VIENESS
PIANO
DUO
BIO
GRAPHY
VIENESS PIANO DUO
Learn more about Vieness and pianists Eva Schaumkell & Vijay Venkatesh.
VIENESS
PIANO DUO
Vieness Piano Duo has enthralled audiences in their electric and captivating performances of a wide range of repertoire. Husband and wife, Vijay Venkatesh and Eva Schaumkell’s intuition for conversation coupled with a commanding stage presence has made them regularly in demand throughout the world.
In the 2021 fall season, they completed a 2-week tour of the Midwestern US through Allied Concert Services, and pre-pandemic, debuted at the InConcert Series, Trinity Concert Series, Music Guild, L'ermitage Foundation, Le Salon de Musiques at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Summer Stars Series, Masters in the Chapel Series, North SLO Concerts, Tassel Performing Arts Center, Waring Gala, and the Kultur unter'm Dach series in Germany. They have also been featured with the South Coast Symphony and Vicente Chamber Orchestra.
Vieness Piano Duo will begin the 2025 season at the Carnegie Concert Series (CA), Camerata Musica (WA), Crystal Theatre (MI), DaCamera Society (CA), Irvine Performing Arts Center (CA), Lancaster Performing Arts Center (CA), L'ermitage Foundation (CA), New West Symphony (CA), Opera Steamboat Piano Series (CO), Music Guild of LA (CA), Muzewest Concerts (Canada), Ridgecrest Chamber Society (CA), Sarasota Artists Series (FL), Second City Chamber Series (WA), and more.
Vieness is a featured artist on Tonebase.
EVA SCHAUMKELL
German pianist Eva Schaumkell is established on three continents as a brilliant soloist and collaborator praised for her “astonishing combination of depth of expression and thrilling virtuosity” (Nassauische Neue Presse). Dr. Schaumkell has established a major international presence as Gold medalist in the 2018 International James Ramos Piano Competition, the 2014 International Siegfried Weishaupt Piano Competition. She has also been awarded prizes at the Coeur d’Alene Piano Competition, Thürmer Piano Competition in Bochum, Jugend Musiziert Competition, and is a recipient of the Carl Maria von Weber Scholarship, the Deutschlandstipendium, the Thornton Music Scholarship, as well as the Drosihn Prize.
Highlights of her upcoming season includes performances as part of the Vieness Piano Duo at the Covington Recital Series, Lancaster Performing Arts Center, L’Ermitage Foundation, the Music Guild, Sarasota Artists Series, Second City Chamber Series, Summer Stars Series at Ocean Grove NJ, and a concert tour of the US Midwest through Allied Concert Services.
An active chamber musician, Schaumkell has appeared three times on Le Salon de Musiques at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles and tours as the Vieness Piano Duo with her husband and pianist, Vijay Venkatesh. Together, they’ve performed over 40 recitals including with the South Coast Symphony, Vicente Chamber Orchestra recital series, InConcert Series Colorado, the Trinity Concert Series New York, Le Salon de Musiques, L’ermitage Foundation, Lompoc Recital Series, Masters in the Chapel Series, Virginia Waring Gala, and the Kultur unter'm Dach series in Germany. Online, the duo is featured on the prestigious teaching website Tonebase, where they discuss the intricacies of piano duo playing.
A charismatic soloist, Dr. Schaumkell’s career has led to dozens of concerts throughout the US, Europe, and the Middle East. She frequents recital series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Steinway Hall London, Luton Music Club, Buckingham Palace, and at the City of London Festival. She has also appeared in recital at Stadthalle Weilburg, Kurhaus Bad Schwalbach, Coselpalais Dresden in Germany, and the MusicAlp Festival in Courchevel, France. Recent highlights include appearances at the International Summer Academy of Music in Germany, a performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the London Spring Sinfonia, and Beethoven’s Concerto No.1 with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra lead by Maestro Ahmed El Saedi, at the Cairo Opera House in Egypt.
Dr. Schaumkell recently earned her Doctorate with distinction under the guidance of renowned pedagogue Daniel Pollack at the USC Thornton School of Music, where she was also a Teaching Assistant. She holds a Masters of Music degree under Winifried Apel from the Hochschule für Musik Dresden, and a Bachelors of Music under Peter Bithell from the Guildhall School in London. She has received important artistic guidance from pianists such as Fabio Bidini, Norman Krieger, Jeffrey Kahane, Cyprien Katsaris, Pascal Devoyon, Vanessa Latarche, Dmitri Alexeev, Dominique Merlet, Victor Rosenbaum, and Ivari Ilja.
