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On today's episode we welcome the brilliant, Swiss pianist, Sebastian Issler.  Sebastian was in London during the beginning of the pandemic. He was in need of lessons online and remembered watching 'The Choreography of the Hands' a few years before. He then sought out Robert Durso. Since then, he has been having lessons with Robert Durso online and has travelled to Philadelphia several times for in person lessons. His story demonstrates  the possibility of excelling in the Taubman Approach through a combination of online and in person lessons. Sebastian is an inspiring pianist!

Please visit Sebastian's website at: www.sebastianissler.com

Swiss Pianist Sebastian Issler received the Jean Meikle Prize for best Duo at the 2022 Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition, together with British-Hungarian soprano Anna Cavaliero. He is the winner of the 2022 Paul Hamburger Prize for Lieder, finalist of several international competitions, including the International Schubert Competition Dortmund, and multiple prize winner of the Swiss Youth Music Competition.
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Sebastian is the first pianist-in-residence at the City Music Foundation in London, which also acts as his management.
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With his duo partners, Sebastian has performed at Milton Court Concert Hall, International Lied Festival Zeist, LIEDBasel Festival, Origen Festival Cultural, Liedrezital Zurich, Abbey Library of Saint Gall, Tonhalle Zurich, Barts Heritage Great Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and Wigmore Hall, among others. He also appears regularly as an accompanist in masterclasses with luminaries such as Brigitte Fassbaender and Thomas Hampson, and recently as a soloist with the Collegium Vocale Lenzburg in Switzerland.
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In 2021, he recorded his unique programme ‘The World of Song’ for the Montreux Jazz Festival China at the Schubertiade Hall. ‘The World of Song’ was first broadcast in an immersive cinema in 360 Reality Audio at the festival in Hangzhou, China.
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He is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, where he completed his Artist Diploma as a Guildhall Scholar working with Julius Drake and was a member of Graham Johnson's Song Guild. Prior to his studies in London, Sebastian completed two master's degrees, both with distinction, at the Zurich University of the Arts. He is a scholarship holder of Arosa Kultur and LIEDBasel.
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Sebastian is influenced greatly by working with Robert Durso at the Golandsky Institute in New York which significantly changed his own playing and teaching style. He is based in Zurich and enjoys teaching, specializing in the Taubman Approach.
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He is currently a fellow at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he gives his lecture ‘Choreography of the Hands’ to piano master students in the piano accompaniment programme. Sebastian is a teacher for piano accompaniment at the Zurich University of Teacher Education and is a guest lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts.

The Golandsky Institute's mission is to provide cutting-edge instruction to pianists based on the groundbreaking work of Dorothy Taubman. This knowledge can help them overcome technical and musical challenges, cure and prevent playing-related injuries, and lead them to achieve their highest level of artistic excellence.
Please visit our website at: www.golandskyinstitute.org.