Concerts and Piano Teaching

In 1979, Aleksei Takenouchi and his mother arrived to Chicago where he attended De Paul University for his Masters of Music Degree and later, Northwestern University for his Doctor of Music Degree. His teachers included Dmitri Paperno, himself a laureate of numerous international piano competitions, including Queen Elizabeth International Competition and Enescu competition.  At Northwestern University, his teacher was Professor Emeritus Gui Mombaerts. Mombaerts studied piano with Edouard Risler, a student of Louis Diemer (Chopin disciple) and Bernard Stavenhagen (Liszt student). Aleksei's doctoral thesis was on George Crumb's piano music which he analyzed through mathematical proportions.  In fact, the thesis was so complicated, that the 3-professor doctoral committee invited a composer to join the committee to corroborate Aleksei's thesis. In June 1987, Aleksei Takenouchi became Dr. Aleksei Takenouchi.  The photo below shows graduation. Pictured is Dr. David Kaiserman (left) and Professor Araand Parsons (Renaissance theory music scholar.)

"I remember well how I was preparing for my doctoral exam at Northwestern University. At that time, the degree was very difficult to receive and many would not pass. I studied two years privately with then retired professor, Araand Parsons. I knew and analyzed around 2,000 compositions from memory. The actual written exam took 24 hours: 8 hours for music history, 8 hours for music theory, and 8 hours for written piano. In addition, I had to give 4 recitals. A lot of work, but pleasant work!"

-Aleksei Takenouchi