Local Steinway Artists in North Texas
Joaquin Achúcarro
Achúcarro was born in Bilbao, Spain, in the difficult years of the Spanish post-war. He began piano lessons at the Bilbao Conservatory and, in 1956, at the age of 13, made his Cconcerto debut in Bilbao playing a Mozart concerto with a local orchestra. As a teenager he moved to Madrid to study a degree in physics, although soon after his graduation he devoted himself totally to study music and moved to Sienna to study at the Accademia Chigiana.
He has since worked in 58 countries, with 206 orchestras including some of the finest ensembles, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony, Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles etc. and with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Chailly, Zubin Mehta, Yehudi Menuhin, Seiji Ozawa and Sir Simon Rattle.
Since the mid-1980s, he has been a professor at the Meadows School of the Artsof the Southern Methodist University in Texas, USA.
Joseph Banowetz
This accomplished and renowned pianist received much of his early training in New York City with Carl Friedberg, who himself was a pupil of the legendary composer/pianist Clara Wieck Schumann. He continued his studies in Europe at the Vienna Hochschule. Upon his graduation from that institution, he won first prize for a piano performance. The Austrian government then sponsored an extended European tour for the young artist, thereby launching his career. Since then, he has performed throughout the world on five continents and performed and recorded with such notable ensembles as the Slovak State Radio Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Beijing's China Opera Central Orchestra. Banowetz's repertoire is built especially around the Romantic with composers such as Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt; late Romantic with composers such as Anton Rubenstein, Balakirev, and Busoni; and neo-Romantic eras (Ronald Stevenson, Godowsky). His recordings are found on the Naxos, Marco Polo, and Altarus labels.
Banowetz is also known for his pedagogy and editing work, and his book, The Pianist's Guide to Pedaling, is recognized as fundamental to the study of the piano. He is a professor at the University of North Texas, but also regularly teaches master classes at such schools as Juilliard, the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and at conservatories in London and China, and is frequently called on as a juror for international competitions.
Van Cliburn
He has been called an American hero, hailed as one of the most persuasive ambassadors of American culture as well as one of the greatest pianists in the history of music. With his historic 1958 victory in the first Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow at the height of the Cold War, Van Cliburn tore down cultural barriers years ahead of glasnost and perestroika, reaching out across political frontiers with a universal message all could greet with joy: the message of beautiful music.
Cliburn was the first musician ever honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City, a true hero's welcome and a show of gratitude for an American victory on the heels of the Soviet Union's launching of Sputnik. Again reaching across cultural borders, Cliburn invited the Russian conductor Kirill Kondrashin to come to New York and reprise the performances that had earned the young American the gold medal in Moscow. Cliburn's recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with Kondrashin became the first classical album to reach platinum status and has gone on to sell more than three million copies
The legendary Emil Gilels, one of the judges who awarded Cliburn the top prize in Moscow in 1958, said at the time "his inborn artistry and subtle musicianship ennoble all that he plays. His victory at such a difficult contest may be truly termed brilliant.'' A few years later, in his classic study of the world's great pianists, Harold C. Schoenberg noted that "of all the Americans of his generation, Cliburn was able to produce the most sensuous of sounds … rich, never percussive, a real piano sound that reminded old-timers of the great romantic pianists of the past.''
Van Cliburn was born in Louisiana on July 12, 1934, the son of Harvey Lavan Cliburn and Rildia Bee O'Bryan Cliburn. The family moved to Texas when the boy was only six, and by 12 the prodigy had won every major local piano competition. His Carnegie Hall debut in 1954, playing the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 under Dmitri Mitropolous' baton, offered the music world a preview of what would become his signature piece and the occasion of his Moscow victory four years later.
Cliburn's ties to the grand romantic school of piano were close from the start of his career: His only teacher for the first 17 years of his life was his indomitable mother, herself a pupil of Arthur Friedheim, who was a pupil of Franz Liszt. Later, at the Juilliard School, the young pianist studied at his mother's urging with the acclaimed Russian pedagogue Rosina Lhevinne. "Van was so teachable,'' recalled a proud Mrs. Cliburn in 1958, "and always so respectful and quick to learn.''
