Spectrum is proud to have a roster of four incredible pianists available to perform Rhapsody in Blue with us! All of them are world-class artists who perform with intense energy a presence, leaving your audience on their feet calling for more!
Aviram Reichert- acclaimed for his deeply intelligent interpretations, phenomenal technique and ravishing tone - won the Bronze Medal at the 10th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1997. Earlier accomplishments include First Prize at the Dong-A International Piano Competition in Seoul, Korea in 1996, Grand Prix at the 1995 Epinal International Piano Competition in France, and top prizes at the 1995 International Music Competition of Japan and at the Köln (1993) and Bremen (1996) International Piano Competitions.
Reichert is a frequent soloist with all the leading orchestras in his native country, Israel, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. His prize-winning participation in competitions in Japan and Korea has brought him engagements for recital and concert tours in the Far East where he has been earning immense applause for more than a decade, performing in Japan with the Tokyo Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and with the Daegu Symphony Orchestra of South Korea. He has also performed with the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic, the major orchestras in South Africa, and has played and recorded with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Broadcast Symphony Orchestra and the Dessau Symphony Orchestra (Germany). Conductors he has worked with include the late Sergiu Commissiona, Nicholas Cleobury, James Conlon, PeterBay, James De Priest, Leslie Dunner, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, David Lockington, Ken-ichiro Kobayashi, Emmanuel Krivine, Meir Minsky, Kevin Rhodes, and Barry Wordsworth.
In the United States he has appeared with the Spokane and Yakima Orchestras, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Eugene Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic, Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, West Shore Symphony Orchestra and the Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra, amongst numerous others. The 2008 season included performances of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 with the Tacoma Symphony, and Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on Theme of Paganini with the Springfield (MA) Symphony Orchestra.
In recital, Reichert has performed throughout the United States, Israel, South Africa, Japan, Korea and Europe where an appearance at the Herkules-Saal in Munich elicited an enthusiastic ovation and high critical praise. Festival performances include the Ruhr and Epinal Music Festivals, Tokyo Summer Festival, Bear Valley, CA, Durango and Steamboat Springs, CO, Ravinia Festival, the Fontana and the Gilmore Keyboard Festivals. A fine chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists such as Anne Akiko Meyers, Maya Beiser, Guy Braunstein, Yuri Gandelsman, Vadim Gluzman, Dylana Jenson, Bill Purcell and Philippe Quint.
He can be heard on a Harmonia Mundi CD featuring highlights of his prize-winning solo performance at the Van Cliburn Competition, a Jerusalem Music Center label (JMC) featuring two Schubert Sonatas, and Mozart concerti with the Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra under the baton of Mischa Semanitzky.
In addition to his busy performing career, Reichert is a sought-after teacher who is frequently invited to conduct master-classes in Japan, Korea, South Africa, Israel and the United States. From 2001-2008 he held the positions of Associate Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI. Mr. Reichert was recently appointed Professor of Piano at Seoul National University, College of Music.
Aviram Reichert studied at the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel Aviv with Professor Arie Vardi.
Pianist Ralph Votapek’s early triumphs — as winner of the prestigious Naumburg Award and gold Medalist in the first Van Cliburn International Piano Competition — were an auspicious prelude to an even more remarkable career. Votapek’s compelling keyboard style embodies all that is best in twentieth-century piano traditions, combining the fire, poetry and tonal warmth of the grand-manner prewar era with the modern-day virtues of fastidious clarity and electrifying rhythmic flair.
Mr. Votapek has made literally hundreds of appearances with major American orchestras, partnered by such legendary conductors as Rafael Kubelik, William Steinberg, Joseph Krips and Erich Leinsdorf. Featured no less than sixteen times as the Chicago Symphony’s guest soloist, Votapek has frequently played with the Boston Pops, also concertizing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony, and leading orchestras in St. Louis, Houston Dallas, Louisville and elsewhere.
With concerto appearances abroad ranging through London, Lisbon, St. Petersburg and into the Far East, Mr. Votapek has made a special commitment to Latin America, where he has toured every other year for more than 42 years, performing in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Asuncion, Montevideo, Sao Paolo, Lima, Caracas, Santiago and numerous smaller cities. Mr. Votapek is equally celebrated as a solo recitalist throughout four continents: in New York alone, he has performed repeatedly at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Guest appearances with the Juilliard, Fine Arts, New World and Chester String Quartets are highlights of his extensive chamber music experience.
Born in Milwaukee, Mr. Votapek began his musical education at age nine, when he enrolled in the Wisconsin Conservatory. Continuing his studies at Northwestern University, he subsequently attended the Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School, where his principal teachers were Rosina Lhevinne and Robert Goldsand. He presently serves as Artist-in-Residence at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Mr. Votapek was the soloist on Arthur Fiedler’s last Boston Pops recording, a Gershwin program released on CD by London Records, and most recently available as part of the Deutsche Grammophon CD titled “The Arthur Fiedler Legacy.” In recent years he has recorded prolifically for the Ivory Classics and Blue Griffin labels. On the former, he has recorded the complete Debussy Preludes, the complete Goyescas of Granados, and a collection of important 20th century works. On the latter there are “Votapek Plays Gershwin,” “The Votapeks, from Mozart to Piazzolla,” and Beethoven’s complete works for piano and cello with cellist, Suren Bagratuni. Each recording has received critical acclaim in the industry’s leading publications.
