University of Alabama at Birmingham
Distinguished Professor Yakov Kasman, DMA Distinguished Professor of Piano Yakov Kasman, DMA, has been named 2023 Teacher of the Year by the Alabama Music Teachers Association.
Kasman is a dedicated teacher with more than 30 years of experience. He has taught in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music, where he also is artist-in-residence, for 21 years.
“This is one of the highest professional recognitions possible, and I am very happy and very proud to receive it,” Kasman said. Tatiana Kasman, a UAB adjunct faculty member who leads the UAB Piano Ensembles and Kasman’s wife, was honored as Teacher of the Year in 2019.
The award recognizes an AMTA member for excellence in teaching, musicianship and service to AMTA and/or the community. Involvement in community and AMTA musical activities, musical achievements of current and former students, and the nominee’s professional development are taken into consideration. It is awarded every two years at the annual conference banquet.
Kasman’s students regularly win at AMTA state auditions and place highly at different regional, national and international piano competitions. His students at UAB successfully continue their music education in prominent music institutions including The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory, Indiana University, University of Michigan and Manhattan School of Music, just to name a few.
Kasman provides private piano lessons to students and teachers in the Birmingham area and nationally. He regularly serves as guest faculty at summer festivals such as PianoTexas
International Academy and Festival, Southeastern Piano Festival, the Brevard and Sewanee music festivals, IKOF, International Summer Music Academy in Kyiv, Ukraine, and the Vivace International Piano festival in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Kasman gives master classes around the world, including at colleges and universities in the United States, the MTNA national conference, Alabama Music Teachers Association and Oregon Music Teachers Association state conferences, Tel Aviv Music Academy and Jerusalem Conservatory in Israel, Moscow College by Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and Orel State Music College in Russia, Ecole Normale Alfred Cortot and Yamaha Centre in Paris, France, and in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan.