Sean Schulze

SEAN SCHULZE
Teachers Program

Country: South Africa
Position: Cleveland Institute of Music
Concerto: Schumann Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 (I. Allegro affettuoso)

Sean Schulze is on the piano faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music where he teaches piano pedagogy and piano literature to conservatory graduate and undergraduate students and serves as Chair of CIM’s nationally recognized Preparatory Piano Department. In addition, Schulze is on the faculty of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music where he serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano Literature.

After receiving his early training in South Africa where he studied with two of that country’s most renowned pedagogues, Moira Birks and Isabella Stengel, he was invited to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Arizona on full scholarship where he studied with Nicholas Zumbro (a student of the famed Rosina Lhévinne). He undertook further studies with Brazilian pianist Caio Pagano and has performed in masterclasses for many of today’s leading pianists and pedagogues including Yoheved Kaplinsky, Bela Siki, Nelita True, John Owings, Martin Canin, Tamás Ungár, and Joseph Banowetz.

He has appeared as a concerto soloist with many orchestras including the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, The Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, The University of Arizona Symphony Orchestra, the Suburban Symphony Orchestra and the Eastern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Schulze and has performed as a solo and chamber musician throughout Ohio and the US, collaborating frequently with violinist Stephen Sims and pianist Shuai Wang.

A sought-after teacher, adjudicator and clinician, Sean Schulze’s students have performed as concerto soloists on more than 30 occasions with various orchestras and continue to win prizes regularly in competitions throughout the United States. In 2015 Schulze was invited to serve on the International Jury of the Cleveland International Piano Competition’s Young Artist Competition. Schulze continues to direct Summer Sonata, an intensive program of lessons and masterclasses for talented pianists aged 12-18, which takes place annually on the CIM campus.