Baruch Meir, President & Artistic Director

Pianist Baruch Meir has performed extensively in Austria, England, France, Israel, Portugal and throughout the United States. A Bösendorfer Concert Artist since 2003, Meir has most recently presented two solo recitals at the Bösendorfer Saal (Vienna) and at the Wise Auditorium in Jerusalem, Bates Hall in Austin, Murphy Hall in Los Angeles, and at the Toujours Mozart Festival in Salzburg. Currently an Artist/Teacher professor of Piano at Arizona State University, Meir maintains a busy teaching schedule in addition to his international concert career. In demand as master class clinician, Meir recently toured Korea's most prestigious music schools and universities including Seoul National University, Yonsei, Kookmin, Hanyang, Sunhwa, Kyoungbook and Seoul Arts High School, as well as at the Shanghai Conservatory in China, the Music Academy in Vienna (Austria), the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem (Israel) and various conservatories and universities in the US.

A native of Israel, Meir is a summa cum laude graduate of the Rubin Academy of Music of Tel Aviv University, where he earned both bachelor and master degrees in piano performance. He holds the Artist Diploma from the Royal College of Music in London, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from ASU. His teachers include Valter Aufheuser, Michael Bugoslavsky, Rachel Gordon, Robert Hamilton, Pnina Salzman and Irina Zaritskaya. Meir's distinctions include the American-Israel Cultural Foundation Awards, the British Council fellowship, 1st place at the Klatzkin Competition for contemporary piano music and the ASU concerto competition, and additional awards in piano competitions worldwide.

At ASU, professor Meir maintains a class of outstanding pianists from all over the world. His students were awarded more than 40 prizes and awards in various competitions within the past five years, including 1st place at the Young Concert Artist International Competition, the Schimmel Young Artist concerto and solo competitions, MTNA Arizona, ASU concerto competition and the grand prize at the Phoenix Symphony Guild competition. Additionally, his students regularly participate in summer music festivals in the U.S. and Europe including Aspen, Adamant, Brevard, Schlern, TCU/Cliburn Institute, IIYM, Prague, New- Paltz, Mannes and Tel-Hai.

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Henry Rose, Chairman-of-the-Board

Henry Rose, a native of Panamá, is currently the Director of Piano Studies at South Mountain Community College where he teaches theory & composition and applied piano. Mr. Rose holds both Bachelor and Master degrees in Piano Performance. He has studied with Jaime Ingram, Robert Wharton, and most recently, Robert Hamilton while in pursuit of advanced graduate studies at Arizona State University. He has coached with Jeffrey Kahane, Gita Karasik, and Emanuel Ax. In addition to his duties as Chairman of the Young Artist Committee, Mr. Rose maintains a private studio in the East Valley and is an active performer, adjudicator, and composer. His compositions include the recently premiered Sonata Breve for Cello and Piano, Myxed Colors for Two Pianos, and he continues to gain national and international recognition with the publication and subsequent recording of his Accompaniments for Second Piano to Johann Sebastian Bach's Fifteen Two-Part Inventions.

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Debra Rose, Treasurer

Debra Rose holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of North Dakota and has pursued a Masters of Public Administration degree at Arizona State University. Ms. Rose has served at the national level on the Board of the Consortium of College and University Media Centers (CCUMC) as the Chair of Membership, Sustaining Member and Diversity Committees. Additionally she has coordinated several national conferences for this organization. Mrs. Rose is currently the Coordinator of Gifts & Donations for the Arizona State University Libraries.

YAC Advisory Board

Prof. Robert Hamilton,
ASU School of Music

A summa cum laude graduate of Indiana University, pianist Robert Hamilton has won top prizes at various international competitions and has been the recipient of major performance grants, including the Rockefeller Fund. A favorite of audiences on four continents, Mr. Hamilton divides his time between the teaching of gifted students at Arizona State University and also serves as Artistic Director for the annual London Music Festival in England. Featured in the book "The Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the USA", Mr. Hamilton is a Steinway artist.

Dr. Rayna Barroll-Aschaffenburg
Piano Performance, ASU School of Music

Rayna Barroll-Aschaffenburg, retired Associate Professor of Piano, is an alumna of Radcliffe College and the University of Texas, where she received a degree in musicology. Dr. Barroll-Aschaffenburg pursued graduate work in performance at Rutgers University and completed her doctorate at the University of Maryland. Her teachers have included Robert and Gaby Casadesus, Dalies Frantz, Stewart Gordon, and most recently, the fortepianist Malcolm Bilson. Dr. Barroll-Aschaffenburg has been an active lecturer and recitalist throughout the United States on both modern piano and fortepiano. Her specialties include the keyboard styles of Karol Szymanowski and C.P.E. Bach, and early classical performance practices.

Prof. Walter Cosand
Piano Performance, ASU School of Music

Professor of Piano and current Keyboard Area Coordinator of Music at Arizona State University, Walter Cosand is a native of Alabama. Active as a performer and composer from an early age, Mr. Cosand presented his first recital at age twelve and conducted his own composition at 13. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Cecile Genhart and Barry Snyder, Mr. Cosand is a grand prize winner of the International Piano Recording Competition. His performances have been praised in many publications including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Arizona Republic. Mr. Cosand can be heard on ACA Digital, ARF, Canyon, JIGU, Koch, and Summit Records.

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Dr. Caio Pagano, Regent Prof.
Piano Performance, ASU School of Music

An acclaimed Steinway artist, Dr. Caio Pagano completed his piano studies with Conrad Hansen in Hamburg and Karl Engen in Hanover, Germany. In addition to frequent performances throughout the Americas and Europe, Dr. Pagano maintains a full teaching schedule and adjudicates for numerous competitions. In 1998 Dr. Pagano was named Regents Professor. Dr Pagano can be heard on the Summit label and has recently completed a recording of Franck's Symphonic Variations with the Slovakia Radio Symphony.

Dr. Jan Thompson
Piano Performance, ASU School of Music

A pianist-teacher of diverse interests and talents, Dr. Jan Thompson holds the first Doctor of Musical Arts degree in performance and Chamber Music from Northwestern University. Recognized nationally as a clinician and lecturer in piano pedagogy, Dr. Thompson is also a frequent soloist and chamber musician. Her presentations include both performances and lectures at the national conventions of the Music Teachers National Association and the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy. In addition to numerous articles for various musical journals, including the American Music Teacher and Clavier magazines, she is a consulting book reviewer for Piano Quarterly and McGraw-Hill. Dr. Thompson is the founding director of the ASU Piano Prep Program and Coordinator of Piano Pedagogy curriculum at Arizona State University School of Music. Other affiliations include the Adamant Music School in Adamant, Vermont.

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