Foreign master pianists Gary Graffman, Robert McDonald and William Grant Naboré have been appointed honorary and visiting professors of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

SHCM President Lin Zaiyong expressed gratitude for the three piano masters on behalf of the conservatory teachers and students after presenting them with letters of appointment.

Graffman gave Lin his published memoir “I Really Should Be Practicing” and said his father was a Jewish pianist in Shanghai after fleeing German-occupied Europe during the WWII. The family emigrated to the US after the war and Graffman became a pianist himself and was later the chairman of the Curtis Institute of Music. His students include Lydia Artymiw, Lang Lang, Wang Yujia and Zhang Haochen.

McDonald joined the Juilliard School as a teacher in 1999 and has worked at the Curtis Institute of Music since 2007. He has won numerous awards in international competitions such as Busoni Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, and Deutche Schallplatten.

Naboré is the founding chairman of Theo Lieven, an international piano foundation set up in 1993. In 2002, he established the Lake Como International Piano Academy and invited Martha Argerich as honorary chairperson.