Akiko Yamazaki
Pianist Akiko Yamazaki has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician in venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. She has appeared as soloist with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra and the University Symphony Orchestra at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Akiko has appeared as a guest artist at universities including Utah State University, and University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with the members of the North Carolina Symphony and the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a pedagogue, she is active as a presenter, adjudicator, and master class clinician. Her students have won prizes at local, regional and national competitions. She has been on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill International Chamber Music Workshop, and UNCG Summer Music Camp. Akiko holds a DMA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She studied under the tutelage of John Salmon for piano, and Andrew Willis for harpsichord and fortepiano. She holds a MM from Northwestern University and a BM with highest distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her primary teachers include James Giles and Mayron Tsong.
Teddy Robie
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Robie began studying piano and violin at the age of 6. By age 13, he had already made solo appearances with the Winston-Salem and Raleigh Symphonies, garnering praise for precocious readings of Mozart and Tchaikovsky. Described as “a poet at the piano” (New York Sun) and praised for his “striking pianism” (Cleveland Plain Dealer), pianist Teddy Robie has performed extensively both as soloist and chamber musician in Canada, Taiwan, Italy, and across the United States. Robie has performed in many prestigious venues, including the Rising Stars series at Ravinia, the Performances series in San Francisco, the Peggy Rockefeller series in New York, Alice Tully Hall, and at Cleveland’s Mixon Hall master’s series. He has also appeared live numerous times on WQXR (New York) and WCLV (Cleveland), and has been a frequent guest performer on WFMT (Chicago). Robie has won prizes in numerous competitions, including Juilliard’s Gina Bachauer Scholarship competition, the Fischoff National Chamber Music competition, and the SUNY Stony Brook concerto competition. An avid chamber musician as well as soloist, Robie has collaborated with many renowned artists, including Roger Tapping, Donald Weilerstein, Catherine Cho, Bonnie Hampton, Joan Kwuon, Joel Smirnoff, Violaine Melancon, and Jean-Michel Fonteneau. Festival appearances include Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival, Taos Chamber Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and Pianofest in the Hamptons, and faculty at the Heifetz Institute and Luzerne Music Center. Robie is a regular guest at many chamber festivals across the country, including The Bronx Arts Ensemble, Chatter (New Mexico), and The Taos Music Ensemble. Robie’s teachers have included Jerome Lowenthal, Robert McDonald, Veda Kaplinsky, Randall Hodgkinson, and John Ruggero. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, and is now a doctoral candidate at SUNY Stony Brook, where he studies with Christina Dahl. Robie recently returned to the Triangle, where he maintains a private teaching studio in Cary and continues to perform.