Clinton Velman
NMS Piano Faculty
Early Childhood
Clinton Velman began his formal piano studies with Harriet Serr, a former disciple and assistant of Isabelle Vengerova, and continued his studies with composer and pianist Carlos Duarte. He also studied counterpoint and composition with world-renowned composer Antonio Lauro. He pursued further studies with Monique Duphil from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music for more than fifteen years.
He won First Prize at the Pittsburgh Concert Society Auditions, Second Prize at the American Protégé Concerto Competition in NYC and received the Victor Vega Foundation Award for outstanding academic achievement from the University of Wisconsin. In 2013 he received an Honorable Mention in the Second Edition of Il Premio Respighi per Compositori e Solisti in NYC, First Prize at the Granquist Music Competition in Illinois, Third Prize in Chamber Music at the Duxbury Music Festival in Massachusetts, and an Honorable Mention at the 2017 Baltimore Piano International Festival Competition. He won the position of Associate Pianist in the Orchestral Training program of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, studying with Mary Sauer. His performances have taken him to the Palacio de Festivales in Santander, Spain, Carnegie Hall in NYC, the Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex (Ríos Reyna Hall and José Félix Ribas Hall) in Caracas, Venezuela and the IVAI in Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Mr. Velman was the recipient of a Scholarship from the Venezuelan Council for the Arts.
He has attended several summer courses with Dmitri Bashkirov at the Queen Sofía School of Music in Santander, Spain and the Vienna Conservatory of Music, with Márta Gulyás from the Franz Liszt Academy, Paul Badura-Skoda at the Eutherpe Foundation in Spain and privately in Oberlin, Boris Berman at the Universidad Alcalá de Henares in Spain, Nelita True and Monique Duphil at the Duxbury Music Festival, and Susan Starr at the Sarasota Music Festival in Florida.
He received private coaching and attended Master Classes and workshops with the late Alicia de Larrocha in the United States, Italy and Spain.
He was selected to play for Murray Perahia at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh. He participated in Master Classes with Leon Fleisher in Baltimore. Other Master Classes appearances include Cristina Ortiz at the Curtis Institute of Music and in Columbus, Ohio, Blanca Uribe at Vassar College, NY, Lilya Zilberstein at PianoTexas and in San Antonio, TX, José Feghali in Washington DC, Jerome Lowenthal in Baltimore and in NYC and Harold Martina in Fort Worth, TX. Mr. Velman was selected to play in Master Classes of the legendary pianist Menahem Pressler from 2016 to 2019 in Vermont. Maestro Pressler invited him for private lessons at Indiana University in Bloomington. He also attended the Edward Auer 2015 Summer Piano Workshop in IU. As a collaborative pianist Mr. Velman has assisted Master Classes for cellist Yo-Yo Ma at Symphony Center in Chicago, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman at the University of Wisconsin, trombonist Christian Lindberg at Symphony Center, mezzo-soprano Mignon Dunn, tenor Nico Castel and Joan Dornemann (Metropolitan Opera Assistant Conductor) at the Israel Vocal Arts Institute in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Dalton Baldwin, and Miguel Zanetti (Montserrat Caballé’s collaborative pianist) coached him in the role of vocal collaborative pianist at the Saint Louis University in Granada, Spain.
Mr. Velman has performed with the Venezuelan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Táchira Symphony Orchestra, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under the batons of Maestri Carlos Piantini, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Carl St. Clair, to name just a few. He has performed with members of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at the Piano Arts National Concerto Competition. He received coaching in chamber music from members of the Fine Arts Quartet for two years in Milwaukee, WI.
As a much sought after chamber musician he has performed in the Young International Artist Series from the Mozarteum Foundation Venezuela with cellist Yegor Dyachkov and with tenor Virgilius Noreika. Distinguished composer Carlos Duarte dedicated his Op 18 No. 2 "Rap Drama" to Clinton Velman. There is an article about Mr. Velman in the book 100 Years of History in Táchira 1899-2000 which is at the Library of Congress in DC. He is also listed in the book Legacy in Education and Music Excellence by J. A. Rodriguez with prologue by Zubin Mehta from the Mozarteum Foundation Venezuela.
Clinton is a very gifted pedagogue. Specially teaching toddlers. He had one of the youngest students to ever win the Roberta Savler Competition. His student was four years old. All of his students have won Prizes at CAMTA, NSMTA, NWSMTA, Confucius Competition and Granquist Competition.