ABOUT
Music Eduventure is a piano book publisher located in S.Korea, specialised in Piano Adventure Series written by Randall Faber, a piano educator and composer Nancy Faber based in the United States. Music Eduventure holds its international piano competition to encourage pianists in various age groups from 5 and above.
JURY
James Kirby
As a soloist and chamber musician James performs regularly throughout the UK and Europe. His recital work includes appearances at major concert series in France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Holland, the Czech Republic, Bermuda, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia and in the UK at Wigmore Hall and the Edinburgh and Aldeburgh festivals. Having studied at the Moscow Conservatoire (during which time he reached the semi finals of the International Tchaikovsky Competition) he frequently returns to perform in the former Soviet Union. Highlights have included performances at the Sakharov Festival in Nizhny Novgorod and the Omsk Festival.
James’ orchestral performances include concertos with the the English and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, the Moscow, Khazakh and Belorussian Symphony Orchestras, and the Arad and Oradea Philharmonic Orchestras (Romania), and at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire and Astana Opera House. He has performed both Brahms Concertos in Russia and Romania.
He has been a member of the Barbican Piano Trio since 1992, performing frequently at Wigmore Hall and in major UK festivals and concert series, and throughout Europe and the USA. Highlights include Carnegie Recital Hall and many cycles of Beethoven’s complete Piano Trios including the Master Concert Series at Wigmore Hall. The Trio’s repertoire consists of over seventy works and their discography includes trios by Lalo, Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, Rachmaninov and Schnittke.
James has worked with the Vanburgh Quartet, BBC Singers, Lydia Mordkovitch and the mezzo soprano Sarah Connolly and has made several recordings for Chandos. He is a dedicated teacher and enjoys posts at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Royal Holloway, University of London and Eton College. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Rachmaninov Institute, Tambov, Russia where he makes regular visits to perform concertos, give recitals and masterclasses and lead chamber music courses.
He has served on the Juries of several international Piano competitions, notably in Romania, Latvia, Russia and Slovenia and gives many masterclasses, both in the UK and overseas, most recently in China and Hong Kong. He is in considerable demand as an adjudicator and is a member of the ABRSM examining panel, which has taken him to Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Indonesia and many European countries.
Randall Faber is co-author of the bestselling Piano Adventures® method, published in ten languages around the world. He has been a master teacher for the World Conference on Piano Pedagogy, a convention artist for the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), and special guest at the European Piano Teachers Conference, the Beijing Central Conservatory, the Shanghai Conservatory, The Royal Conservatory of Music and the Australia Piano Pedagogy Conference. Faber has appeared on internationally broadcast television and on public radio in live recital broadcast.
Faber is the inaugural recipient of the Roland Lifetime Achievement Award in Education. In 2018 the Fabers were honored by the USA Music Teachers National Association with the MTNA/Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award for Piano Adventures. Dr. Faber was a keynote speaker for China’s World Reading Day and has been featured in the Beijing Morning Press and the Shanghai Post. He performed recent piano recitals in Seoul, Spokane, Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, Chicago and a tribute recital on Horowitz’s legendary piano at the invitation of Steinway and Sons, receiving a distinguished service award as a Steinway Artist.
Dr. Faber’s research on motivation and talent development has been featured in journals and media in South Korea, Australia, and at the 9th International Conference on Motivation in Lisbon, Portugal. In addition to three degrees from the University of Michigan, Faber holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Vanderbilt University.
Randall Faber