Frequently joined by his wife Albertine in two piano and four hand recitals, the Votapeks have appeared in Buenos Aires under the auspices of the Mozarteum Argentino, on the Van Cliburn series in Fort Worth, the Pabst Theatre Series in Milwaukee, and have been featured on performing arts series of numerous colleges and universities.
Ralph Votapek is Professor Emeritus of Piano at the Michigan State University College of Music.
Ellen Rowehas been described as “that rare ‘triple threat’ of pianist, composer-arranger, and teacher” (Arizona Daily Star), a title that until recently kept her too busy to actually record an album under her own name. That situation has been thankfully rectified with the recent debut release of “Sylvan Way,” a dynamic work that combines standards and intriguing original compositions that soar with emotion and expression. Bassist Rufus Reid states "Ellen Rowe has produced an excellent recording that showcases her immense talents as a composer and pianist. This CD definitely invites repeated listening. Enjoy “Sylvan Way,” as I have."
Ms. Rowe has performed at various jazz clubs and concert halls throughout the United States and has toured many parts of Europe and Australia. She has had the honor of appearing on
Marian McPartland’s acclaimed NPR show "Piano Jazz" twice, with the most recent taping due to air in the spring of 2003. In 1991 the Ellen Rowe Trio garnered first place in the Hartford CT Advocate Readers’ Poll for Best Acoustic Jazz. In addition to leading her own trio and quartet, she is in great demand as a sideman, performing with a variety of artists including Kenny Wheeler, Ingrid Jensen, John Clayton, Tom Harrell and Jiggs Whigham. In keeping with the eclectic nature of her earliest musical influences, Ms. Rowe also continues to play classically, recently performing the Stravinsky Piano Concerto with the University of Michigan Wind Ensemble.
Her compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by a wide variety of jazz ensembles and orchestras around the world, including the legendary Village Vanguard Orchestra, the BBC Jazz Orchestra, the U.S. Navy Commodores, the Berlin Radio Jazz Orchestra and the big band DIVA. Her big band compositions are currently published by Sierra Music Publications.
Born in Ridgefield, Connecticut to musician parents, Ms. Rowe began playing the piano by ear when she was 4. “Being constantly surrounded by wonderful music in the house was an incredible gift,” she says. “I was hearing everything from Brahms trios and Beethoven symphonies to English folk music, musicals, the Beatles and Dave Brubeck.” Informed by her high school band director that she could not play in the school’s jazz band unless she started to study the art form more seriously, she embarked on her first formal piano lessons with jazz pianist and pedagogue John Mehegan. She comments, “I was so fortunate to be able to work with John. He had been a part of the New York scene in the ‘40s and ‘50s and was one of the very first people to put together a methodical approach to studying improvisation.” Becoming aware of and listening to such jazz luminaries as Bud Powell, Bill Evans, and Horace Silver at the age of 14 had an extremely powerful impact on the young pianist.
After working with Mehegan for four years, she entered the Eastman School of Music in 1976, where she continued her studies with Bill Dobbins and Rayburn Wright. While attending Eastman she had her first significant professional success, winning the Kansas City Womens’ Jazz Festival Combo Competition with her jazz quintet “Joyspring.” The group subsequently performed at that festival as well as at the New York City Womens’ Jazz Festival. The Kansas City Star reviewed the performance and praised Ms. Rowe as a “gifted composer and pianist who can move with ease from thumb-popping funk to straight ahead bebop.” It was during this time period that she also acquired her first professional arranging experience, writing orchestral features for Marian McPartland and Gene Bertoncini as well as big band features for Red Mitchell and Bob Brookmeyer.
Ms. Rowe is currently on the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Music, where she is Associate Professor of Jazz Piano, Chair of the Department of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation, and directs the University of Michigan Jazz Ensemble. Her music resounds at once with melodic depth and compelling intensity, defining Ellen Rowe as a formidable talent poised to take her place among the top jazz artists of today.
Anthony Patterson holds the position of Artist-in-Residence at Alma College. One of the great pianists who is equally at home in the classical and popular music worlds, Tony performs as a soloist and collaborative musician countless times each year. As a coach/accompanist he performs regularly with other professional musicians, and he accompanies Alma students in their recitals and public performances.
A noted composer, Tony has released two CD recordings of his original piano compositions and he has written and arranged many songs for the Alma Choirs. His choral arrangements can be heard on several of the Alma Choir CDs.
For eighteen years Tony has been a member of the artist faculty at the Bay View Festival in northern Michigan where he has served as the Music Director for the renowned Bay View Opera.
Tony made his solo debut at the age of eight playing the Mozart Piano Concerto #29. A graduate of Ohio University, where he studied with Professor Richard Syracuse, Tony has won or been a finalist in a number of prestigious piano competitions including the Ohio and National Federation of Music Clubs competition.
