Bio – 范德騰 | John Vaughan

Grandpa and I – Age 11

Dr. John Vaughan is a pianist, entertainer, music professor and lecturer based in Taipei, Taiwan.

Since 2009, John has starred in the Performance Workshop comedy musical Just Play It. Combining classical music, the blues, comic dialogue, multimedia and dance, this heartwarming journey of the senses (performed in Mandarin Chinese) has met with rousing receptions in theaters throughout Taiwan and China. John’s relationship with Performance Workshop, Taiwan’s premiere theater troupe, dates back to 2000, when he composed the score for their first musical Welcome to Shangri-La. (A soundtrack CD was recorded on the Decca label.) He later arranged and recorded music for the plays The Village and The Comedy of Sex and Politics. Dr. Vaughan’s performances represent a wide range of styles and also include groundbreaking physical comedy at the piano in the tradition of Victor Borge.

Similarly, when teaching, he employs humor, visualization and the “circus arts” to bring his subject to life. An associate professor of piano at Soochow University in Taipei, he also guest lectures at universities and music schools across the country. In 2008, he began a continuing series of seminars on piano music at the Taipei Steinway Center. Tailored for professional pianists and piano instructors, these 2 hour lecture- performances attempt to present practical solutions to common problems faced in the teaching studio, while promoting a deeper exploration into the vast repertoire of piano music. To date, he has presented over 150 lectures at this venue.

His performances as soloist and in collaboration with other well-known instrumentalists have taken him to every city and all 15 counties on the island of Taiwan, as well as the offshore islands of Penghu and Jinmen. Since February 2011, he has written a column in Performance Arts Review, a monthly periodical.

Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., John began his musical studies at age four at the Lancaster Conservatory of Music. John made his first appearance as soloist with orchestra at age 10. At 14 he performed at a concert celebrating International Year of the Child, and appeared as an accompanist in the ellipse of the White House in Washington D.C. His composition, Sunburst Overture, written at age 13, was performed by the Kennett Symphony Orchestra.

While studying at Oberlin Conservatory, where he was awarded the Dana Fellowship for accompanying, he won the top prize in numerous competitions, including the Louis Aikens-Charles Cadmen Piano Competition, the Penn/Mozarteum Piano Competition and the Dorothy Darr Robinson Piano Competition. He received his Master’s degree from University of the Arts in Philadelphia and, in 1993, he was awarded a Doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. His teachers have included Yoheved Kaplinsky, Julian Martin, Robert Shannon, Eleanor Sokoloff and Mary Vyner.

Dr. Vaughan has lived in Taipei, Taiwan since 1993. He has a wife, two daughters and an extensive menagerie of pets.

John Vaughan – Age 2

出生於美國賓州的范德騰（John Vaughan），四歲時進入Lancaster音樂院學習，並接受Dr. Mary Vyner在鋼琴、理論與作曲方面的指導。十歲的他即以獨奏家身份與樂團公開演出，並於十四歲那年獲選為全球國際兒童之美國代表。就讀於中學時，他也曾獲邀至白宮花園演出。除了鋼琴的部分之外，青少年時期的范德騰也持續以作曲家身份創作樂曲，十三歲所完成的作品～Sunburst Overture曾多次被Kennett交響樂團演出。
求學期間，范德騰獲得Dana Fellowship獎學金進入歐柏林音樂院就讀，並獲得Louis Aikens-Charles Cadmen, Penn/Mozarteum and Dorothy Darr Robinson鋼琴比賽冠軍。之後，於費城藝術大學及約翰霍普金斯大學之琵琶地音樂院分別取得碩士及博士學位。曾師事Eleanor Sokoloff, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Robert Shannon and Julian Martin。在美國的期間，范德騰曾擔任Lancaster音樂院以及琵琶地音樂院之預備學院的教師。
1993年起定居於台灣的范德騰，目前為東吳大學音樂學系專任副教授。自2008年起，他開始舉辦一系列的教學講座，其中包括了：『如何成為一個成功又快樂的鋼琴老師』、『指尖下的迷思』、『健康面對鋼琴音樂的新流感』、『范德騰老師之7月的蕭邦』、『如何擄獲評審的心』、『什麼？你不懂二十世紀鋼琴作品！』、『怎麼玩都好玩的貝多芬奏鳴曲』、『理性與感性』、『范法騰講法步西』、『決戰鋼琴擂台賽』、『俄名昭彰』、『名偵探范德騰』、『好驚人的美國生產力』… …等等，也獲邀至功學社舉辦『鋼琴教學大革命』、『生動迷人的鋼琴演奏技巧』、『暈頭轉向、天旋地轉的蕭邦圓舞曲』等演講。這些年來，他也陸續受邀至各大專院校與教學機構舉辦大師班及演講，並時常應邀擔任各項鋼琴比賽之評審。
教學之外，范德騰也經常以獨奏家的身份在台灣各地演出，他曾與小提琴家-彭廣林、大提琴家-張正傑、鋼琴家-蔣茉莉、台北木管五重奏、東吳大學音樂學系管弦樂團與管樂團等有一系列的合作演出。在李登輝擔任總統任內，范德騰曾受美國在台協會理事主席-卜睿哲之邀，在其位於陽明山之官邸，為總統與副總統伉儷舉辦的感恩節音樂會演奏。
除了古典音樂的演出，范德騰的合作對象還拓展到許多不同的領域。他曾製作、演出豐田汽車、遠傳電訊的廣告，更在2000年為賴聲川的「表演工作坊」創作首齣音樂舞台劇『這兒是香格里拉』的音樂。在「表演工作坊」的『一婦五夫』義大利式藝術喜劇與『寶島一村』舞台劇之中的背景音樂，也有一部份是由范德騰所編曲、演奏與錄製。2009年起，他與視障鋼琴家-許哲誠和「表演工作坊」開始共同創作另一齣全新型態的音樂舞台劇『彈琴說愛』，這齣表演中結合了各式的元素，包括古典鋼琴、流行音樂、現代相聲…等等，試圖展現另一種顛覆傳統的說唱藝術。這齣舞台劇於2010年4月起在全台盛大演出，由於佳評如潮，觀眾熱烈反應，因此，在同年10月起至今，已經陸續到大陸武漢、上海、深圳、北京、合肥、廣州等地演出。