James
Alexander
Piano Accompaniment Professor - Chamber Music with Piano
The pianist James Alexander was born in Canada, where he studied with Robert Silverman at the University of British Columbia. Benefiting from a scholarship from the Canada Council, he honed his skills at the Juilliard School under Sasha Gorodnitzki and Janina Fialkowska, earning a Master of Music. He also attended masterclasses, including in the field of Lied, with Leon Fleisher, Menahem Pressler, Gwendolyn Koldofsky, and Martin Katz.
After completing his studies, James Alexander worked as an intern at the Juilliard School before being engaged at the International Opera Studio of Zurich, then at the Stadttheater Aachen as an assistant to the principal conductor.
James Alexander currently teaches chamber music and accompaniment at the Haute école de musique de Genève, as well as in Bern. He performs with many renowned singers and instrumentalists and occasionally gives masterclasses at the Juilliard School.
His CD recordings include works for solo piano, Lied, instrumental chamber music, as well as several Tango albums.
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Diana
Ketler
Professor of Chamber Music with Piano
Diana was born in Riga into a well-known family of musicians. She began studying music and piano at the age of five at the E Darzins Special Music School in Riga and made her concert debut at the age of 11 with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Vassily Sinaisky. Diana graduated from the Latvian Academy of Music with highest honors in 1993 after studying with Theofil Bikis. From 1992 to 1994, she studied at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg under Karl-Heinz Kammerling. In 1994, Diana continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London in the class of Christopher Elton, graduating in 1996 with the Dip RAM. In 1996/1997 and 2000/2001, Diana received the Hodgson Piano Fellowship from the Academy.
Diana has performed as a soloist with the Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra, the Riga Chamber Orchestra, the Georgian Chamber Orchestra, and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. She has given numerous concerts in the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Russia, and most European countries. Notably, she has performed at the Gstaad Musiksommer Festival, the Ravello Music Festival, the St Gallen Music Festival, the Carinthian Summer Festival, and the Kobe International Art Festival. Diana has given recitals at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, the Purcell Room, the Glenn Gould Studios in Toronto, the Tokyo Opera City Hall, the Osaka Symphony Hall, the Atheneum in Bucharest, and other prestigious venues.
She has collaborated with artists such as Wolfram Christ, Konstantin Lifschitz, Daishin Kashimoto, Adrian Brendel, Baiba Skride, Remus Azoitei, Sasha Sitkovetsky, Bernhard Hedenborg, Narimichi Kawabata, Inga Kalna, and Marlis Petersen. As a member of Ensemble Raro, she regularly tours Europe and Japan. Diana has given several UK and German premieres of works by contemporary Baltic composers and collaborates closely with Peteris Vasks and Arvo Pärt.
Diana's performances have been broadcast on radio and television in Japan, the United Kingdom (BBC 3, Classic FM), Germany (Bavarian Radio), Romania, Latvia, and Austria. Since 2003, Diana has been a piano professor at the Royal Academy of Music. She has given masterclasses in Spain, the Czech Republic, England, Latvia, and the former Yugoslavia, and has been a jury member for the Jeunesses Musicales International Piano Competition in Bucharest. Since 2004, Diana has been the artistic director of the Chiemgauer Musikfrühling Festival in Bavaria, Germany.
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Nina
Uhari
Head of Vocal Department - Professor of Piano Accompaniment - Chamber Music with Piano
Born in Finland, Nina Uhari pursued professional piano studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under the guidance of Matti Raekallio and Eero Heinonen. She furthered her training in Baltimore, USA, with Julian Martin, and later in Paris with Bernard Ringeissen. Additionally, she studied accompaniment at the Conservatoire National de Région in Rueil-Malmaison.
Following her studies, Nina Uhari worked as a conductor at CNIPAL (Centre National d'Insertion pour des Artistes Lyriques) in Marseille from 2003 to 2012, where she became the principal conductor in 2008. Concurrently, she was a member of the opera role class at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris.
In September 2012, Nina Uhari joined the HEM (Haute Ecole de Musique) in Geneva as a vocal coach for the singing classes at the Neuchâtel and Geneva sites. She has performed in recitals and opera productions in Finland and France, including at the MIDEM Festival, Chorégies d'Orange, Théâtre du Châtelet, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Festival d'Aix en Provence, and various French opera houses. Her international performances have taken her to Germany, Austria, Spain, Colombia, Togo, and the United States. She has been invited to accompany master classes with renowned artists such as Tom Krause, Yvonne Minton, Mady Mesplé, Regina Werner, and Janine Reiss.
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