
Photo by Dennis Griggs.
Internationally acclaimed Chinese-American pianist, GULIMINA MAHAMUTI, performs extensively as a soloist, duet/duo pianist under DUO MUNDI GEORGE & GULI with pianist GEORGE LOPEZ, and chamber musician in major cities in the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Turkey, and China, with broadcasts on radio and state TV. She gave recitals in Budapest at the invitation of the Turkish Ambassador in Hungary and in Istanbul under the auspices of Turkish State Conservatory of Music, where the recital was broadcast by Istanbul Technical University Radio. She performed solo piano recitals on Grotrian-Steinweg and Blüthner pianos in Denmark in the beautiful medieval Hune Kirke near Aalborg and Herfølge Kirke near Copenhagen.
Gulimina performed at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall on Xinjiang piano music from western China, including the U.S. premiere performances of Chinese-American composer Chen Yi's Variations on "Awariguli," the D String Song, and Eagle Flute Dance from Xinjiang Suite No. 2 by Chinese composer Shi Fu. Subsequently, she released her CD recording, Xinjiang Piano Music from Western China, featuring piano music of the region she came from. She opened the music festival, “A Schoenberg Retrospective,” with Drei Klavierstücke, op. 11 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, played at the opening concert for the “Year of the Nation Turkey” celebration at Queens College of The City University of New York, and dedicated solo recitals on Enrique Granados and performed his masterpiece, Cant de les estrelles (Song of the Stars) for piano, organ and chorus to commemorate the centenary of Granados' death and the 150th anniversary of his birth at the University of Akron and Ohio Wesleyan University. In the Leonard Bernstein's centennial celebration concerts, she performed at Bowdoin College's BernsteinFest and at Colby College's #BernsteinAt100: Words, Words, Word. She was one of eight concert pianists performing at the Elliott Schwartz Memorial Practice Rooms Project in Portland, Maine. She also collaborated with New England's Amethyst Chamber Ensemble and Zenith Ensemble after moving to Maine in 2018.
Mahamuti was featured guest soloist performing Benjamin Britten’s Piano Concerto, op. 13 with the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, Saint-Saens’ Le carnaval des animaux with the Southeast Kansas Symphony Orchestra, 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. Her piano playing was featured at many radio stations, including San Francisco Turkish Radio, San Francisco Community Radio, Queens College of CUNY online podcast in the U.S., Touch Radio in China, and Istanbul Technical University Radio in Turkey.
Mahamuti was born in Karamay City, Xinjiang, western China and was the first Uyghur from China to receive a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the United States, where she studied at University of Missouri-Kansas City under Dr. Robert Weirich. She received two Master of Music degrees, one in Piano Performance with the highest honor of the 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. At age 15, she was admitted as a piano performance major to the Conservatory of Music of Northwest University for Nationalities in China, where she studied at the affiliated high school for gifted music performance majors and where she continued her Bachelor of Music degree study in Piano Performance. A year into her undergraduate study, she was one of five students selected to study at the prestigious Jilin Conservatory of Music in China.
Because of her life experience as a Chinese pianist, Mahamuti was interviewed frequently by China newspapers and China State TV and was featured in a two-part TV series on Karamay TV. Her piano performances were broadcast on multiple occasions. Her life story -- from her first piano lesson in Karamay at age eight to winning her first competition at age nine to earning her doctorate in the U.S. -- was the subject of a TV documentary in Gansu Province Public TV.
Mahamuti has written articles on piano education, pedagogy, and performance practice and was published in major music journals, including the People’s Music in China and the Clavier Companion on multiple occasions in the U.S. One of her articles was also translated into Italian and appears in Didattica. Her editorial work on the Chinese composer Shi Fu’s piano compositions was acknowledged by the distinguished Shanghai Music Publishing House (SMPH) in China. Her thesis on Shi Fu’s Three Xinjiang Piano Suites has become the main reference for Chinese and western music scholars. As a frequent presenter of lectures, master classes, and workshops, Mahamuti was invited as guest pianist and professor to universities, conservatories, and music schools across the U.S. and China. She presented at the National Conference of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), MTNA Webinar, International European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA) Conference, and was one of the Plenary Session panelists on “A Conversation with Pedagogy Leaders from Around the World” at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP) in Chicago.
