A native of Karamay City in Xinjiang, China, and the first Chinese Uyghur to receive a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the United States, Dr. Gulimina Mahamuti enjoys an active career as a soloist, collaborative pianist, piano teacher, and lecturer in both China and the United States.
As a pianist, Mahamuti performs extensively in major cities in the U.S., Canada, and China, with broadcasts on radio and State TV. On January 8, 2012, she performed at Carnegie Hall on solo piano and violin-piano duo with violinist Dr. Selim Giray from Pittsburg State University. In addition to performing Turkish music for violin and piano, she performed Xinjiang solo piano music from western China by Shi Fu and Chen Yi, including a premiere of Chen’s Variations on “Awariguli.”
Of the Carnegie Hall performance, Hüsamettin Ünsal wrote in a review for Musîki Dergisi [Journal of Music]: "It was a ... cultural phenomenon and a musical feast for the audience that packed the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall…. Members of the audience experienced how alike the voices from Turkey and melodies from the Uyghur soil are…. Performed by violinist Selim Giray and pianist Gulimina Mahamuti, Emre Araci’s Bosphorus by Moonlight created the finale that embraced all common emotions and sonorities presented in previous compositions, and brought the audience to their feet as they applauded the composer and the performers."
Mahamuti and Giray are invited by the Turkish Embassy in Hungary to perform in Budapest on March 14, 2012. They will be also featured as guest artisits to perform at Turkish Music State Conservatory of Istanbul Technical University on March 20, 2012. This concert will be recorded and broadcast by Istanbul Technical University Radio Channel. From mid May to June of 2012, Mahamuti and Giray are invited to perform and give master classes at several music schools in China.
Mahamuti's orchestral appearances include performances of Benjamin Britten’s Piano Concerto, op. 13 with the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra on April 14, 2012, Saint-Saens’ Le carnaval des animaux with the Southeast Kansas Symphony Orchestra (2010), and Chopin’s Andante Spianato et Grand Polonaise, in E-flat major, op. 22 and the “Yellow River” Piano Concerto with the Harbin Symphony Orchestra in China (2005). In 2008, she opened the UMKC festival, “A Schoenberg Retrospective,” with Drei Klavierstücke, op. 11.
In the fall of 2011 Mahamuti joined the faculty of the Department of Music at Ohio Wesleyan University. She is a nationally certified teacher of music in piano in the U.S. and has previously taught at the conservatories of music of Capital University (U.S.) and of Northwest University for Nationalities (China). She performs extensively as a guest pianist in American colleges and universities and in music schools in China, where she was interviewed frequently by China newspapers and China State TV and where her performances were broadcast on multiple occasions. In 2010, she performed and lectured in Beijing, Lanzhou, and Karamay, where she was featured in a two-part TV series on China State TV. Her life story, from her first piano lesson in Karamay to her earning a doctorate in the U.S., was the subject of a TV documentary in Gansu Province Public TV. Many of her students in China won Asian and domestic piano competitions and because of their achievements, she received the Excellent Piano Teacher Award on multiple occasions.
Mahamuti was published in major music journals in both China and the U.S. Her articles on piano education, pedagogy, and performance practices appeared in prestigious Chinese journals, including the People’s Music. After an extensive nation-wide research, she presented the results on how today’s economy affected private music teaching at the Music Teachers National Association National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Her article, “Professional Development Makes You Recession-Resistant,” was published in Clavier Companion; it was translated into Italian and appears in Didattica.
She recently recorded a CD of Xinjiang Piano Music from Western China, featuring works by Chen Yi and Shi Fu. Her master’s thesis in China on Shi Fu’s Xinjiang Piano Suites from an Eastern-Islamic Music Vantage Point has become the main reference for Chinese and Western music scholars in their research and writing about his life and compositions. Her recent editorial work on Shi Fu’s piano compositions was highly praised by the Shanghai Music Publisher in China.
Mahamuti won top prizes at Kansas Collegiate State Artist Competition/Graduate Division, The Second National Solo Instrument Competition in Beijing, Gansu Province Piano Competition (China), and The Second Collegiate Level Solo Instrument Competition in Jilin Province (China).
She received the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance under Dr. Robert Weirich from University of Missouri-Kansas City under (2010), where she was selected to attend The Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award Luncheon and where she became a twice-recipient of UMKC Women’s Council Graduate Assistance Fund Fellowship and its Outstanding Merit Recipient. She received two Master of Music degrees, one in Piano Performance with Graduate Dean Academic Honors from Pittsburg State University under Dr. Reena Berger Natenberg and one in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy from Harbin Normal University in China. Residing in Mansfield, Ohio, Mahamuti is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda honor societies. She is a board member of Central East District of Ohio Music Teachers Association and chairs its piano workshops.
