CDCYM - Teacher Biographies
The Glens Falls Symphony is thrilled to welcome the Capital District Council for Young Musicians to perform Camille Saint-Saëns, “Carnival of the Animals” Piano Duets on stage with the orchestra on Sunday, March 16, 2025, 4pm at First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls. Below you will find a brief bio on each teacher of our guest piano students. Enjoy reading more about these extraordinary musicians and educators.
-Dr. Young Kim, a Steinway Artist, has performed internationally as a soloist in recitals and with orchestras, in addition to appearing numerous times as a chamber musician. A native of South Korea, Kim performed in major concert venues in Korea including the Seoul Arts Center. In Russia, she appeared as a soloist with the Saint Petersburg State Capella Symphony Orchestra. Since moving to the Capital District of NY in 2000, she appeared as a soloist with Schenectady Symphony Orchestra and Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra several times and performed solos and chamber music actively in the area. Dr. Kim has been frequently invited to present lectures, recitals, and piano master classes in colleges and universities in Asia, Europe and in the US. Most recently, she was invited to perform and present piano master classes at the University of Szeged in Hungary, University of Seoul, and Kookmin University in Seoul, Korea. In October 2019, Dr. Kim was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame, a prestigious designation recognizing the work of most committed and passionate piano educators. This was the very first year the award was given and she was one of 43 teachers selected from the United States and Canada. Further highlighting her excellence as an educator, Dr. Kim was the recipient of the 2016 Thomas A. Manion Distinguished Faculty Award at the College of Saint Rose, where she was a Professor of Piano from 2002-2021. She was an active performer and one of the founding members of the Saint Rose Camerata, a faculty chamber ensemble. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Minnesota (tutelage under Lydia Artymiw), an Artist Diploma from Yale University (Peter Frankl), a Master of Music from The Juilliard School (Josef Raieff), and her Bachelor of Music from Seoul National University (Kye Sook Suh). Dr. Kim is currently a Senior Artist-in-Residence at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY.
Dr. Kim’s Students Performing with the Orchestra on Sunday, March 16: William Xu, Brian Y. Sun, Sophia Xiao
For more information on Dr. Young Kim Click Here
-Akina Yura has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and her native Japan. A strong advocate of the music of Japanese composer Mutsuo Shishido, Yura has presented programs of his works around the world. Her debut CD, Mutsuo Shishido Complete Works for Piano, has been published by MSR Classics. This world première recording has been praised as “I cannot imagine a better advocate for this music than the wonderful young pianist Akina Yura… Much of this music requires fingers of steel and great agility, and Yura pours it on” (Peter Burwasser, Fanfare). “Everything on the CD is a world première recording, and everything is handled by Yura with sensitivity…” (Mark J. Estren, InfoDad). She has appeared as a guest performer for the Pianodrom International Piano Festival in Albania and as a collaborative pianist for the Castleman Quartet Program, and SUNY Albany Performing Arts Center Concert Series, and St. Rose Camerata concert series. She has been a prize-winner of numerous piano competitions, including the New Orleans Piano Institute Solo and Concerto Competitions, Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Competition, and Brevard Piano Competition. As a soloist, she has most recently appeared with New Orleans Civic Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor.
Akina has trained with notable piano teachers, including Santiago Rodriguez, Edward Auer, Nathan Buckner, Shigeo Neriki, Yoko Shibamoto, Mikhail Volchok, Mayumi Takai, Tomoko Yano, and Naomi Kato. She holds Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Keyboard Performance and Presser Award from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where she graduated with academic merit and served as a Teaching Assistant while attending with full-scholarship. She holds Master of Music degree in Piano from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. where she also attended with full-scholarship with Associate Instructor position in the piano department. She completed Bachelor of Music in piano performance degree from the University of Maryland at College Park with cum laude. Akina’s repertoire includes standard classical repertoire to rarely heard works that deserve attention to the wider audience. In 2015, she and her colleagues founded Kaleidoscope MusArt, inc., a non-profit organization to present and promote classical music and pursues a valuable place of classical music in modern society, especially in Miami metropolitan area. She has regularly performed in their concert series, besides serving as a member of the artistic executive director as well as a treasurer.
An avid teacher, Akina continues to pursue the art of pedagogy. With her Doctoral degree, she studied and obtained her cognate in Piano Pedagogy under Naoko Takao. She has has been a master clinician, lecturer, and adjudicator for piano auditions and competitions. Currently, she is on the faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY), and SUNY Schenectady School of Music (Schenectady, NY), and serves as an Affiliate Artist at Union College (Schenectady, NY). She also holds an private studio for pre-college students. Previously, she served as a member of the piano faculty at The Music Studio (Albany, NY), the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music Preparatory Program (Coral Gables, FL), New Mozart School of Music (Palo Alto, CA), and the Frost Young Musicians Camp (Coral Gables, FL). Her students are striving performers, and many have been prizewinners of local, national, and international competitions, and numbers pursue their career in music.
Dr. Akina Yura’s Students Performing with the Orchestra on Sunday, March 16: Charles H. Zhang and Sean Cooney
For more information on Dr. Akina Yura Click Here
-Maura E. Hall has a B.A. in Music from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. She received a self-directed Masters in Music Education from the College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY in 1993. She is the recipient 2016 and 2021 Steinway Teacher of the Year Award.
Mrs. Hall studied under Edward Hausman, graduate of the Julliard School of Music and winner of the prestigious Frank Damrosh Prize and the G. Schirmer Award. She began teaching music in Saratoga Springs in 1989 opening Etudes Music Studio, which now has a staff of three instructors and over sixty students.
She has been a member of the Music Teachers National Association since 1990. In 1999, Mrs. Hall became a National Certified Teacher of Music. She served as Chair of New York State District from 1996 through 2018 and is the Chair of Student Evaluations. She is currently the chair of New York State Music Teacher Association Independent Music Teacher Chair and VP of Professional Affairs. She is an adjudicator for the National Music Teachers Association efestival providing assessments and evaluations for students in areas with limited resources. She has authored a book of music theory and has also been published in Keyboard Companion.
Ms. Hall’s Student Performing with the Orchestra on Sunday, March 16: Juliet McCaughey