Douglas Humpherys

Since winning the gold medal at the first Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, Douglas Humpherys’ concert career has spanned four decades across four continents.

Mr. Humpherys completed graduate degrees at the Juilliard School (MM) and the Eastman School of Music (DMA), where he is currently Professor of Piano. During his student days he studied with Nelita True, Martin Canin, and Robert Smith. In high demand as a teacher, he has been appointed to visiting residencies or professorships at the  Central Conservatory in Beijing, Yonsei University in Seoul, and the University of Michigan. His students have won numerous honors in competitions, including prizes at the Honens, Cleveland, Virginia Waring, Hilton Head, Washington DC, Poulenc, UNISA, and Sussex (UK)  International Piano Competitions; the Osaka, Pacific, Seattle, San Jose, and Wideman Competitions, as well as five national first-prize winners of MTNA Competitions. In 2016, Professor Humpherys received Eastman’s Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2021 he was inducted to the Steinway Teachers Hall of Fame.

He has taught hundreds of master classes at universities and conservatories including the Central Music School of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, most of the major conservatories in China, the Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts, the Korean National University of the Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He frequently teaches and concertizes at Summer Piano Festivals, most recently including the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Beijing International Piano Festival, the Shanghai International Piano Festival and Institute, the Gijon International Piano Festival in Spain, the Wallace International Piano Festival in New Zealand, the Philadelphia Young Pianists Academy, the Washington DC International Piano Festival, the Interlochen Piano Festival, the Miami Music Festival, the Seattle Piano Institute, the Atlantic Music Festival, the North Coast International Piano Festival in California, and the Northern Lights Music Festival.

Mr. Humpherys became the Artistic Director of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in 2013, and has also adjudicated the Cleveland International Piano Competition, the Rachmaninoff International Young Artists’ Piano Competition in Novgorod, Russia, the Ricardo Viñes International Piano Competition in Spain, the 1st Korea International Competition for Young Artists, the PTNA National Piano Competition in Tokyo, and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.