David Shimoni

David Shimoni is a pianist of national acclaim whose teaching reflects thorough experience as a performer as well as an extensive pedagogical background.

PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE

Described by the American Record Guide as a pianist whose playing "was as smooth as velvet," Mr. Shimoni's 2007-2008 engagements include recitals on the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago and the Artists Series of Sarasota, at the Dallas Museum of Art with Southeastern Festival of Song, and in Minnesota and Louisiana for the Piatigorsky Foundation. He also makes a concerto appearance with the Philharmonia Northwest in Seattle.

Mr. Shimoni is the first prize winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs' Young Artist Auditions, International Beethoven Sonata Competition, Five Towns Music and Art Competition, and Simone Belsky Competition. In previous seasons he has appeared in recital in New York's Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, 92nd St. Y, and Museum of Modern Art, as well as in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh. He has been a guest artist at the Chautauqua, Brevard, and Foothills music festivals and a soloist with the International Chamber Ensemble of Rome and Chappaqua Orchestra.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Shimoni has collaborated with the Jupiter String Quartet and members of the New Jersey Symphony and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Mr. Shimoni also appears regularly in recital with acclaimed opera singers and recently made a guest appearance with the New York Festival of Song. He has given educational and outreach concerts throughout the United States in affiliation with the Piatigorsky Foundation and Astral Artistic Services and has also performed for the charitable organization Sing for Hope.

Born in Chapel Hill, NC, Mr. Shimoni attended the North Carolina School of the Arts during high school and earned a B.A. from Swarthmore College. He subsequently received the Vladimir Horowitz Scholarship to study at the Juilliard School, where he obtained masters degrees in both solo and collaborative performance. In addition to performing and teaching, Mr. Shimoni is currently a doctoral student in piano performance at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His principal teachers have been Yoheved Kaplinsky, Robert McDonald, Marc Durand, Brian Zeger, Edna Golandsky, and Ilya Itin.

TEACHING APPROACH

In his 10 years of private teaching experience, Mr. Shimoni has taught students aged 3 - 71. Regardless of the age, amount of experience, or ambition that a student brings, Mr. Shimoni seeks to make playing personally enriching, musically satisfying, and physically comfortable. Cultivating his students' awareness of their own abilities and of the beauty in the music they play is his goal. Mr. Shimoni has experience assisting students of all levels to attain new degrees of technical facility and musical clarity.

For young beginners Mr. Shimoni is trained in the Suzuki method of instruction, which he uses in conjunction with other teaching methods. Mr. Shimoni also has 20 years of experience in the Taubman approach to piano playing, a physiologically based set of principles that frees pianists from physical strain and technical limitations. Since a pianist's ease in learning new patterns of movement depends first on his/her own physical awareness and poise, Mr. Shimoni also incorporates his experience with yoga, meditation, and the Alexander method into his own playing and teaching.

Mr. Shimoni has given master classes and educational workshops throughout the United States. He was also invited to give several presentations on his teaching approach at the 2004 World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Las Vegas, NV.