Rickie Oui Music Hungarian Piano Pedagogy
Rickie Oui, Master Teacher/Principal
F.T.C.L; F.L.C.M; L.R.S.M; L.G.S.M. (Hons); L.T.C.L.
Master Pianist, Pedagogue & Adjudicator
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RICKIE OUI, master teacher, pianist and violinist. His training has its roots in the traditions of great teachers: Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gordon Jacobs, Arthur Benjamin, and Stewart Macpherson, Percy Buck, and Archille Rivarde who taught his father. In London, Rickie studied under distinguished musicians: Barbara Kerslake, John Brydson and Tanya Polunin. He also had master lessons with concert pianist Vlado Perlemuter, a pupil of Cortot and Ravel. Later, in Milan, Rickie studied with the legendary Hungarian teacher Ilonka Küszler-Deckers, a pupil of Dohnanyi, and later his assistant at the Budapest Conservatory of Music.
As a pianist, pedagogue, educator, trainer, and adjudicator, Rickie has developed world-class knowledge of, and practical experience in the art of piano playing, as well as coaching students and teachers alike. His teaching combines the rich traditions of the famous Hungarian and Russian piano schools with his own researched pedagogy approach and specialized techniques. Deeply committed to guiding and nurturing aspiring young pianists, he is highly sought by some of the most successful music institutions to deliver results in improving and sustaining high standards in music performance and teaching.
Rickie's hallmark is his unique insight into the styles of composers and their music, as well as his uncanny ability to pinpoint, in an instant, the pianistic technique needed to re-create the music and composers intentions. A profound knowledge of musical styles of the different eras of music serves as the basis for his interpretation of the masterpieces. Commanding an impressive palette of tone colours, touch and articulation, he draws from the piano specific sounds which are characteristic to each composer. His playing is exemplary and gives him the opportunity to illustrate that he practices what he teaches, and to teach what truly works.
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Rickie's repertoire stretches across a wide range of periods and genres, from Baroque to Modern. However, he displays a dramatic affinity for the music of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Chopin and Debussy. Through his intense study and research into the music of J.S. Bach and Mozart, these two composers have remained central to his repertoire. He believes that "the study of Bach is essential for the comprehension of the whole literature... without Bach one ‘cannot’ play Chopin, Schumann... even Spanish music.”
Highly acclaimed as one of the foremost piano pedagogues, Rickie, is an inspiration to all his students bringing them to a new plateau in piano artistry and piano performance with his exceptional experience, vast musical knowledge, seemingly unlimited resources, as well as rigorous expectations. Being now one of the most sought-after teachers, and a specialist in Hungarian Piano Pedagogy, he frequently hosts lectures on the world-famous Lisztian approach to piano playing.
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Rickie held previous appointments as an examiner to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London; music lecturer at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore; senior lecturer, Yamaha Academy of Music, Singapore, and senior lecturer and adviser to the music department, Sedaya College (now U.C.S.I). He was also the area representative for Trinity College of Music, London. As adjudicator, Rickie has been invited to serve on the juries of numerous piano competitions including the Malaysian Open, Yamaha Piano Competitions, and Steinway piano competitions in Malaysia and Singapore.
Rickie is a product of the great Hungarian piano school whose origins trace back to Franz Liszt (1811-1886), along with his breed of noble students who are a part of this celebrated and prestigious heritage. An elusive and a lost art threatening to go extinct, he is now a fervent advocate in preserving and spreading the true art of piano playing through seminars, workshops and master classes in the region and around Asia.