Richard Jeric - 2012 Award Winner 

Richard Jeric is pursuing a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Robert Weirich at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance (2012). He previously studied under Jerry Wong of the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance. Richard has performed in master classes for renowned pianists Jonathan Biss, Arnaldo Cohen, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Spencer Myer, Elisabeth and Eugene Pridonoff, Menahem Pressler, André-Michel Schub, and Gerardo Teissonnière, among others. He has received coachings from the noted American composer John Corigliano and the renowned contemporary ensemble eighth blackbird, and he was afforded the opportunity to study privately with Joela Jones, Principal Keyboard of The Cleveland Orchestra. Richard was accepted into the 2011 CCM Prague International Piano Institute, the 2009 ARIA International Summer Academy in Massachusetts where he had the privilege to study with Marian Hahn of the Peabody Conservatory, and the 2006 Piano Institute at Kent State.

As a winner of the 2012 Artist Presentation Society Auditions, Richard will perform a solo recital in St. Louis, Missouri during the 2012-2013 season. He won the 2012 UMKC Concerto/Aria Competition, affording him a performance of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 with the UMKC Orchestra, and the 2010 KSU Concerto Competition, making his orchestral debut in 2011 performing the Ravel Piano Concerto in G with the KSU Orchestra. Other recognitions include Runner-Up in the 2012 UMKC Chancellor’s Competition, First Place in the 2011 Young Artist Solo Division in the Ohio Music Teachers’ Association/Graves Piano Solo and Ensemble Competition and top awards in the 2010 and 2008 Tuesday Musical Scholarship Competitions held at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. He has performed in such prestigious venues as Helzberg Hall in Kansas City, Missouri and Severance Hall’s Reinberger Chamber Hall in Cleveland, Ohio.