A free music recital by Cicilia Yudha at 7:30 p.m. Friday, February 20th in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel will conclude the Catawba College Artist Series for the 2015 spring semester. Dr. Yudha will present a program of works by Mozart, Dutilleux, Casadesus, and Schumann in a concert that is free and open to the public.
Indonesian pianist Cicilia Yudha made her debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall in 2003. In recognition of her musicianship and artistic personality, Dr. Yudha was awarded the "Rosario Marciano Prize", and presented a solo recital in Vienna sponsored by the Vienna International Piano Academy in Austria. As a creative artist, she recently collaborated with tap dancer Claudia Rahardjanoto in a musical composition by an Indonesian composer Jaya Suprana in Detroit and New York City. Her collaboration on Chopin Mazurkas with musicologist Ewelina Boczkowska has also resulted in an invitation to present at the inaugural event of TEDx Youngstown in 2014.
Dr. Yudha was a winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, New England Conservatory Commencement Concerto Competition, and UNC Greensboro Student Artist Concerto Competition resulting in performances with each orchestra. She has also appeared with the Lakeland Civic Orchestra, Converse Symphony Orchestra, and the Duke University Symphony Orchestra. Her live performances have been broadcast by Jakarta's Radio Klasik, Cleveland's WCLV FM, New York's WQXR, the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and on the radio program, "From the Top". In 2011, she gave concerts and master classes tour in Indonesia and Cambodia sponsored by Art Plus Foundation celebrating Franz Liszt Bicentennial.
Yudha began playing piano with her mother at age three, and joined the Music Course for Kids. She attended Yamaha Music Foundation, and joined the Junior Original Concert, a Yamaha program for composition, in 1989. In 1996, she was invited to be in the Young Artist Program at Cleveland Institute of Music. While at the Yamaha Music Foundation and the Yayasan Pendidikan Musik, Dr. Yudha participated in many concerts, sometimes premiering her own works. Some of her works were commissioned as compulsory pieces for annual piano exams at the Yayasan Pendidikan Musik, and in 2003, she received the institution's "Junior Composer Award."
As a versatile soloist and avid chamber musician, Dr. Yudha has participated in International Piano Academy in Freiburg, Germany, Académie internationale du Festival Pablo Casals, France, Cleveland Institute of Music New Music Ensemble, Steve Reich Festival at New England Conservatory, and UNC Greensboro New Music Festival.
Through the Robert Casadesus grant that enabled her to attend Ecoles d'Art Americaines in Fontainebleau, France, she discovered the music of the renowned pianist Robert Casadesus. In an effort to promote Casadesus's oeuvres, Dr. Yudha was a guest artist at David Dubal's classes, "The World of the Piano" at Juilliard, and "Hommage to Robert Casadesus" at La Maison Francaise, New York University. She also focused her doctorate dissertation on several of Casadesus's works, and is actively pursuing his largely unknown works.
Passionate in music education and community service, Dr. Yudha has served as a piano faculty at the New England Conservatory Secondary Piano Department, NEC Preparatory School, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Piano Preparatory Department, and she has served as a staff collaborative pianist of Boston Children's Chorus and Eastern Music Festival.
Since her appointment as an assistant professor at Youngstown State University, she established Class Piano Program at Chaney High School Visual and Performing Arts in Youngstown, OH.
On full scholarship, Dr. Yudha earned a Doctorate in piano performance at University of North Carolina Greensboro. Upon graduation, she was inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda honor society. She holds a Bachelor of Music Degree with honors and the Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Master of Music degree in piano performance and Music-in-Education concentration with honors and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music. Former teachers include Lena Yudha, Iravati Sudiarso, Olga Radosavljevich, Wha-Kyung Byun, and John Salmon.
She joined the Dana School of Music Faculty at Youngstown State University in 2012 where she is assistant professor and coordinator of the keyboard musicianship.
