Arbo Valdma

Arbo Valdma, one of the most sought-after piano pedagogues around the world, professor of piano at the University of Music in Cologne (Germany) has given more than 300 masterclasses around the world, in cities such as: Moscow, Rome, London, Thessaloniki, Athens, Rome, Montepulciano, Ohrid, Belgrade, Zagreb, and Dubrovnik, Ljubljana, Kaushiung, Hong Kong, Beijing, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Sendai, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Saoul, Cologne, Heidelberg, Koblenz, Orlando, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Princeton, Calgary, Tallinn and Pärnu. 

Arbo Vadma has an Honorary Doctorate from The Estonian Academy of Music awarded and most recently, in 2017, the City Council of Pärnu (Estonia) awarded him the most prestigious title and award - Honour Citizen of Pärnu.

Formerly on the piano faculty at the State Conservatory in Tallinn (Estonia), Arbo Valdma was for many years Dean of the Piano Departments at the University of Belgrade and the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (former Yugoslavia). His students have won numerous prizes at the most prestigious international piano competitions: Brussels (Queen Elisabeth), Vienna (Beethoven), Vevey (Clara Haskil), Leeds, Salzburg (Mozart), Bolzano (Busoni), Epinal, Geneva, Lausanne, Munich, Sydney, Vercelli, Washington and others.

Arbo Valdma was born in Pärnu (Estonia). He received his musical education at the Music Academy in Tallinn (Estonia) under Bruno Lukk (himself a student of Arthur Schnabel and Paul Hindemith) and later with Nina Emelyanova (a former student of Samuel Feinberg) at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow (Masters degree and Specialization).

Arbo Valdma is a founding member of EPTA (European Piano Teachers Association) Yugoslavia (in 1988), Honorary President of EPTA Serbia and an Honorary Member of EPTA Estonia. Since 2008 he is Founder and Honorary President of  International Association of Cultural and Pedagogic Exchange  “Unieffectus e.V” in Cologne. 

Arbo Valdma has produced numerous television and radio programs, as both writer and director and his many lectures given as part of international symposiums as well as his published articles on piano pedagogy, have received wide acclaim.