He learned fast, and his love and respect for great music only grew. Tours all over the world followed his Tchaikovsky Competition triumph, a growing series of definitive recordings added to his popularity, and even a decade-long sabbatical from public performances only increased the disarming directness of his romantic touch when he returned to the concert circuit in 1987. In honor of Cliburn's return to the concert stage, the eight-disc Van Cliburn Collection was released on the RCA Victor label, containing many of Cliburn's classic concerto recordings: Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1; Rachmaninoff Concertos Nos. 2 and 3; Prokofiev Concerto No. 3; Brahms' Concerto No. 2; and Rachmaninoff's "Variations on a Theme of Paganini." His current touring schedule includes performances across the country from Tanglewood to Thousand Oaks, California.
Cliburn has performed for royalty, heads of state in Europe, Asia, and South America and for every President of the United States since Harry Truman.
Cliburn's selfless devotion to music has been expressed in other ways as well. At the height of his early career, Cliburn made time to encourage and nourish young talent with the first Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. First held in 1962, this competition is held in Fort Worth every four years. It is an integral part of Cliburn's living legacy, a bright and hopeful signpost for the future of American music.
José Feghali
Winner of the Gold Medal at the Seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, José Feghali has been a major presence on the concert stage, having appeared in over 800 performances worldwide. These include concerts with such renowned orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Gewandhaus, Royal Concertgebouw, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, London Symphony, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic and, in the United States, with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Saint Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Houston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Baltimore and the National Symphony. Mr. Feghali has performed with such eminent conductors as Kurt Masur, Neeme Järvi, John Nelson, James DePriest, Yuri Temirkanov, Leonard Slatkin, Kurt Sanderling, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christoph Eschenbach, Eduardo Mata, Sergiu Comissiona, Philippe Entremont, Andrew Litton, Zdenek Macal, Hans Graf, David Zinman and Hans Vonk.
Equally active as a recitalist, Mr. Feghali has appeared on such prestigious stages as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Ambassador Auditorium and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. He has also performed in the major concert halls of the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Eastern Europe, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and Latin America. In addition, Mr. Feghali has regularly collaborated in chamber music performances, including recitals with renowned flutist James Galway, cellists Truls Mørk, Antonio Meneses and Daniel Gaisford, violinists Régis Pasquier, Olivier Charlier and Emanuel Borok, duo piano with André Watts, and performances of Strauss’ “Enoch Arden” with Jon Vickers. He is an Artist/Faculty member and Associate Director of the Mimir Chamber Music Festival in Fort Worth, and a regular performer at the “Classical Action/Performing Artists Against Aids” benefit concerts.
A child prodigy in his native Brazil, Mr. Feghali made his recital debut at the age of five and concerto debut three years later with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. Feghali moved to London at fifteen to study with Maria Curcio Diamand, then continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Christopher Elton. His recordings include a CD of music inspired by dance on the Koss Classics label and a live recording from the Van Cliburn Competition on the VAI label. New recordings to be released this season include an all Schumann program and an all-Brahms CD with cellist Daniel Gaisford on the Anacapa Music Label. He has also recorded Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras no.3 with the Nashville Symphony for the Naxos label.
Mr. Feghali is Artist-in-Residence at Texas Christian University. He has a special interest in recording technology and was the producer and re-mastering engineer for the retrospective set of nine compact disks (V.A.I. label) featuring past medalists’ live performances in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Mr. Feghali also serves as Vice President and Executive Producer for the new Anacapa Music label. He was Artistic Advisor of the Texas Chamber Orchestra for the 2003/2004 season, and performed with them as both pianist and conductor.
Mary Mosher Humm
Dr. Mary Humm, founder and Artistic Director of the McKinney Symphony Orchestra, is a Steinway Artist with worldwide performing and teaching experience.
In Italy, she was the featured orchestral soloist for UNICEF concerts, performed in the Festival Valentiniano in Terni, and concerts at the Villa Aurelia in Rome sponsored by the American Academy, which featured the European premiere of the USA Sonata No. 2 for Piano as well as Elliot Carter's Sonata for Piano.She also performed at the Papal Castle, the Castel Sant-Angelo in Rome, and was guest artist in the Grand Gala concert for the Festival dell-Opera Lirica Siciliana which featured Jose Carreras, as well as the seventh annual "Festival de Mezza Estate" in Tagliacozzo.Additionally, she was an adjudicator for national music competitions in Italy.
