Ralph Votapek

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Ralph Votapek (born March 20, 1939 in Milwaukee ) is an American classical pianist and piano teacher. He is currently Professor Emeritus of the College of Music at Michigan State University , where he was artist-in-residence and taught for 36 years.

life and work

Ralph Votapek began his musical education at the age of nine. He enrolled at the Wisconsin Conservatory to study piano. He continued his studies at Northwestern University and then attended the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School . His teachers were Guy Mombaerts (Northwestern University), Robert Goldsand (Manhattan School of Music), Rosina Lhevinne and Nadia Reisenberg (both Juilliard School) and Rudolf Serkin . In 1959 Votapek won the prestigious New York Naumburg Award . In 1962 he won the gold medal at the First Van Cliburn International Piano Competition .

Orchestra soloist

Votapek has given numerous concerts with major American orchestras. He was a guest soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra no less than sixteen times . He often played with the Boston Pops . He has also performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra , the New York Philharmonic , the Los Angeles Philharmonic , the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra , the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra, as well as with the leading orchestras in St. Louis , Houston , Dallas , Louisville and others US cities. He has also performed in concerts in London, Lisbon, St. Petersburg and the Far East. From 1966 he became particularly involved in South America, where he gave concerts every two years in Buenos Aires , Rio de Janeiro , Asunción , Montevideo , Sao Paulo , Lima , Caracas , Santiago and numerous smaller cities and still gives them today. In 2013, Votapek was named the Best Foreign Artist by the Association of Argentine Music Critics . In May 2018 he showed his art on his 26th South America concert tour.

Soloist and Chamber Musician

He has been heard as a piano soloist on four continents: In New York, he has performed regularly at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center . He also made regular appearances at the Orchestra Hall in Chicago and the National Gallery in Washington. Guest appearances with ensembles such as the Juilliard, the Fine Arts, the New World and the Chester String Quartet are highlights of his extensive chamber music experience. Votapek's wife Albertine often accompanies him in two-piano and four-hand piano concerts. They have performed together in Buenos Aires under the auspices of the Mozarteum Argentino , in the Van Cliburn Series in Fort Worth , in the Pabst Theater Series in Milwaukee and at many universities.

Sound carrier recordings

Votapek was the soloist on Arthur Fiedler's last Boston Pops recording in 1979 , Gershwin's Second Rhapsody , which was released on CD by the London Records label . Most recently he was heard on the Deutsche Grammophon CD "The Arthur Fiedler Legacy". In recent years he has made many recordings for the Ivory Classics and Blue Griffin labels . On the first label he recorded the complete Debussy preludes, the complete Goyescas by Granados and a collection of important works of the 20th century. On the second label he recorded “Votapek Plays Gershwin”, “The Votapeks, from Mozart to Piazzolla”, Beethoven's complete works for piano and cello with the cellist Suren Bagratuni and most recently “Schubert's last sonatas”. All of these recordings have received high praise from music critics.

Rating

Votapek's repertoire is huge. It includes the works of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Debussy, Ravel, Prokofiev, Ginastera , Gershwin, Diamond and contemporary composers such as Kent Kennan and James Willey . His "keyboard style" embodies the best elements from the piano traditions of the 20th century and "combines the fire, poetry and tonal warmth of the prewar period with the modern virtues of demanding clarity and an electrifying rhythmic flair."

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date of birth exact to the day according to information from the French National Library.
  2. ↑ a b information from allmusic.com.
  3. ↑ a b information from ralphvotapek.com.
  4. ↑ Rating according to ralphvotapek.com.
personal data
SURNAME Votapek, Ralph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American classical pianist and piano teacher
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Milwaukee