Pianist Dr. Jamila Tekalli has been awarded finalist of the Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition, first place in Indiana’s State Steinway Collegiate Solo Piano Competition and National Finalist in the Baldwin Piano Competition. Solo orchestral engagements have taken her to the Space Coast Symphony, where she performed Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. As concerto competition winner, Tekalli performed Franz Liszt’s Totentanz with the Indiana University Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestro Imre Pallo.
As an actively performing chamber musician, Tekalli has toured throughout Ecuador, performing a series of chamber concerts in Quito, Loja and Cuenca. She performed Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Guanajuato, as part of the Tekalli Duo. Tekalli’s passion for new music has lead to performances presented by the College Music Society, New World Symphony and Concert Artists Guild. Additionally, she has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in various festivals including the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, the International Keyboard Institute at Mannes, and the Banff Centre.
Tekalli has performed in master classes with notable pianists such as Boris Slutsky, Robert McDonald, Gilbert Kalish, Julian Martin, Marc Durand, and Andre La Plante. As a chamber musician, she has studied with Dawn Upshaw, Mark Steinberg of the Brentano String Quartet, and Kikuei Ikeda of the Tokyo String Quartet.
With a deep commitment to music education, Dr. Tekalli enjoys teaching a private studio in addition to serving as Adjunct Professor at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida. Tekalli has also led masterclasses in the University of Tampa, Orlando Music Club, with piano workshops and masterclasses at the Loja Conservatory and Fronteras Musicales Abiertas in Ecuador. In the summer, she instructs in piano workshops and private instruction as Piano Faculty at Camp Encore Coda in Sweden, Maine.
Tekalli earned a doctorate in performance from the University of Miami, as well as degrees from Indiana University and the University of Central Florida. Tekalli is indebted to her mentors and teachers in her private studies with Evelyne Brancart, Arnaldo Cohen, Laurent Boukobza, Tian Ying, Zalina Gurevich, Oleg Barsov and Leonidas Lipovetsky.