As a pianist, Mahamuti performs extensively in major cities in the U.S., Canada, and China, with broadcasts on radio and State TV. On January 8, 2012, she performed at Carnegie Hall on solo piano and violin-piano duo with violinist Dr. Selim Giray from Pittsburg State University. In addition to performing Turkish music for violin and piano, she performed Xinjiang solo piano music from western China by Shi Fu and Chen Yi, including a premiere of Chen’s Variations on “Awariguli.”
Of the Carnegie Hall performance, Hüsamettin Ünsal wrote in a review for Musîki Dergisi [Journal of Music]: "It was a ... cultural phenomenon and a musical feast for the audience that packed the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall…. Members of the audience experienced how alike the voices from Turkey and melodies from the Uyghur soil are…. Performed by violinist Selim Giray and pianist Gulimina Mahamuti, Emre Araci’s Bosphorus by Moonlight created the finale that embraced all common emotions and sonorities presented in previous compositions, and brought the audience to their feet as they applauded the composer and the performers."
Mahamuti and Giray are invited by the Turkish Embassy in Hungary to perform in Budapest on March 14, 2012. They will be also featured as guest artisits to perform at Turkish Music State Conservatory of Istanbul Technical University on March 20, 2012. This concert will be recorded and broadcast by Istanbul Technical University Radio Channel. From mid May to June of 2012, Mahamuti and Giray are invited to perform and give master classes at several music schools in China.
Mahamuti's orchestral appearances include performances of Benjamin Britten’s Piano Concerto, op. 13 with the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra on April 14, 2012, Saint-Saens’ Le carnaval des animaux with the Southeast Kansas Symphony Orchestra (2010), and Chopin’s Andante Spianato et Grand Polonaise, in E-flat major, op. 22 and the “Yellow River” Piano Concerto with the Harbin Symphony Orchestra in China (2005). In 2008, she opened the UMKC festival, “A Schoenberg Retrospective,” with Drei Klavierstücke, op. 11.
In the fall of 2011 Mahamuti joined the faculty of the Department of Music at Ohio Wesleyan University. She is a nationally certified teacher of music in piano in the U.S. and has previously taught at the conservatories of music of Capital University (U.S.) and of Northwest University for Nationalities (China). She performs extensively as a guest pianist in American colleges and universities and in music schools in China, where she was interviewed frequently by China newspapers and China State TV and where her performances were broadcast on multiple occasions. In 2010, she performed and lectured in Beijing, Lanzhou, and Karamay, where she was featured in a two-part TV series on China State TV. Her life story, from her first piano lesson in Karamay to her earning a doctorate in the U.S., was the subject of a TV documentary in Gansu Province Public TV. Many of her students in China won Asian and domestic piano competitions and because of their achievements, she received the Excellent Piano Teacher Award on multiple occasions.
Mahamuti was published in major music journals in both China and the U.S. Her articles on piano education, pedagogy, and performance practices appeared in prestigious Chinese journals, including the People’s Music. After an extensive nation-wide research, she presented the results on how today’s economy affected private music teaching at the Music Teachers National Association National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Her article, “Professional Development Makes You Recession-Resistant,” was published in Clavier Companion; it was translated into Italian and appears in Didattica.
She recently recorded a CD of Xinjiang Piano Music from Western China, featuring works by Chen Yi and Shi Fu. Her master’s thesis in China on Shi Fu’s Xinjiang Piano Suites from an Eastern-Islamic Music Vantage Point has become the main reference for Chinese and Western music scholars in their research and writing about his life and compositions. Her recent editorial work on Shi Fu’s piano compositions was highly praised by the Shanghai Music Publisher in China.
Mahamuti won top prizes at Kansas Collegiate State Artist Competition/Graduate Division, The Second National Solo Instrument Competition in Beijing, Gansu Province Piano Competition (China), and The Second Collegiate Level Solo Instrument Competition in Jilin Province (China).
She received the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance under Dr. Robert Weirich from University of Missouri-Kansas City under (2010), where she was selected to attend The Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award Luncheon and where she became a twice-recipient of UMKC Women’s Council Graduate Assistance Fund Fellowship and its Outstanding Merit Recipient. She received two Master of Music degrees, one in Piano Performance with Graduate Dean Academic Honors from Pittsburg State University under Dr. Reena Berger Natenberg and one in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy from Harbin Normal University in China. Residing in Mansfield, Ohio, Mahamuti is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda honor societies. She is a board member of Central East District of Ohio Music Teachers Association and chairs its piano workshops.