As a selected member of the honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda, Dr. Mahamuti received numerous awards, honors, fellowships, and scholarships. Her professional achievements were recognized by the Ohio House of Representatives and by the Celebration of Scholarships at Ohio Wesleyan University on multiple occasions. Mahamuti was the winner of 2006 KMTA Collegiate State Artist Piano Competition/Graduate Division, won First Prize at The Second National Solo Instrument Competition in Beijing, First Prize at Gansu Province Piano Competition (China), and First Prize at The Second Collegiate Level Solo Instrument Competition in Jilin Province (China). She was selected to attend The Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award Luncheon and was a twice-recipient of the distinguished UMKC Women’s Council Graduate Assistance Fund Fellowship and its Outstanding Merit Recipient of the James Lamar and Clara Winslow Sandusky Memorial Award and the Sarajane S. and R. Kenneth Aber Award, and the Rita Copaken Blitt Award and the Delia Call Ehrsam and Helen Oliver Voigts Memorial Award. She was also the recipient of UMKC Women’s Committee Esta I. (Peggy) Dix scholarship and the Lorraine Watson Scholarship. She was awarded William J. Browning Music Scholarship and subsequently Full-Time Graduate Teaching Assistantship to study at Pittsburg State University, where she received many awards, including Treble Clef Club Music Scholarship, Excellence in Piano Studies, Excellence of Scholarship, and Excellence of Professional Service.
After living in Ohio for eleven years, Dr. Mahamuti moved to the beautiful state of Maine in 2018. She teaches at Bowdoin College in Maine and previously taught as an Assistant Professor of music at Ohio Wesleyan University and Capital University. She taught applied piano and class piano at University Missouri-Kansas City and Pittsburg State University as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. She was on the piano faculty at the School of Music of Northwest University for Nationalities (China) and was an Honorary Guest Professor at Yili Normal University College of Arts (China). Dr. Mahamuti is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music by MTNA and serves on MTNA's national committee of Representation and Advocacy.
Gulimina performed at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall on Xinjiang piano music from western China, including the U.S. premiere performances of Chinese-American composer Chen Yi's Variations on "Awariguli," the D String Song, and Eagle Flute Dance from Xinjiang Suite No. 2 by Chinese composer Shi Fu. Subsequently, she released her CD recording, Xinjiang Piano Music from Western China, featuring piano music of the region she came from. She opened the music festival, “A Schoenberg Retrospective,” with Drei Klavierstücke, op. 11 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, played at the opening concert for the “Year of the Nation Turkey” celebration at Queens College of The City University of New York, and dedicated solo recitals on Enrique Granados and performed his masterpiece, Cant de les estrelles (Song of the Stars) for piano, organ and chorus to commemorate the centenary of Granados' death and the 150th anniversary of his birth at the University of Akron and Ohio Wesleyan University. In the Leonard Bernstein's centennial celebration concerts, she performed at Bowdoin College's BernsteinFest and at Colby College's #BernsteinAt100: Words, Words, Word. She was one of eight concert pianists performing at the Elliott Schwartz Memorial Practice Rooms Project in Portland, Maine. She also collaborated with New England's Amethyst Chamber Ensemble and Zenith Ensemble after moving to Maine in 2018.
Mahamuti was featured guest soloist performing Benjamin Britten’s Piano Concerto, op. 13 with the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, Saint-Saens’ Le carnaval des animaux with the Southeast Kansas Symphony Orchestra, 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. Her piano playing was featured at many radio stations, including San Francisco Turkish Radio, San Francisco Community Radio, Queens College of CUNY online podcast in the U.S., Touch Radio in China, and Istanbul Technical University Radio in Turkey.