She has also concertized in Asia, performing for the American Ambassador in Singapore, and appearing as guest artist in the Singapore Festival of Dance, Singapore Broadcasting Company, National University of Singapore, and the DBS Bank Series.She was Head of the Piano Faculty at the La Salle College of the Arts from 1986-1989, where she coordinated and authored assessment requirements and syllabi for piano repertoire and technique.She also established educational links between the University of North Texas and the La Salle College of Arts, and assisted in the coordination of the first annual UNT Summer Music Workshop in Singapore.She was a frequent adjudicator in both Singapore and Malaysia.Additionally, she has performed concerts sponsored by numerous companies and organizations in Japan.
She made her orchestral debut at the age of 14, and studied with Eileen Cline and Doris Lehnert.She received her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees under full scholarship from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she was a student of Paul Hersh, and her Doctorate from the University of North Texas as student of Tong-Il Han.While at UNT, she was the top-ranked Teaching Fellow, was on the faculty of the Southern Methodist University Summer Conservatory, a contributing author on a book about the piano music of Haydn, and was awarded the Pi Kappa Lambda Award for top Doctoral Student at UNT.Her Doctoral Dissertation was the recipient of the Mary Massey Morgan Dissertation Award for Excellence in Musical Performance.
Since returning to Texas, she has been a frequent performer, including a recent performance at the Meyerson, as well as appearances with the Plano Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of the MetroCrest.As Artistic Director of the MSO, she is featured as soloist during the 2000-2001 season, as well as overseeing the Young Artist Competition for High School Pianists.Dr. Humm is also an active pre-collegiate artist teacher, whose students receive top prizes at competitions and scholarship opportunities at the college level.
Nielson & Young
After more than three decades of musical collaboration that continues to take them around the world, duo-pianists Stephen Nielson and Ovid Young are veterans of more than 3,500 concerts in a fascinating array of venues. Those performance sites have ranged from Copenhagen, Denmark's Tivoli Concert Hall; Toronto, Canada's Roy Thompson Hall; Madras, India's Academy of Music; Moscow, Russia's Kremlin and Tchaikovsky Hall; Oberammergau, Germany's Passionspiel Theatre; Bern, Switzerland's Konzerthaus; and Dallas, Texas' Meyerson Symphony Center. Nielson & Young have been hosted for concerts at many hundreds of churches and universities, appearing by themselves or with symphony orchestras from coast to coast in the United States and abroad.
On the artistic staff of the International Church Music Festival since 1985, Ovid and Stephen have been active church music leaders in addition to having held appointments as university professors in California, Illinois, Texas and Indiana. Individually and jointly, they are widely-published composers of music for solo and multiple keyboards, choir and orchestra. Nielson & Young's extensive discography includes many recordings from the classical repertoire as well as from the ever-expanding output of their signature hymn-tune arrangements, many of which settings are for two pianos and orchestra.
John Owings
JOHN OWINGS consistently wins enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics for his exciting pianism and sensitive artistry. “Real spiritual elation” was how the London Daily Telegraph described hisplaying of the Elliott Carter Piano Sonata. The Cleveland Plain Dealer called his playing a “fine blend oftechnical brilliance with expressivity,” and the Houston Post, reviewing his performance of the Ravel G Major Concerto, said, “the audience was spellbound.”
Since making his orchestral debut with the San Antonio Symphony at the age of 15, Mr.Owings has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, the Boston Pops, the English Chamber Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestras of Colombia and Peru. He has performed recitals in major cities in the United States, Latin America, Europe and the Far East and has been a guest artist at numerous music festivals. His CD recordings on the Koch International Classics and Opus Millésime labels have received outstanding reviews. His newest CD, on the Pro Organo label, features the complete keyboard works of Julius Reubke.
Gold Medalist of the first Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition in Cleveland, Mr. Owings was also the top prize winner in the Vianna da Motta International Competition in Lisbon, the London Liszt Society Competition, and the Musical Arts Competition in Chicago. He has served on the juries for major international competitions including the Casadesus, the Cleveland, the Gina Bachauer, and the Beethoven in Vienna.
Following his early musical training in his native Texas, John Owings studied at the Royal College of Music in London as a Fulbright Scholar. Later, his studies took him to Switzerland, Italy and The Juilliard School, where he received his Master’s Degree. His teachers have included Dalies Frantz, Rosina Lhevinne, Martin Canin, Karl Leifheit, Geza Anda and Wilhelm Kempff.
Since 1990 John Owings has been a member of the faculty of Texas Christian University where he holds the Herndon Professorship of Music. In 1993, the University conferred upon him its highest award, the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Research and Creative Activity, for his performances of the 32 Beethoven Sonatas. A CD with six of the sonatas from these live performances is available.
