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Teaching music in the valley Pianists Kristina Foltz and Alexander Tutunov have built their lives around sharing their love of music. By Jessica Robinson For the Tidings Before even a single note is struck, Mozart's "Sonata in D" for four hands begins with a nod. Then in unison, the players begin. On Sunday, August 3, at 7:30 p.m., that nod will be between Alexander Tutunov and Kristina Foltz when they play the sonata together, as part of a concert to kick off the International Piano Institute. The institute is a crescendo of lectures, classes, private lessons and concerts between August 3 and 10. Student pianists improve their performance through working with masters of the instrument. This year, performer and composer Don Freund, who teaches at the Indiana University School of Music, along with Russian pianist and University of Texas professor Sofia Gilmson, will join Tutunov and Foltz as faculty. Guest artists during the week include Dr. Joel Schoenhals, Dr. Rachelle McCabe, Dorothy Fahlman, Norman Blikenstaff and Garrick Ohlsson, who will perform as the soloist with the Britt Festival Orchestra on August 8 and 9. Much like synchronizing a Mozart duet, hosting the institute requires a collaboration of Tutunov's and Foltz's talents. For the past three years, piano students of all ages have traveled to the Southern Oregon University music building to work with the internationally acclaimed pianists for a week. "Teaching a musical instrument is one of the few professions left with a master-apprentice relationship," said Tutunov, director of keyboard studies at SOU. At the institute, students attend master classes, which combine the individual attention of a lesson with the nerve-wracking atmosphere of a recital. The student performs for an audience and then remains on stage to be critiqued by the master pianist. This critique will give Tutunov, Foltz, Freund and Gilmson the opportunity to share their understanding of each of the pieces with the students and the audience. There's an art to teaching the master class. Between two and four students will play in one class and the master pianist must tailor her lesson to each. "I've learned to understand the different problems that come up. There are an infinite number of problems that come from different styles, different personalities. You have to think where (the students) are coming from," said Foltz, who is a member of the piano faculty at SOU. This custom-made class is fitting for a custom-made institute. The story begins four years ago in the Ashland hills when Tutunov and Foltz held the first weeklong piano workshop at the Old Siskiyou Barn. As students, they had attended intensive workshops to keep from going idle during the summer months. But looking around the Northwest, Tutunov and Foltz didn't see anything like that available to serious musicians. "There are people who think being a pianist is just walking on stage, playing a piece of music and then the audience just melts," Tutunov said. "But it's not like that. It takes a lot of work," Foltz said. Since the days in the Old Siskiyou Barn, the number of participants has slowly climbed, topping off this year at the institute's maximum capacity of 20 students. They include performers from Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, and as far away as Japan. Thirteen-year-old Ashland resident Hali Alspach has been playing piano for 11 years. At the 2002 International Piano Institute, she performed a movement from one of Mozart's piano sonatas. "Even though it was really intense, I learned a lot. I felt like I progressed and my piano playing really matured in that week," Alspach said. For 71-year-old Jonathan Farwell, also of Ashland, the two summers he has attended the institute have renewed his love of the piano. "The institute has been a great blessing for me because it puts me in touch with other musicians, many of whom are younger than me," said the self-proclaimed, "devoted amateur-student of piano." "I think it's an altogether magnificent enterprise." The partnership that would lead to this enterprise began in 1994 at the University of North Texas when Tutunov and Foltz first met. Both had started playing piano at age 3 - Foltz in Illinois and Tutunov in Belarus - and were pursuing their professional careers after years of study. Following their meeting, they began playing duets together, like Mozart's "Sonata in D" on the Sunday night program. In 2000, three years after moving to Ashland, the two married. Tutunov and Foltz have maintained a busy travel schedule since then. For much of the past two years, Foltz has taught and performed in Barcelona. Tutunov recently returned from a stint in Russia. "It's not travel as you might imagine it. We don't go to the local zoo. It's exhausting, but that's the mission: Since we studied with the best, we have to pass it on," said Tutunov, who still had Belarussian bills in his pocket, left over from his trip. Though the couple tries to avoid talking about piano in their off-hours, it is inevitable. Sitting in Foltz's SOU office, a week away from the beginning of the 2003 institute, the two discussed what it takes to play the piano. "It's a combination of courage and humility," she said, adding, "But above all, passion." To this, Tutunov nodded. LINKS: REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. DAILY TIDINGS: Main | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -