Address
1809 University Ave
Berkeley, CA 94703
Master Class Program at the Golden Key Piano School
As the name implies, a piano master class is a class led by a person who possesses mastery of the piano. Franz Liszt is credited with holding the first master classes because he recognized the value a class with a master of piano would be to students.
We at the Golden Key Piano School continue that tradition by offering annual master classes for our advanced students. The chance to observe and learn from a virtuoso performer in a master class allows advanced students to reach the highest level of their capability. We offer master classes led by some of the best musicians and teachers in the area. In the past we have hosted master classes led by the brilliant musicians Temirzhan Yerzhanov and William Wellborn.
Requirements for Participation in the Master Class
Participation is open to advanced students at the Golden Piano School and is by invitation only.
One formal rehearsal is required before the master class.
Each master class is open to a small number of observers. If you would like to observe a class, contact the school at info@goldenkeypianoschool.com
Fees
Tuition for Participants: $ 90.00
Fee for Observers: $ 15.00
Temirzhan Yerzhanov
Named ‘Best Performer of Year’ by San Francisco Classical Voice, pianist and conductor Temirzhan Yerzhanov launched his career by winning the First Prize and Gold Medal at the International Robert Schumann Piano Competition in Zwickau, Germany, and went on performing in 14 countries including at New York Carnegie Hall Auditorium Stern, Berlin Konzerthaus, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Wigmore Hall, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Dresden Sempergalerie, Paris Salle Pleyel, St. Petersburg Grand Philharmonic Hall, just to name a few notable venues.
As a conductor he performed with Kazakh Philharmonic Orchestra, Google Orchestra, Capital Philharmonia Brasilia, Kazakh National Opera, Astana Opera, Orchestra Gradus ad Parnassum, and Ópera Cultura where currently he is a Music Director. A graduate from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory he’s been a faculty member of his alma mater before immigrating to the USA.
His students won top prizes at such competitions as The Queen Elisabeth in Brussels, The Tchaikovsky in Moscow, The Vianna da Motta in Macau, The Alessandro Casagrande in Terni, The AXA in Dublin, The Lev Vlasenko in Brisbane, competitions in Porto and Epinal, the US Open Music Competition in Oakland; American Protégé Competition in New York. He has given master classes at the Western Washington University, Bellingham; Universidade de Brasilia, Brazil; Yantai University, China; California State University, Sacramento; Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty.
William Wellborn
William Wellborn enjoys an active career as a pianist, teacher and lecturer, and has performed and lectured widely over four continents. He received a MM (New England Conservatory) and DMA (University of Texas) in Performance, and a BM in Piano Pedagogy (University of Texas), where his teachers included Gregory Allen, Patricia Zander, and Nancy Garrett, and two leaders in the field of piano pedagogy- Amanda Vick Lethco and Martha Hilley. He has also received coaching from John Perry, Leon Fleisher, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Adam Wibrowski, Andrzej Jasinski, and Jerome Lowenthal. Guest artist appearances include the New Orleans Institute for the Performing Arts, the Paderewski Festival, the American Liszt Society, the Great Romantics Festival in Hamilton, Canada, the Chopin chez George Sand festival de piano in La Châtre, France, the Três Séculos de Piano series in Rio de Janeiro, and the Festival du Chablisien in Chablis, France. In 2004 he had the honor of presenting an all-Liszt program on Liszt’s piano at Hofgärtnerei Museum in Weimar, and in 2009 he presented a Haydn program at the composer’s birthplace in Rohrau, Austria. Orchestral appearances include the Austin Symphony, the Austin Chamber Ensemble, the Laredo Philharmonic, the San Antonio Symphony, the Redwoods Symphony, the Monterey Symphony, and the Sudeten Philharmonie in Walbrzych, Poland.
Wellborn has served as convention artist for state conventions in Missouri (2002), California (2013), Texas (2001), and Colorado (2014), and has given numerous lectures and masterclasses for music teachers organizations across the United States. From 1996-2010 Wellborn was involved with A CONCERTed Effort, a San Francisco Bay Area concert series which raised over $2,000,000 for various AIDS organizations. A scholar of historic musicians, from 1995-97 Wellborn hosted the San Francisco-based radio program “Piano Legacy”. A frequent adjudicator, he has served on the juries of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, the San Jose International Piano Competition, as well as competitions for CAPMT, MTAC, and numerous others. Since 1999 he has directed European musical tours exploring the lives and music of great composers; this coming summer he is looking forward to leading a Brahms and Schubert tour which visits Austria, Germany, and Slovakia.
Wellborn has served as an artist-teacher for the Masterclasses of Saint Malo (1998-2003), the Franz Liszt Summer Piano Academy in Sopron (2004-2007), and the Austrian International Piano Seminar and Festival (2008-2013), and the Krakow Piano Seminar (2016-present). In the summer of 2018 he returns to teach at the Idllywild Arts Academy Summer Workshop for Adults (www.idyllwildarts.org), and to Poland for the Krakow Piano Seminar. Wellborn is on the national board of the American Liszt Society and is the founding president of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Liszt Society; he also serves as Vice-President for the San Francisco Council of the Chopin Foundation. Wellborn has taught at the University of Idaho, Humboldt State University, and has been a visiting lecturer at Stanford University. In 2017 he was honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT). A faculty member of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1989, Wellborn teaches piano in the Pre-College division, and Piano Pedagogy in the Collegiate division. His students frequently win top prizes in numerous state, national, and international piano competitions. Wellborn records for the Marco Polo and Cambria Master Recordings labels.
Teacher Training Program
presented by Katrin Arefy
This piano pedagogy course was designed for professionally trained pianists and musicians who are interested in learning the Golden Key method. The Golden Key method is a creative approach to developing student’s imagination based on Russian School of piano.
This program can also be presented online.
Katrin Arefy
Katrin Arefy is the artistic director and head teacher at Golden Key Piano School in Berkeley, California. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the Gnessin School of Music in Moscow. Katrin also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in Painting from Azad University in Tehran.
Katrin is the author of A Thousand Stories for a Little Pianist and the series My First Piano Book. She has translated Anna Artobolevskaya’s First Meet with the Music and Heinrich Neuhaus’ The Art of Piano Playing from Russian to Farsi. She has lectured on the Russian method and specifically Artobolevskya’s method abroad and at various universities in the US including the University of Oregon and Ohio University School of Music. Most recently Katrin delivered a well-received presentation at the Music Teachers Association Of California Conference in San Diego.
Her very first students are now professional pianists having graduated from leading music universities in Austria and Armenia.
Katrin won the Influential Businesswoman Awards in 2020, and has been named Most Inspirational Woman in Music Education (Northern California) by Acquisition International.
