Overview:

The Oregon Piano Institute, a nonprofit started by a UO professor, focuses on solo recitals and affordable ticket prices.

The pianist Valery Kuleshov has played in concert halls across the world, wowing judges at international competitions and impressing critics with a blend of virtuosic skill and emotional interpretations.

The latest venue for Kuleshov was the University of Oregon’s Beall Concert Hall, where he performed a solo recital May 28, thanks to a new nonprofit that is wrapping up its first year with big plans for its next. 

The Oregon Piano Institute is the creation of married couple Maria and Alexandre Dossin. Alexandre, a professor of piano and keyboard at the UO’s School of Music and Dance, heads up the institute’s creative side as artistic director, while Maria is the president. 

Kuleshov’s performance was the last of the institute’s Murdock International Piano Series for the year, which brought three pianists who have won medals in the prestigious Texas-based Van Cliburn International Piano Competition to Eugene.

Alexandre Dossin said the institute is filling a gap in a Eugene performing arts scene that’s heavy on ensemble performances and orchestra shows, and not the intimate experiences of listening to a single musician. 

The pianist Valery Kuleshov on stage holding a bouquet of flowers after his performance in the University of Oregon's Beall Hall, where he played a solo recital for the Oregon Piano Institute. The backs of audience members' heads are visible in the foreground, watching Kuleshov.
The pianist Valery Kuleshov holding a bouquet of flowers after his performance in the University of Oregon’s Beall Hall, where he played a solo recital for the Oregon Piano Institute to send the new nonprofit’s inaugural concert series. Credit: Juan Avendaño / Oregon Piano Institute

“When you come to a solo recital, you have almost two hours with that person, and then they give you their soul,” he said.

Starting something new

Launching a new performing arts organization in Eugene, already rife with nonprofits and concert flyers, requires a calculus of finding high-caliber musicians, people to listen to them and funding to pay for it all. 

The institute found funding with Eugene residents Dr. James and Marilyn Murdock, inspired by Dr. Murdock’s childhood experiences as an accomplished pianist before he embarked on his professional life as a surgeon. 

Dossin declined to detail how much funding the institute has received from the Murdock family, who last September donated $1 million to the School of Music and Dance to contribute to a $15 million student scholarship capital campaign. But he said it was enough to give the nonprofit a stable base for building both an audience and endowment in the years to come. 

The pianist Jon Nakamatsu on stage at the University of Oregon's Beall Hall, speaking into a microphone. The backs of heads of audience members are visible in the foreground.
The pianist Jon Nakamatsu speaks to the audience at his solo recital in Beall Hall in November 2024 as part of the Oregon Piano Institute’s Murdock International Piano Series. Credit: Juan Avendaño / Oregon Piano Institute

“The goal of the institute is not simply to attract the same audience who already goes to concerts,” Dossin said. “Hopefully they will come, and if we can get more of them and fill the house, that’ll be great. But we also want to create or attract that younger audience who perhaps didn’t have a chance to experience that solo recital.”

Ticket pricing reflects that strategy, at $10 for general admission, $5 for students and free tickets for UO students. “It’s as cheap as we can do,” Dossin said.

The other appeal for students is that the visiting pianists teach master classes, which are open to audiences, for UO students in piano. Jun Yun, a second-year doctoral student at UO studying piano performance, took part in the pianist Jon Nakamatsu’s master class. He was one of three students who played onstage, coached by Nakamatsu.

“There’s more pressure, compared to one-on-one lessons with my professor,” he said. “But at the same time, it forced me to really focus on my work. I think it really helped me to push myself.”

Up next: an international competition

Now that the first season has ended, the Dossins are looking to grow the institute.

The recital series’ second season, themed around faculty members of prestigious music conservatories, will begin next academic year.

One key part of the expansion is to coordinate an international piano competition, also named for the Murdocks. It will be the first of its kind in Oregon. 

The competition will start with around eight pianists selected via video, who will then travel to Eugene. Both judges and the audience will vote on their choice of winner. 

Yun, the doctoral student, plans to participate in the activities surrounding the competition next year. He said he’s looking forward to meeting pianists from around the world. “I’ll have a wider scope,” he said.

Though the competition is starting small, Dossin said next year will be a proof of concept for what he expects to become a grander event over time.

“I really think that our competition will eventually be the most important in the West Coast,” he said.

Annie Aguiar is the Arts and Culture Correspondent. She has reported arts news and features for national and local newsrooms, including at the Seattle Times, the Washington Post and most recently as a reporting fellow for the New York Times’ Culture desk covering arts and entertainment.