 years. His recording of Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1, and Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings, released in 2000, received the “Choc du monde de la musique” award in France, is rated highest for artistry and sound quality by Classics Today.com, and referred to as “superlative” in the American Record Guide. He has also recorded two CDs with Harmonia Mundi, the most recent one with the Pacific Symphony includes Piano Concerto No. 2 by Lukas Foss, released in 2001. In 2003 he completed a recording of all of the Scriabin piano sonatas and in 2004 recorded an All-Tchaikovsky CD featuring “The Seasons” and Grand Sonata in G-Major (Rated 10/10 by ClassicsTodayFrance.com in December 2005). In 2007 he completed a four-CD set of the chamber music of Shostakovich with the Talich Quartet on the Calliope label.
Kasman is also active as a teacher and adjudicator. He was a jury member of the Busoni International Piano Competition (Bolzano), International Piano Competition in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz (Kyiv), the Corpus Christi International Competition, "Merzlyakovka invites friends" All-Russian Piano Competition in Moscow, Kalinnikov International Piano Competition in Orel to name a few. He has been guest artist and faculty at the Piano Texas International Academy and Festival (Fort Worth), the International Summer Music Academy in Kyiv, the Busan International Music Academy at Dong Eui University, IKIF in New York, the Viivace Festival in Wilmington, NC, and many others.
Born in the city of Orel, near Moscow, Yakov Kasman began his piano studies at the age of five. A graduate of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and previously a professor of piano at the Music College of the Conservatory, he is now the Distinguished Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. His students are winners of regional, national and international competitions.