Pamela Mia Paul
Pamela Mia Paul is both a brilliant performer and a deeply dedicated teacher. On stage, she has performed with the world’s great orchestras. She has given concerts throughout the U.S., and in Europe, the People’s Republic of China, South Korea and Turkey both as soloist and as chamber musician. In the studio, or in the setting of a Master Class, she is an internationally sought-after pedagogue whose students have participated in and won competitions including the Naumburg International Piano Competition. Ms. Paul has commissioned and premiered works for the piano; Robert Beaser’s Piano Concerto, which was written for her, had its world premiere in the U.S., with the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin, and in Europe with the Monte Carlo Philharmonic under the baton of American conductor Richard Dufallo. The Beaser Concerto had its New York premiere in 1992 at Carnegie Hall, with Dennis Russell Davies conducting the American Composer’s Orchestra.
Miss Paul has received critical acclaim for her appearances with orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, where her interpretations of both standard repertoire and twentieth-century piano concertos have garnered consistent critical praise.
Miss Paul's European orchestral appearances include the Vienna ORF Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Berlin Stadskapelle, and the Dutch Radio Symphony; her U.S orchestral appearances include those with the New York Philharmonic, symphonies of Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Houston, American Composers Orchestra, Boston Pops, New York Pops, the Minnesota Orchestra, and Caramoor Festival Orchestra.
In both orchestral performances and recitals, Ms. Paul has appeared in world’s major concert halls including Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, and the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam.
As a chamber musician, she has been an invited guest artist at the Salzburg and Bregenz Festivals in Austria, Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and at Music Mountain in Connecticut. Quartets with which she has performed include Cassatt, Penderecki, Borromeo, Chester, Orlando, Leontovich, Miro and DaPonte.
Recent engagements include master classes at the Prague International Master Classes, guest artist performances in Seoul and Pusan, South Korea, with Fort Worth Chamber Music Society and Corpus Christi Symphony, and at the Vetta Chamber Music Series in Vancouver and Bargemusic Chamber Music Series in New York City.
Pamela Mia Paul has presented master classes in Europe, The People's Republic of China, South Korea, and throughout the U.S. She received a doctor of musical arts, master of music and bachelor of music from the Juilliard School. She is currently Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas.
Gustavo Romero
Concert pianist Gustavo Romero has a stellar reputation for both the technical brilliance and interpretive depth of his playing, as well as his commitment to in-depth exploration of individual composers. For the past nine years, he has prepared a series of concerts focusing on the music of one composer. So far, he has presented the works of Chopin, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Schubert, and Brahms. These concerts take place initially at the Athenaeum Summer Festival in La Jolla, California, and during this Festival, Mr. Romero also lectures on the artists at the University of California, San Diego. This July, he will present recitals featuring the music of Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Händel in celebration of their 200th and 250th birth and death anniversaries.
Mr. Romero, a native of San Diego, California with heritage in Guadalajara, Mexico, discovered his love and gift for music at age five, when being introduced to the piano of a neighbor. He started taking lessons, and gave his first public performances at the age of 10, while also winning his first piano competition. His early teachers included Ilana Mysior.
Following a recommendation by Bohemian pianist Rudolf Serkin, Gustavo moved to New York City to attend, and graduate from The Juilliard School.
At age 13, he performed with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta.
In 1983 he won the Avery Fisher Young Artist Career Grant, and in 1989 First Prize in the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland. In 2004, Dallas radio station WRR selected one of his concerts as the best performance of the year.
After five years as assistant professor at the University of Illinois/Champaign, Mr. Romero is now associate professor of piano at the University of North Texas.
This summer, he returns to South Africa to continue his ambitious project of presenting Beethoven's complete piano sonatas on three continents, in seven recitals, within three years. This cycle was launched in Johannesburg and Cape Town in 2007, is being continued in Palm Springs, Hong Kong, Taipei, Durban, Johannesburg, Bangkok, and Mexico City, and will conclude in 2010.
In 2010, Gustavo will also be featured at the beautifully restored Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy, as well as in Carmel, California.
In 2008, Gustavo performed in Bangkok, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Mexico.
Highlights in 2007 and 2008 included a seven city recital tour of Japan.