Dr. Schaumkell is in high demand internationally as an Artist Teacher, and frequently gives masterclasses, adjudicates competitions, and appears for Artist Residencies in schools, universities and conservatories. She is professor of piano at Riverside City College and Irvine Valley College.
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VIJAY VENKATESH
Hailed by the Herald-Tribune for his “dazzling pianism verging on the impossible, effortless technical command and authority with a sense of poetry and refinement that belies his years,” Indian-American pianist Vijay Venkatesh has been recognized on three continents as a pianist with profound musicianship, sparkling pianism and an innate sense of partnership. Vijay, whose playing is described as “fresh and inspired,” (Cincinnati Courier) has rapidly established a major international reputation as top prizewinner in the San Jose, Seattle, Zimmerli, World Piano, and Waring International Piano Competitions. He has also been named a Davidson Fellow Laureate at the Library of Congress, USC Thornton's Discovery Scholar, Grand Prize Winner of the Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight Awards and featured on Performance Today® with host Fred Child, “What Makes It Great?” with host Robert Kapilow and NPR’s “From the Top."
Highlights of Mr. Venkatesh's upcoming season include debuts with the Pasadena Symphony and Joseph Young in Mozart’s Concerto in D Minor, LA Opera with James Conlon in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra with Eckart Preu, Bangor Symphony with Lucas Richman, and Ashland Symphony with Michael Repper in Clara Schumann’s Concerto in A Minor, the LaGrange Symphony with Richard Prior in Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Music in the Mountains with Ryan Murray in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, the South Coast Symphony with Barry Silverman in Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals, and at Le Salon Musiques in Chopin’s Concerto in F Minor. Additionally, he appears this season at the Crystal Theatre, Camerata Musica, DaCamera Society, Irvine Performing Arts Center, L'ermitage Foundation, La Jolla Music Society, Muzewest, Ridgecrest Chamber Music Society, South Bay Chamber Music Society, and a debut in Mexico for ProMusica San Miguel de Allende.
An immersive and versatile soloist, Vijay has performed extensively across the United States and Europe as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Seattle, Vienna, Sarasota, Columbus, Redlands, Roanoke, Rio Hondo, Rogue Valley, and the Brevard Music Center. He has collaborated with preeminent conductors Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jeffrey Kahane, Ludovic Morlot, David Lockington, David Stewart Wiley, Roger Kalia, Carolyn Kuan, Toshiyuki Shimada, Ken Lam, and Martin Majkut among others. Mr. Venkatesh appeared in recent seasons at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall with the Colburn Orchestra, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess series, and at the Aspen, Brevard, Banff, Newport, Redlands Bowl, Sarasota, and Vienna Music Festivals. As recipient of the inaugural Parnassus Society Prize, he performed in recital at the Soka Performing Arts Center.
An active chamber musician, Vijay has appeared twelve times on Le Salon de Musiques at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and tours as the Vieness Piano Duo with his wife and pianist, Eva Schaumkell. Last season, they appeared for the Westcliffe InConcert Series, Trinity Concert Series, Lancaster Performing Arts Center, L’ermitage Foundation, Masters in the Chapel, Opera Steamboat, Second City Chamber Series, Sarasota Artist Series, and the Kultur unter'm Dach series in Germany. As pianist in the Aristeia Trio, gold medalists of the Frances Walton International Chamber Music Competition, they embarked on a 30-concert tour of Washington, appeared twice on KING-FM 89.1 FM, and have been featured at Camerata Musica and the Irvine Performing Arts Center.
Originally from California, Venkatesh earned an Artist Diploma from the Colburn School in Los Angeles with Fabio Bidini. He holds additional degrees from USC Thornton and IU Jacobs School of Music, where he was a recipient of the Barbara and David Jacobs Fellowship under the tutelage of Norman Krieger and André Watts. Venkatesh previously studied with Jeffrey Kahane, Sarkis Baltaian, Menahem Pressler, and Murray Perahia. His latest recordings include the music of Lucas Richman on Albany Records and a release on Naxos dedicated to Mozart to be released in 2025. He is represented by Colburn Artists and is a featured artist on Tonebase.