Victoria Hamilton, PhD.
Born in the north of Scotland, Victoria Hamilton started piano studies at the age of five. She studied piano (with a student of Emil von Sauer, a student of Liszt) and organ (with principal organist at St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh) at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow. She also studied painting and design at Glasgow School of Art where she exhibited. She has a first class honors degree in philosophy and a postgraduate degree in psychology and psychoanalysis from the University of London. She is the author of many books, articles and reviews. Her publications include articles in the New York Review of Books and the Times of London. Her two books, ‘Narcissus & Oedipus’ (1982) and ‘The Analysts’ Preconscious’ (1990) are regarded as textbooks and have been described as ‘the most innovative’ books in the field at the time of publication. In 1998, she received the Author of the Year award from the International Psychoanalytical Association. She practiced and taught psychoanalysis for 25 years in Los Angeles and lectured widely throughout the US before returning to her earliest passion, piano playing and the study of music.

On hearing Mordecai Shehori in rehearsal at the Juilliard School of Music prior to his annual recital at the Lincoln Center, she decided to devote her life to the remarkable artistry and approach to piano playing that Mr. Shehori represents. Through his playing and teaching, she has rediscovered the inspiration of the golden age of classical music with such legendary musicians as Vladimir Horowitz, Josef Hofmann, Mindru Katz, Simone Barere, Jascha Heifetz and Emanuel Feuermann. As a school child, Ms. Hamilton worked as an usherette at the Edinburgh Festival, where she heard many of the great musicians of the day - Benno Moisevitsch, Clifford Curzon, Denis Matthews, Eileen Joyce, Leon Goossens, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Irmgard Siegfried and others. Mr. Shehori’s link with this great tradition is well documented in the many laudatory reviews he has received over the years in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fanfare and American Record Guide and other international publications. Mr. Shehori has been described as ‘a true Renaissance man’. The truth of this characterization is exemplified in the wide range of Mr. Shehori’s life - his performing, teaching, unique knowledge of the physical approach to piano playing, recording skills and dedication to the great masters of piano playing.  It is for this reason that Ms. Hamilton is most honored to present a musician of such rare integrity in the world of classical music today.