In 2006, Mr. Romero performed piano concerti of Mozart in San Diego conducting from the keyboard, and Mozart duo-piano recitals in Venice and Vicenza, Italy, with Massimo Somenzi. In Fall 2005, he performed duo-piano music in concert with Darío Ntaca of Argentina. In August 2005 he was featured in solo recitals at Massey University (Wellington, New Zealand), Mahidol University (Bangkok, Thailand), and in a concerto performance with the Martha Argerich Sinfonietta (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Master classes were a prominent part of this tour.
Mr. Romero was featured on NPR's These Days on July 2, 2008, and Performance Today on July 22, 2005, performing works of Medtner, Mompou, Granados, and Maratka. Part II of this program aired the same year. In 2004, he completed a two-year Mozart cycle: The Complete Piano Sonatas, Fantasies, and Rondos as well as the Complete Four Hand and Two Piano Works with pianist Massimo Somenzi in concerts across the United States.
For Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto in A minor he was both soloist and conductor in California and Texas.
His complete traversal of Chopin's solo piano works in six sold-out concerts received numerous critical accolades, including the Los Angeles Times, which stated, "Romero showed an easy musicality, solid technical resources, a joy in illuminating miniatures and an unfeigned authority in this music in short, strong rapport with the poetic and lyric elements in the composer's art." The series was recorded for national broadcast on NPR's Performance Today.
Mr. Romero has performed as piano soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta, Houston, Boston Pops, Albuquerque, Austin, Pittsburgh, Honolulu, New World Symphonies, English Chamber Orchestra, Radio France Orchestra, Philharmonia Hungarica, New Japan Philharmonic, Shanghai Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic, Russian Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, and the Liège Philharmonic, a concert internationally broadcast from the United Nations headquarters. He has presented concerts around the globe, and appeared at major music festivals around the world.
With Koch records, Mr. Romero has recorded Chopin, Mompou, Debussy, and the five Beethoven concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra.
He maintains residences in New York City and Dallas.
Adam Wodnicki
Internationally renowned pianist, recording artist and pedagogue, Polish-born artist ADAM WODNICKI has received acclaim on five continents for his dramatic interpretations, poetic sensitivity and brilliant technique. He can be heard on Muza, Folkways, Centaur, Wergo, Altarus, Klavier, and Dux labels. Recordings of cello and piano sonatas by Dzubay, Muczynski and Shostakovich with cellist Carter Enyeart (Centaur) and solo discs with piano works by Ignacy Jan Paderewski (Altarus) received rave notices: ‘one of the year’s best contemporary chamber music albums’ (Chicago Tribune), ‘incontestable brilliance’ (H.C. Schonberg in American Record Guide), and ‘a recording by a master pianist’ (Journal of the American Liszt Society). Wodnicki’s recording of the three Piano Trios by Robert Muczynski (Centaur) was chosen by a Fanfare critic as one of the top five albums on the ‘Best of 2004’ list; and the 2008 release on the Dux label of the Piano Concertos by Serocki, Baird and Krenz received a Polish Phonographic Academy nomination for the 2009 Fryderyk Award.
Adam Wodnicki has also made numerous radio and TV recordings as well as concerto recordings with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
He has concertized and taught in North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Far East. He has appeared in such musical centers as Krakow, Warsaw, Helsinki, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tel Aviv, Pretoria and Prague. In recent seasons he has appeared at prestigious international music festivals such as Arundel Festival in England, Les Rencontres Internationales Frederic Chopin in Nohant and Nancyphonies in Nancy (France) and the Chopin Festival in Marianske Lazne (Marienbad), Czech Republic; he has also performed and taught in Japan, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Ukraine, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Israel, South Africa, Colombia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Argentina, and Austria. Since 1991 he has returned yearly to his native Poland for highly successful tours; his appearance at the Paderewski Festival in Krakow was described by the press as a ‘pianistic sensation’ (Czas Krakowski).
Adam Wodnicki studied with Jan Hoffman, Guido Agosti and Gyorgy Sebok, and his artistic roots can be traced to the traditions of Fryderyk Chopin, Franz Liszt and Ferrucio Busoni. Three-time prizewinner of the annual Chopin Society National Piano Competition in Warsaw and the recipient of three prizes at the 8th Festival of Polish Pianists, Wodnicki is Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas in Denton and Co-Director of International Piano Masterclasses in Varna. He has served on juries of international competitions and is a performance editor for the Musica Iagellonica’s first ever edition of The Complete Works by Paderewski. Adam Wodnicki is a Steinway Artist.