Mahamuti was born in Karamay City, Xinjiang, western China and was the first Uyghur from China to receive a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the United States, where she studied at University of Missouri-Kansas City under Dr. Robert Weirich. She received two Master of Music degrees, one in Piano Performance with the highest honor of the 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. At age 15, she was admitted as a piano performance major to the Conservatory of Music of Northwest University for Nationalities in China, where she studied at the affiliated high school for gifted music performance majors and where she continued her Bachelor of Music degree study in Piano Performance. A year into her undergraduate study, she was one of five students selected to study at the prestigious Jilin Conservatory of Music in China.
Because of her life experience as a Chinese pianist, Mahamuti was interviewed frequently by China newspapers and China State TV and was featured in a two-part TV series on Karamay TV. Her piano performances were broadcast on multiple occasions. Her life story -- from her first piano lesson in Karamay at age eight to winning her first competition at age nine to earning her doctorate in the U.S. -- was the subject of a TV documentary in Gansu Province Public TV.
Mahamuti has written articles on piano education, pedagogy, and performance practice and was published in major music journals, including the People’s Music in China and the Clavier Companion on multiple occasions in the U.S. One of her articles was also translated into Italian and appears in Didattica. Her editorial work on the Chinese composer Shi Fu’s piano compositions was acknowledged by the distinguished Shanghai Music Publishing House (SMPH) in China. Her thesis on Shi Fu’s Three Xinjiang Piano Suites has become the main reference for Chinese and western music scholars. As a frequent presenter of lectures, master classes, and workshops, Mahamuti was invited as guest pianist and professor to universities, conservatories, and music schools across the U.S. and China. She presented at the National Conference of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), MTNA Webinar, International European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA) Conference, and was one of the Plenary Session panelists on “A Conversation with Pedagogy Leaders from Around the World” at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP) in Chicago.
As a selected member of the honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda, Dr. Mahamuti received numerous awards, honors, fellowships, and scholarships. Her professional achievements were recognized by the Ohio House of Representatives and by the Celebration of Scholarships at Ohio Wesleyan University on multiple occasions. Mahamuti was the winner of 2006 KMTA Collegiate State Artist Piano Competition/Graduate Division, won First Prize at The Second National Solo Instrument Competition in Beijing, First Prize at Gansu Province Piano Competition (China), and First Prize at The Second Collegiate Level Solo Instrument Competition in Jilin Province (China). She was selected to attend The Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award Luncheon and was a twice-recipient of the distinguished UMKC Women’s Council Graduate Assistance Fund Fellowship and its Outstanding Merit Recipient of the James Lamar and Clara Winslow Sandusky Memorial Award and the Sarajane S. and R. Kenneth Aber Award, and the Rita Copaken Blitt Award and the Delia Call Ehrsam and Helen Oliver Voigts Memorial Award. She was also the recipient of UMKC Women’s Committee Esta I. (Peggy) Dix scholarship and the Lorraine Watson Scholarship. She was awarded William J. Browning Music Scholarship and subsequently Full-Time Graduate Teaching Assistantship to study at Pittsburg State University, where she received many awards, including Treble Clef Club Music Scholarship, Excellence in Piano Studies, Excellence of Scholarship, and Excellence of Professional Service.
After living in Ohio for eleven years, Dr. Mahamuti moved to the beautiful state of Maine in 2018. She teaches at Bowdoin College in Maine and previously taught as an Assistant Professor of music at Ohio Wesleyan University and Capital University. She taught applied piano and class piano at University Missouri-Kansas City and Pittsburg State University as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. She was on the piano faculty at the School of Music of Northwest University for Nationalities (China) and was an Honorary Guest Professor at Yili Normal University College of Arts (China). Dr. Mahamuti is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music by MTNA and serves on MTNA's national committee of Representation and Advocacy.
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