Guest Artists

Guest Artists are graciously hosted by
Hilton Santa Cruz / Scotts Valley

Neil Rutman, pianist

The Washington Post has written of Neil Rutman that his playing "met the highest standards and his spotless articulation gave the whole program unusual polish and virtuoso marks," and the New York Times stated that "he won the audience over for himself with exquisite performances- both commanding and full of character."

Neil Rutman has distinguished himself as a top prize winner in several international competitions including the Busoni, Kapell, Casadesus, Joanna Hodges, Concert Artist Guild, and International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition.  Mr. Rutman has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and for Artistic Excellence from the Astral Foundation.  He has appeared in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tokyo's Bunka Kaikan and the Schola Cantorum in Paris with concert tours of the United Kingdom, Europe, New Zealand, Japan, and the Persian Gulf.   Recordings include two Mozart Piano Concerti, an all Poulenc CD, with Emmy Award winning actor Tony Randall providing the narration in ‘The Story of Babar the Little Elephant’, and his 2008 all Chopin release on the Pro Musica label.  Mr. Rutman has recently authored articles for the Piano Quarterly, The Piano Teacher, an interview with Aiko Onishi in Clavier, and is a contributing author to the book Piano Masterpieces published by Oxford University Press.  He is currently writing a book compiling hundreds of interpretative anecdotes and imageries on the piano repertoire entitled Drawing on the Imagination: Interpretative Images by the Composer and their Contemporaries.   

A native of California, Mr. Rutman graduated from the Eastman School of Music and Peabody Conservatory, where he worked with Cecile Genhart, Leon Fleisher, and Ellen Mack.  Mr. Rutman is Artist-in-Residence at the University of Central Arkansas.  Since 2008 his students have won top prizes in the Kappell International Competition, the East West Artist Auditions in New York City, and the Clara Wells Competition.

A former collegiate boxer, Dr. Rutman also coaches the University of Central Arkansas Boxing Team and is a volunteer Probation Officer and mentor for juvenile offenders in Faulkner County.  In 2012 Mr. Rutman was one of 30 Americans to be awarded the Martin Luther King -President Barack Obama Service Award for his work with troubled youth in his county.  For more information about Mr. Rutman, view his DVD’s on You Tube or visit NeilRutman.net.

Mayumi Kanagawa, violinist

Eighteen-year-old violinist Mayumi Kanagawa is a graduate of the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences and The Colburn School Academy in Los Angeles, where she studied with Robert Lipsett. First prize winner of the 2011 Irving M. Klein Competition in San Francisco, she has also won top prizes in the Cooper, Stulberg, and Corpus Christi International Competitions, and has soloed with many orchestras including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the New West Symphony, Culver City and Torrance Symphonies, and the Western Michigan University Orchestra.  In April 2012 Mayumi made her debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall in a performance of the Barber concerto with The Colburn Orchestra.

Mayumi has participated in major international festivals such as the Verbier Festival Academy, the Aspen Music Festival, the Ishikawa Music Academy, International Musician's Seminar in Prussia Cove, England, the Encore School for Strings and the New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall. In January 2012, Mayumi was nominated for a Presidential Scholar in the Arts.  In April 2012 Mayumi was a featured artist on Performance Today’s Young Artist Series, with her recordings and interviews broadcast nationally on NPR stations. 

Mayumi's former teachers include Yoshiko Nakura and Masao Kawasaki, with whom she studied in the Juilliard Pre-College Division.  She has studied chamber music with Arnold Steinhardt, Endre Granat, and Guilliaume Sutre, among others and served as co-concertmistress of the Crossroads Chamber Orchestra and American Youth Symphony under Maestro Alexander Treger.

Yoonie Han, pianist

South Korean pianist Yoonie Han is praised for her "flowing tones, poetic phrasing, and heavenly singing melodies” (Cincinnati Enquirer). She has won top prizes from distinguished international competitions and the highest accolades for her poetic performances in major concert halls in the U.S. and around the world.

In the 2011-12 season, Ms. Han made European debuts with the Berliner Symphoniker at the Berlin Philharmonie Hall, the Bergamo Festival in Italy and Salle Cortot in Paris. In 2012-13, she embarks upon a recital tour to Steinway & Sons' locations in the U.S. and Europe, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Slovak Philharmonic Hall in Slovak Republic.

In 2009, Ms. Han was honored with the Gawon Music Award as the “most brilliant pianist aged 17 to 31 of any nationality who possesses the most promising potential for global prominence.” She is the first-prize winner of the Washington International Piano Competition (2011), the Fulbright Concerto Competition (2011), Juilliard’s Gina Bachauer Piano Competition (2008), the World Piano Competition (2008), and the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition (2005), and has garnered major prizes at the Helsinki Maj Lind International Piano Competition and Milan Concorso Pianistico Ettore Pozzoli Internaziole. Following her 2001 grand-prize award in the Korea National Music Competition, the Korean Ministry of Culture named her its “most promising young artist.”

