“Mesmerizing… explosive… intelligent… he belongs on the world stage” (Salt Lake Tribune). American pianist Stephen Beus is recognized as one of the most promising pianists of his generation. In the space of four months, Mr. Beus won first prize in the 2006 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, first place in the Vendome Prize International Competition (Lisbon) and he was awarded the Max I. Allen Fellowship of the American Pianists Association (Indianapolis).
In 2008, Mr. Beus made his Carnegie Hall debut performing Prokofiev Concerto No. 3 with the Juilliard Orchestra. He has also performed as guest soloist with the Gulbenkian Symphony (Lisbon), the Tivoli Symphony (Copenhagen), the Northwest Sinfonietta (Seattle), the Royal Philharonic of Morocco (Casablanca), the Vaasa Symphony Orchestra (Finland) as well as with the Indianapolis, Utah, Fort Worth, Tucson, Yakima, Bellevue, Salt Lake, and Walla Walla Symphonies.
Equally active as a soloist, Mr. Beus has performed in the Salle Gaveau and Salle Cortot (Paris), Merkin Hall, the Scuola san Rocco (Venice), the Teatro San Carlo (Naples), Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall), the Queluz Palace (Lisbon) and has performed for the Dame Myra Hess and Fazioli Salon series (Chicago), the International Keyboard Institute and Festival (New York City) and has given recitals across the United States as well as in Kazakhstan, Russia, Finland, Switzerland, Germany and Morocco.
Among the competitions Mr. Beus has won are the Junior Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition (age 14) and the pre-college division of the Corpus Christi International Young Artists Competition (age 15). At age 17 he was the national high school winner of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) and won the collegiate level of the same competition four years later, for which he received a Steinway Model M. Commenting on Beus’ competition success, Fanfare magazine writes: “In some ways Beus doesn’t fit the mold of the typical competition winner. His playing is strikingly original and, despite his youth, he has an interpretive voice all his own… Above all, his playing is so natural as to seem effortless and the sound he produces has extraordinary richness and depth, not quite like anyone else’s.”
The fourth of eight children, Mr. Beus was born and raised in Othello, WA and started lessons at age five. Four years later he made his orchestral debut playing Mozart’s Concerto K. 488. Mr. Beus holds degrees from Whitman College and The Juilliard School where his teachers have included Leonard Richter and Robert McDonald. He has recorded on the Endeavor Classics and Harmonia Mundi labels. For more details, visit
www.stephenbeus.com 
Since winning
all the major prizes of the renowned Leeds International Pianoforte
Competition in 1996, Russian born Ilya Itin’s consummate pianism
has delighted audiences on four continents. He has been praised
for “his rare and exciting artistry” and “superb
technique” (Daily Telegraph UK). “The perfect pianist
Ilya Itin succeeded in transforming the romantic revelry of Rachmaninov’s
3rd Piano concerto into rhythmic force and compactness” (Der
Standard Wien).
After his stunning American debut at the Discovery Series of the Miami International Piano Festival in 2003, Misha Dacić quickly became a sought after soloist throughout the U.S. and was featured at Ravinia's Rising Stars Series in Chicago, followed by performances at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival Rising Stars Recital Series in Kalamazoo, the Xavier University Classical Piano Series in Cincinnati, The Golandsky Institute International Piano Festival at Princeton University, Frederic Chopin Society's Concert Series in Minneapolis and the Leschetitzky Piano Series in New York.