Karen Follingstad has been Professor of Piano at San Diego State University since 1984. She has also taught at Kent State University, the University of Akron, and was artist faculty at the Kent-Blossom Music Festival from 1992-94, where she coached chamber music and performed with principal members of the Cleveland Orchestra.

As a solo recitalist, Dr. Follingstad has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America and has recorded for the Hessische Rundfunk and the Norwegian Radio. She has appeared as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Blossom Festival Orchestra, the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, and the Bear Valley Music Festival Orchestra, among others.

Dr. Follingstad’s major piano teachers include Seymour Lipkin and Richard Goode at Curtis, August Leopolder in Frankfurt, Gyorgy Sebok at Indiana University, Bloomington, and Gregory Allen from the University of Texas, Austin.

An experienced collaborative pianist, Dr. Follingstad, in partnership with clarinetist Marian Liebowitz, was 1997 winner of the United States Information Agency/Kennedy Center Artistic Ambassador Competition, which resulted in a month-long tour of Central and South America. The Duo was also chosen to represent the U.S. at El Salvador’s Third Annual Peace Festival in 1998. She has also performed recitals with cellists Yo Yo Ma and Carter Brey, violinists Andres Cardenes, William Preucil, Cho-Laing Lin, Eugene Fodor, and others. Ms. Follingstad is a sought-after chamber musician, appearing with the Thouvenel String Quartet, the Arioso Wind Quintet, the Ensemble of Santa Fe, the Miami String Quartet, and the Pacifica String Quartet. She has also participated in numerous prestigious music festivals including the Berkshire Festival at Tanglewood, the La Jolla Chamber Music Society’s SummerFest, the Mainly Mozart Festival.

In recent years, Dr. Follingstad has been a member of the piano faculty at The music festivals Schlern and Acqui Terme in Italy (2016-19; 2022) and the white Nights piano festival in St. Petersburg, Russia (2019).

Education

• DMA, University of Texas, Austin, TX
• MM, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
• Konzertexamen, Hochschule fur Musik, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• BM, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, PA

Pianist Gila Goldstein is known as a versatile musician and has captivated audiences around the world with her unique artistry and soulful interpretations. Ms. Goldstein has performed as a solo artist and collaborative pianist throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Korea, the Philippines, Europe, and Israel. Her most notable performances included the Berliner Symphoniker, Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and Orquesta Da Camera in Mexico City as well as recitals and concerts at Lincoln Center and Merkin Hall in New York City, Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, Beijing Concert Hall in China, Seoul National University in Korea, South Bank Center in London, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Musée de Louvre and Cité des Arts in Paris, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Old First Church in San Francisco, Gardner Museum and Tsai Performing Center in Boston, Dame Myra Hess concert series, Ravinia’s “Rising Stars” Series and Symphony Hall in Chicago, ”Great Performances“ series in St. Louis, Henry Crown Hall in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv Museum, among others.

A Board member of the American Liszt Society (ALS) and the Founder-President of its New York Chapter, she has been a frequent guest performer at the ALS annual festivals around the United States and Canada. She also performed at festivals such as High Peaks, Amalfi Coast, La Jolla, Yellow Barn, Sonus, Summit, Colburn, OpusFest, Jewish Music Festivals in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and London and the Israel Festival.

Gila Goldstein has been a sought-after pedagogue and has given numerous master classes in the USA, China, Korea, and Israel. She is a member of the piano faculty at Longy School of Music in Boston and a guest professor of piano at Changzhou University in China. A champion of the music of Israel's leading composer Paul Ben-Haim, Ms. Goldstein has recorded two volumes of his entire piano and chamber works on the Centaur label. In July 2024, Centaur released her recording Latin American Piano Gems. Her three albums received rave reviews in the USA, UK, Germany, and Argentina. This coming February her album 24 Preludes of Dusk and Dawn by composer Ronn Yedidia will be released on the Parma/Albany label.

She obtained her music degrees in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Prof. Nina Svetlanova and the Tel-Aviv University's School of Music, where her teacher was Prof. Victor Derevianko. Both her teachers were disciples of the legendary pianist and pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus. Please visit her web site, www.gilogoldstein.com & http://www.facebook.com/gilagoldsteinpianist

Scott Holden debuted in Carnegie Hall after winning first prize in the 1996 Leschetizky New York Debut Piano Competition. He has performed in over forty states, throughout Europe and in Asia.  He has been broadcast on NPR, NBC, CBC, as well as numerous local networks.  His enthusiastic support of contemporary music has led to a variety of premieres, including William Wallace’s Second Piano Concerto with Keith Lockhart and the Utah Symphony of which The Salt Lake Tribune wrote, “Mr. Holden secured the stage in a virtuosic performance…We were torn between examining every new note passing by our ears, and Holden’s pianistic acrobatics.  It was a wonderful dilemma.”   Recent concerts have brought him across the country ranging from Alaska to New York, as well as in China, Singapore, Vietnam, and Europe.

Holden returned to Carnegie Hall to play a solo recital in 2018, featuring multiple world premieres included on his newest solo CD “the Unknown Galaxy.” Fanfare praised the album: “he brings it off with excellence, mastering everything…. It’s safe to say that there is no other piano disc quite like this one.” His CD, Beyond Vernon Duke, was given the highest five-star rating stating: “Holden exhibits profoundly musical readings with obvious commitment and great attention to detail.” Holden has recorded for Parma, Bridge, Tantara and NAXOS Records. Recent concerto appearances include concerti by Beethoven, Gershwin and Tchaikovsky. Holden’s students have been top prizewinners in numerous competitions including Gina Bachauer, Emory Young Artists, PianoArts North American Competition, and many others. His students were top prize winners at the MTNA national competitions in 2021, 2023, and 2024 in multiple divisions. They are regularly accepted to the music programs in the country.  He travels extensively to adjudicate and give master classes at festivals and pedagogy workshops.

Holden holds degrees from the University of Michigan (BM), The Juilliard School (MM), and The Manhattan School of Music (DMA).  He studied for a year at The Liszt Academy in Budapest as a Fulbright Scholar. He is on the piano faculty of Brigham Young University where he directed the piano program for 14 years, and is a faculty member at Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard, where has taught since 2017.