Ms. Han made her solo debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at age 13, and has since performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Banff Festival Orchestra, and I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milan, under such maestros as JoAnn Falletta, Leif Segerstam, and Lior Shambadal. She has performed at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, Finlandia Hall, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, Se-jong Performing Arts Center in Korea, and Villa Bertramka Mozart Museum in the Czech Republic. Her performances have also been broadcast on WQXR-New York and on NPR's "Artist Showcases." Ms. Han received a Bachelor's degree from the Curtis Institute of Music studying with Eleanor Sokoloff, and a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School as a pupil of of Robert McDonald. She continues studying with Jean Saulnier.I

For more information, visit YoonieHan.com.

Francesca dePasquale, violinist

As First Prize winner of the 2010 Irving M. Klein String Competition, violinist Francesca dePasquale has been celebrated for her purity and intensity of artistry, further described by critics as displaying “a silvery tone and impressive technique” and “clearly a talent to watch” (Pasadena Star-News). During the 2011-2012 season Ms. dePasquale debuted with The American Youth Symphony, The Peninsula Symphony, and The Colburn Orchestra, as well as on the Noontime Concert recital series in San Francisco and the Music in the Vineyards chamber music series in Napa. In June of 2011, Ms. dePasquale gave her Verizon Hall debut at The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia as soloist with The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. Upcoming appearances include performances with The Santa Cruz Symphony and on the Chamber Music Tulsa series.

Ms. dePasquale made her solo orchestral debut at age 9 when she toured Spain with The Main Line Chamber Orchestra and has since made appearances with The Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, The Galesburg Symphony, The Delaware County Symphony, The Kennett Symphony, The Bach Festival of Philadelphia, The Ocean City Pops, The Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, and The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. As recitalist, Ms. dePasquale made her debut at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia on the Morning Musicales series and has since appeared on The Classic Chamber Concerts Rising Star series and The Friends of Chamber Music Series in collaboration with artists Natalie Zhu and Meng-Chieh Liu.

An avid chamber musician, Ms. dePasquale began appearing professionally with her family members at age 7 and has since performed with artists such as Robert Levin, Jennifer Frautschi, Donald Weilerstein, Paul Coletti, Guillaume Sutre, Ronald Leonard, Thomas Cooley, Nicholas Kitchen, Michael Adams, Bion Tsang, Jeffrey Sykes, and Richard Todd. Ms. dePasquale has been a featured artist for The Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Series, The Colburn Chamber Music Society, The Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art radio broadcast, and The Perlman Music Program, as well as a participant of ENCORE School for Strings, The National Arts Centre Young Artists Programme and Institute for Orchestral Studies, The Yellow Barn Music Festival and School Young Artists Program, The Aspen Music Festival and School as a New Horizon Fellowship recipient, and The New York String Orchestra Seminar. Committed to classical music outreach and its power to connect entire communities, Ms. dePasquale has served as a mentor for the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles program, appeared on The Philadelphia Orchestra Sound All Around series, and given numerous outreach presentations in schools throughout the greater Los Angeles and Bay Areas.

Ms. dePasquale studies with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho at The Juilliard School, where she is a first year Master of Music student and recipient of the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship. As a student of Robert Lipsett, Ms. dePasquale earned her Bachelor of Music degree from The Colburn School Conservatory of Music. Previous teachers include Hirono Oka and William dePasquale, with additional mentorship from Norman Carol, Arnold Steinhardt, Joseph Silverstein, David and Linda Cerone, and Jaime Laredo.

Visit Ms. Pasquale's website for more information.

Hans Boepple, pianist

Hans Boepple, an artist who shows rich musicality along side stunning technical command, has appeared with many distinguished orchestras. His debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at age 10 set in motion collaboration with orchestras and conductors of international reputation. Boepple is guest artist on solo and orchestral concert series across the United States.

A Steinway International Artist with a career of over forty years, Hans Boepple has received numerous performance honors, most notably First Prize in the International J. S. Bach Competition (Washington, DC). He is a prizewinner in the Kosciuszko Chopin (NYC), the MTNA national competitions and a six-time winner of the Coleman Chamber Music Award (Los Angeles). National Public Radio and Voice of America have broadcast his live performances. He recorded the complete Beethoven Bagatelles for Orion Master Recordings and three CD’s for the Kjos Music Company.
Mr. Boepple earned both a Bachelor and Master of Music in Piano Performance and the Performer’s Certificate from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he studied with renowned American pianist Sidney Foster. A full-time member of the piano faculty at the IU School of Music from l974-78, Boepple joined the SCU faculty in 1978 to teach piano performance as well as much of the academic curriculum required for students seeking the Bachelor of Arts in Music. He is Professor of Music at Santa Clara University (CA), where he served as chair from 1995-2007.

A sought-after teacher of gifted pre-college pianists, his students have earned more than 150 state, national, and international awards. In demand as an adjudicator, lecturer, and master teacher, Mr. Boepple continues to balance performance activities with those of a dedicated and successful teacher. He has received the Master Teacher Certificate from the Music Teachers National Association and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Association of Professional Music Teachers
In addition to touring with a full solo recital program every season, Hans Boepple has been a regular guest artist at the Portland International Piano Festival, the World Piano Pedagogy Conference and the IU Piano Academy. His reputation extends further as a continuing faculty member at California Summer Music, a chamber music institute for serious pre-professional musicians.