About
The Cleveland Institute of Music’s Young Artist Piano Seminar is an intensive week-long summer program designed to inspire and challenge advanced pianists ages 10-18. Under the guidance of its world-renowned faculty, young artists from around the world will refine their performances of advanced repertoire, deepen their musical and technical understanding, and elevate their performance skills.
2025 Faculty
- Gerardo Teissonnière - Artistic Director, CIM’s award-winning pianist, recording artist and pedagogue
- Daria Rabotkina - Winner of the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, CIM Director of Academy Piano Studies and conservatory faculty
2025 Guest Faculty
- Nicolas Namoradze - Winner of the Honens International Piano Competition, BBC Music Magazine Rising Star and Musical America New Artist, Faculty assistant at The Juilliard School and faculty at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Program Highlights
- Daily individual lessons and masterclasses
- Piano concerto competition with orchestral (2nd piano) accompaniment
- Dalcroze Eurythmics and Piano Literature classes
- Final concert showcasing student performances
Dates: July 6 - 12, 2025
Arrival: July 6, 2025
Final Concert: July 12, 2025
Tuition & Fees
Application Fee: $75 (non-refundable)
Tuition: $1250
Housing: $490*
Dining: $300
- Application Deadline: March 15th
- Admissions decisions for priority applicants will be sent by March 1st
All travel expenses are the responsibility of the participant.
*Note: If you are local to Cleveland and don't need housing, this charge can be removed, but everyone is required to pay dining costs to cover meals provided during the program.
Apply here
Faculty Bios
Gerardo Teissonnière
Regarded by international critics and audiences as an artist of extraordinary musicianship and rare sensibility since his acclaimed solo recital debut at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, pianist Gerardo Teissonnière brings to the concert stage an exciting amalgam of the diverse and important musical traditions he represents. From the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, Lincoln Center in New York to concert halls in Asia, Europe, North and Latin America, Teissonnière appears in solo recital, as soloist with orchestra, in duo-piano and chamber music performances in concert series, as well as in radio and television broadcasts throughout the world.
A member of the artist faculties at international summer music festivals, Teissonnière is also in great demand for his mentoring of young musicians, many of them winners of top prizes at national and international competitions, and conducts master classes and piano pedagogy seminars throughout the world. His students have performed as soloists on numerous occasions with some of the world’s most important orchestras, such as The Cleveland Orchestra, and in solo recitals at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, among other venues.
Daria Rabotkina
Born in Kazan, Russia, into a family of musicians, Daria Rabotkina gave her first solo recital at the age of 10. Her education started at the Specialized Music School under the guidance of her parents and Nora Kazatchkova. Later, it continued in Kazan State Conservatory and Mannes College of Music in New York City under the tutelage of Vladimir Feltsman. In addition, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Natalya Antonova.
Concerto highlights include San Francisco and New World symphonies, Kirov (Mariinsky) Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Hudson Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Concepción, and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Rabotkina has collaborated with Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Feltsman, Julian Kuerti, JoAnn Falletta, Benjamin Shwartz, and Giancarlo Guerrero. As a soloist, she has given recitals at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Kennedy Center, Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Ravinia’s Rising Stars, and Dame Myra Hess in Chicago. Her appearances abroad include Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, France, Mexico, and Japan.
Winner of the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Rabotkina received top prizes at several international competitions and participated in Russia’s White Nights, Finland’s Kuhmo, and Copenhagen’s Summer festivals. In the United States, Rabotkina has appeared at the Rockport Chamber Music, International Keyboard Institute, PianoSummer at New Paltz, and San Francisco International Piano festivals.
Her first three recordings were done with CAG Records as part of the Victor Elmaleh Collection. The debut recording features Tchaikovsky’s Grand Sonata and Prokofiev’s Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet. Her second CD contains Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and Schubert’s Moments Musicaux. Rabotkina’s third project involved live recording of three concerti. The latest CD (MSR Classics), with humoresques by Dvořák, Reger, Rachmaninov, and Schumann, was released to critical acclaim in 2018.
Rabotkina joined the piano faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music in the fall of 2024 where she also serves as the Director of Academy Piano Studies. Previously, she presented masterclasses, private lessons, and lectures at the Kazan State Conservatory. Passionate about early piano education, Rabotkina founded the FunKey Piano Project at Texas State in 2018, where she was an associate professor of piano (2016-24).
Nicolas Namoradze
Pianist and composer Nicolas Namoradze is one of the most critically acclaimed musicians of his generation. He came to international attention in 2018 upon winning the triennial Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary, Canada – one of the largest prizes in classical music. A BBC Music Magazine Rising Star, Gramophone One to Watch and Musical America New Artist, he was bestowed the Pianist of the Year award by the UK Critics’ Circle in 2022. Recent album releases have received extraordinary accolades, including the Choc de Classica, Record of the Month in Limelight, Instrumental Disc of the Month in BBC Music Magazine, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, Editor’s Choice in Presto Classical and Critics’ Choice in International Piano.
Current activities include residencies at the Verbier Festival, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and the Konzerthaus Dortmund, recital appearances at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Munich’s Isarphilharmonie, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Montreal Bach Festival, Kulturpalast Dresden and LuganoMusica, among others, and performances with orchestras including the Budapest Festival Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Dresdner Philharmonie, Sinfonieorchester Basel, San Antonio Philharmonic and the RAI Orchestra, with conductors such as Karina Canellakis, Hans Graf, Jeffrey Kahane, John Axelrod, Ken-David Masur, Finnegan Downie-Dear and Daniele Rustioni.
After completing his undergraduate in Budapest, Vienna and Florence, Namoradze moved to New York for his master’s at The Juilliard School and his doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center. His teachers and mentors have included Emanuel Ax, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Zoltán Kocsis, Matti Raekallio, András Schiff and Eliso Virsaladze in piano, and John Corigliano in composition. Namoradze also holds a postgraduate degree in neuropsychology from King’s College London, where his research interests included new perspectives on musical pedagogy and performance. He is the author of the book “Ligeti’s Macroharmonies,” published by Springer in the Computational Music Science series, and his compositions are published by Muse Press. He is currently Faculty Assistant to Yoheved Kaplinsky and Emanuel Ax at The Juilliard School.
Application Requirements
Apply here
Auditions for the Young Artist Piano Seminar are by recorded audition only - there will be no live auditions.
Please submit:
- Links to two unedited video performances recorded for application to this program of two works performed in the last 6 months from contrasting style periods in the standard classical piano literature. For recording specifications, please follow the Specifications tab listed here.
- For students intending to participate in the competition, a recording of one movement from a concerto with orchestra or a second piano must be included in addition to the two solo work recordings. All repertoire submitted in the application must be ready for performance during the program.
- A curriculum vitae (summary of musical education including teachers, competition participation, a list of public performances, and repertoire studied in the past two years).
- One letter of recommendation from the students' current teacher.
- Audition recordings must be submitted by February 15.
- For international students: proof of visa requirements for entry to the USA is required at the time of admission/application.