
Solomon Mikowsky’s students have won over 150 international piano competitions including the Rubinstein in Tel-Aviv (3 winners including 1st prize), Tschaikovsky and Sviatoslav Richter in Moscow, Van Cliburn (Special Award), Beethoven in Bonn (1st prize), Schumann in Leipzig (1st prize), Dublin, Vianna da Motta (2 winners), Porto (2 winners), Andorra (4 winners including two 1st prizes), China International Competition (2 winners), Panama (9 winners including three 1st prizes), Viña del Mar in Chile, Montreal (2 winners), Cleveland, New Orleans (1st prize), Naumburg, Minnesota E-Competition (2 winners), Hilton Head, World Competition in Cincinnati (3 winners including 1st prize), Chopin Kosciuszko in New York (10 winners including eight 1st prizes), and more than 25 1st prize winners of the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competitions.
They have also won many competitions in Spain, including the Santander (1st prize), Maria Canals in Barcelona (8 winners including three 1st prizes), Iturbi in Valencia (4 winners including two 1st prizes), Jaén (6 winners including 1st prize), Pilar Bayona in Zaragoza (5 winners including 1st prize), Guerrero in Madrid (3 winners including 1st prize) and Carlet (four 1st prize winners). Mikowsky’s students have also been recipients of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award ($300,000) and the Avery Fisher Artist Career Grant.
Mikowsky’s students have performed as soloists with the Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Berlin, Budapest, Frankfurt, Jerusalem, Munich, St. Petersburg and Tokyo symphony orchestras; the BBC, Berlin, Dresden, London (Royal), Moscow, New York, Rotterdam and Israel philharmonic orchestras; the Zürich Tonhalle; the Dresden Staatskappelle Orchestra and the national orchestras of Finland, France, Mexico and the Czech Republic, with such noted conductors as Comissiona, Dudamel, Dutoit, Ehrling, Eschenbach, Fischer, Frübeck de Burgos, Gielen, Graf, Herbig, Macal, Masur, Semkow, Skrowaczewski and Zinman.
Solomon Mikowsky was born in Cuba of Russian-Polish parentage. His early training was with César Pérez Sentenat, who had studied in Paris with Joaquín Nin, a pupil of Moszkowski, himself a pupil of Liszt. He was later granted scholarships by the Cuban government and the Juilliard School to continue his studies in New York with Sascha Gorodnitzki, the foremost pupil of the legendary Russian virtuoso Josef Lhevinne, receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard and a doctorate from Columbia University.
He is regularly invited to serve on the juries of some of the most important international piano competitions. He has given master classes at the leading conservatories in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Salzburg, London, Paris, Rotterdam, Madrid, Valencia, Istanbul, Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, and throughout Australia and the Far East. A Steinway Artist, he participated early on in festivals in France, Italy, Spain, Korea and Taiwan. During the summers, he directs his International Piano Festivals which consist of piano courses in various countries in Europe and Asia, and the participation of his piano students as performers in numerous recitals.
Mikowsky has published a book on nineteenth-century Cuban music, has contributed to Américas, the Organization of American States journal and has been featured in interviews in Clavier (USA), Chopin (Japan), Piano Artistry (China), Sur Exprès (Spain) and Musica di Pianoforte (Korea). In recognition of his pedagogical contribution, Solomon Mikowsky has been awarded the Cintas Prize by the Institute of International Education.
Solomon Mikowsky has been called “one of the world’s most sought-after artist teachers” (Clavier), with “a magical ability to develop his piano students into artists” (Sur Exprès). Included in Benjamin Saver’s The Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the USA, he has been a member of the piano faculty at Manhattan School of Music in New York for over 30 years and is recipient of the school’s Presidential Medal. He also a member of the Artist Faculty at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
Salomón Mikowsky es catedrático de piano en Manhattan School of Music de Nueva York desde hace más de 30 años, asi como en Chicago College of Performing Arts. Nacido en Cuba de padres ruso-polacos, estudió en La Habana con César Pérez Sentenat, discípulo de Cubiles y de Joaquín Nín, alumno de Moszkowski. El gobierno cubano y la Juilliard School le otorgaron posteriormente becas para continuar sus estudios en Nueva York con el eminente pianista Sascha Gorodnitzki, discípulo del legendario virtuoso ruso Josef Lhevinne. Completó sus estudios académicos con un doctorado en música de Columbia University.
Discípulos de Mikowsky han sido premiados en más de 100 ocasiones en algunos de los concursos internacionales más prestigiosos, incluyendo el Gilmore Artist Award, el Rubinstein de Tel-Aviv (medalla de oro), Chaikovski y Richter de Moscú, el Van Cliburn de Texas, Beethoven de Bonn, así como en los principales concursos de España, Portugal, Italia, Inglaterra, Irlanda, China, Japón y Estados Unidos.
Han actuado como solistas con las orquestas sinfónicas de Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Filadelfia, Houston, Indianápolis, Omaha, Portland, San Francisco, Bamberg, Berlín, Bucarest, Budapest, Colonia, Estocolmo, Friburgo, Frankfurt, Halle, Jerusalén, Liverpool, Munich, Stuttgart, San Petersburgo, Tenerife, Turín y Vancouver; las orquestas filarmónicas de la BBC, Berlín, Brno, Dresde, Israel, La Scala, Las Palmas, Moscú, Nueva York, Praga, Real de Londres y Roterdam; Zürich Tonhalle, Dresde Staatskappelle, y las orquestas nacionales de Finlandia, Francia, México y la República Checa, bajo la batuta de directores tan notables como Comissiona, Dutoit, Ehrling, Eschenbach, Fischer, Frübeck de Burgos, Gielen, Graf, Herbig, Victor Pablo, Macal, Masur, Semkow, Skrowaczewski y Zinman.
Mikowsky es invitado frecuentemente a formar parte de los jurados de los concursos internacionales mas prestigiosos, y ha dictado cursos en los principales conservatorios de Moscú, San Petersburgo, Varsovia, Cracovia, Budapest, Londres, París, Roterdam, Madrid, Valencia, Tel-Aviv, Jerusalén, Estambul, Australia y por todo el Lejano Oriente. Durante los veranos es director artístico de International Piano Festivals, que consisten en cursos de piano en varios paises de Europa, y la participación de sus alumnos en recitales que tienen lugar cada verano en las Islas Canarias y en España continental. También es autor de un libro sobre música cubana del siglo XIX y de artículos para Américas, la revista de la Organización de Estados Americanos.
Entre las principales revistas profesionales que han publicado entrevistas con Mikowsky, se incluyen Chopin (Japón), Piano Artistry (China), Musica di Pianoforte (Corea del sur) y Clavier (EE.UU.), la cual lo señala como “uno de los profesores más solicitados del mundo.” La revista Sur Exprès indica que Mikowsky tiene “una habilidad mágica para convertir en artistas a los estudiantes de piano que caen en sus manos”. Incluido en el libro The Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the USA, Salomón Mikowsky ha recibido el Premio Cintas del Institute of International Education y la Medalla Presidencial de Manhattan School of Music por su contribución pedagógica.
