Christina Kiss, international concert pianist and frequent Carnegie Hall performer, maintains a private piano studio in Cresskill, in Bergen County New Jersey, a close suburb of New York City. Her studio mainly consists of students in the Tri-State area of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, as well as students from other parts of the country and world. She is one of the most sought-after piano teachers, and has taught many professional and internationally recognized pianists. Her students have attended the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes School of Music, Columbia University, The Royal Academy of Music in London, The Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Princeton University, Yale University, Cornell University,  NYU, The University of Pennsylvania, and many, many others. She has toured and performed all over the world, and in addition to concerts has taught lessons and masterclasses internationally all over the globe. 

In addition to teaching technique and repertoire, Christina specializes in the prestigious ABRSM exams (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music). She has been preparing students for the ABRSM Piano and Theory Exams for the last 20 years, and is considered by the ABRSM one of their most honored instructors, with most of her students receiving the highest mark of “Distinction”. This exam consists of 8 levels, all for children below 18 (below college age). It is very highly regarded in applications for colleges, and Christina’s students have attended many Ivy League colleges and top conservatories because of their high marks on these exams under Christina’s instructions. 

Christina’s teaching philosophy is “Inspire, Instruct, Innovate…with kindness.” The key word here is “kindness”. Christina instructs her students carefully, inspires them to succeed, and innovates new forms of teaching and encourages the uniqueness of her students and lets them use their imaginations-for as Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Christina is proud of her relationship with her students-she treats all of her students like family, and her studio is one big family. As one of the foremost experts in piano with an international career, and having been taught by the foremost experts in the field, Christina has a lot of knowledge to pass on to her students. However, she feels that the best way to teach is with inspiration and example, and with kindness. She does not believe in yelling, but instead pushing her students through motivation and inspiration, and this is the way she receives miraculous results from her students. 

The Christina Kiss Studio has a studio piano recital at least twice a year–a Holiday-themed recital in Decmber, and another end of the year recital in June. These recitals take place at the beautiful and recently renovated Steinway Gallery in Paramus, New Jersey. They are an excellent way for her students to gain confidence and performance experience in front of an audience, and to build their stage presence. Christina feels that this is an extremely important part of playing the piano–to learn to play in front of a live audience.

Kiss is of Hungarian heritage and attended the internationally renowned Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest from the age of 11. She received her bachelors degree in piano performance from the Academy, studying with acclaimed pianists Klara Máthé, Ferenc Rados, and later with Kornél Zempléni. Christina then attended the Juilliard School in New York City on the full Gina Bachauer scholarship–Christina won the Gina Bachauer Juilliard competition for all of her four years there. At Juilliard, Kiss studied with famed Hungarian pianist György Sándor, and was taught in a direct musical line that dates back to Franz Liszt, as György Sándor had been a student of Béla Bartók, who had studied with István Thomán, who had in turn been a student of Franz Liszt himself. Kiss prides herself on passing on Liszt’s direct teachings to her students.

Christina has won or received top prizes in most of the top international piano competitions in the world. She won First Prize (Grand Prize) in the important Cincinnati American Music Scholarship Competition. Having been the only Hungarian sent by her government to compete in this prestigious competition, first prize entailed a solo recital in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, as well as a private performance for United States Former President Ronald Reagan. She won first prize in the Czechoslovakian Ústi Nad Labem Competition and second prize in the Radio Budapest competition. Ms. Kiss won the top prize of Second Prize (no first prize was given) in Barcelona’s esteemed Maria Canals International Piano Competition. Among others, Kiss also won Third Prizes in the Budapest Liszt-Bartok Competition, as well as in the Athens International Athaeneum Piano Competition. As the youngest competitor, the only woman, and the only European invited to compete during her year, Ms. Kiss was historically invited to participate in the world-famous Van Cliburn competition in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of the largest piano competitions in the world, which only occurs every four years. Beginning with several hundreds of applicants, Kiss was invited to compete live among the top 39 pianists in the live round. From there she advanced to the semifinals and the top 12 pianists in the competition. Shortly after winning first place in the Cincinnati International American Music Scholarship Competition, Kiss emigrated to the United States, and made her much-awaited debut at Alice Tully Hall. All the major critics from all the major news outlets were in attendance in a completely sold-out crowd to witness the new talk of the musical world. Bernard Holland, veteran New York Times Music Critic wrote of the event:

“Christina Kiss, a young Hungarian pianist and a winner in many music competitions around the world, played Bartók and Liszt last Sunday evening at Alice Tully Hall. Miss Kiss’s technical reliability in all this music was unshakable. Stylistically, there was never a hair out of place.” Bernard Holland, The New York Times

Scroll down to learn about Christina’s credentials as well as the ABRSM Academy, another facet of Christina’s teaching career.