Vieness Piano Duo
Vieness Piano Duo has enthralled audiences in their electric and captivating performances of a wide range of repertoire. Their intuition for conversation coupled with a commanding stage presence has made them regularly in demand throughout the world. Vijay Venkatesh and Eva Schaumkell together performed over 50 recitals last season such as the Summer Stars Series, InConcert Series, Trinity Concert Series, Music Guild, Le Salon de Musiques, Camerata Musica, Grand Piano Series, Lancaster Performing Arts Center, L'ermitage Foundation, Sarasota Artists Series, Second City Chamber Series, Tassel Performing Arts Center, Steamboat Opera, Vicente Chamber Orchestra, as well as a 3-week tour of the Midwest and Germany. They recently made their duo-debut at the Soka Performing Arts Center as soloists with the South Coast Symphony under the baton of Barry Silverman.
In addition to their performing activities, the husband and wife team regularly teach masterclasses, most recently at Pacific Lutheran University, State College of Florida, Bozeman University, and Irvine Valley College. Vieness is a featured artist on Tonebase.
Pianist Eva Schaumkell is established on three continents as a brilliant soloist and collaborator praised for her “astonishing combination of depth of expression and thrilling virtuosity afforded to only a few” by the Nassauische Neue Presse. Dr. Schaumkell garnered immediate international acclaim after winning Gold Medals in five competitions including the International James Ramos, International Siegfried Weishaupt, Coeur d’Alene, Thürmer, and Jugend Musiziert competitions. She is a recipient of the Carl Maria von Weber Scholarship, the Deutschlandstipendium, and the Drosihn Prize.
A charismatic soloist, Schaumkell’s career has led to invitations from Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Steinway Hall London, Buckingham Palace, City of London Festival, ISAM in Germany, London Spring Sinfonia, and the Cairo Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Schaumkell earned her Doctorate with distinction under the guidance of Daniel Pollack at USC Thornton. She also holds degrees from the Hochschule für Musik Dresden and the Guildhall School in London.
Hailed by the Herald-Tribune for his “dazzling pianism verging on the impossible, effortless technical command and authority with a sense of poetry and refinement that belies his years,” pianist Vijay Venkatesh has won Gold Medals in the San Jose, Seattle, Zimmerli, and Waring International Piano Competitions. He has been honored as a Davidson Fellow at the Library of Congress, Grand Prize Winner of the LA Music Center’s Spotlight Awards and featured on Performance Today® with host Fred Child, “What Makes It Great?” with host Robert Kapilow, and NPR’s “From the Top.”
Mr. Venkatesh has performed as soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess series, and at the Aspen, Brevard, Banff, Newport, Redlands Bowl, Sarasota, Vienna, and Music in the Mountains Festivals. As recipient of the Parnassus Society Prize, he performed in recital at the Soka Performing Arts Center.
He holds degrees from the Colburn School, USC Thornton and IU Jacobs, studying with Fabio Bidini, Norman Krieger, Jeffrey Kahane, Menahem Pressler and Murray Perahia.