Thomas Rosenkranz
Performance Details
Date: Friday, February 7th at 7:30pm
Location: Ewell Recital Hall
Admission: Free
About the Performer
Thomas Rosenkranz enjoys a musical life as a soloist, chamber musician, and artist teacher. Since winning the Classical Fellowship Award from the American Pianists Association, his concert career has taken him to four continents. His repertoire extends from the works of J.S. Bach to premieres of works written exclusively for him, often including improvisation in his performances.
During recent years, he has concertized in many of the major cities of Asia including Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Jakarta, and Bangkok. His first trip to China began in 2006 when he was a featured soloist with the Oberlin Orchestra, and since then, he has returned annually. His 2013 visit included a nine-city tour, including solo performances in the Grand Theatres of Ningbo, Hangzhou, and Wenzhou.
During the summers, he is in residence at the soundSCAPE Festival in Maccagno, Italy where he engages pianists in the performance of new music. In 2010, he co-founded Muiscians from soundSCAPE with percussionist Aiyun Huang and vocalist Tony Arnold, highlighting the commissioned works of the festival in concert and in recordings. He also continues to perform with the two piano, two percussion group Hammer/Klavier which recently commissioned a large-scale work by Paul Lansky entitled, Textures.
In addition to his work in western art music, Mr. Rosenkranz continues to explore multi-cultural projects. He was named a Cultural Ambassador sponsored by the U.S. Department of States in 2003 and has traveled to Tunisia more than a dozen times to teach, collaborate, and perform with local Tunisian musicians at such festivals as the Carthage International and the Tabarka Jazz Festival.
He has been appointed to visiting residencies and professorships at the Sichuan Conservatory, Xinghai Conservatory, Universtiy of California at San Diego, and the Higher Institute de Musique Tunis among others. He has taught masterclasses at the Shanghai Conservatory, Tunghai University (Taiwan), Idllwyld Arts Acadamy, and the Oberlin Conservatory. Prior to his appointment at BGSU, he was a faculty member at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
He has served on the jury of the International Spring Festival Competition (Shanghai), Shanghai Young Artist Competition, and the Oberline International Festival Competition.
Mr. Rosenkranz completed an undergraduate degree from Oberlin College Conservatory where he studied with Robert Shannon and earned a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with and was a teaching assistant to Nelita True. On behalf of the Presser Foundation, he studied with Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen in Paris. He is currently Associate Professor of Piano at the College fo Musical Arts at BGSU where he teaches piano, chamber music and leads the improvisation collective, The Combustible Arts Ensemble.
Program Selection
| Piano Piece no. 4 (1977) | Frederic Rzewski (b.1938) |
| And the Waves Sing Because They Are Moving (2004) |
Thomas Osborne (b. 1978) |
| "Until the end, my dear." (2012) | Christopher Dietz (b. 1977) |
| Brief Pause | |
| From Piano and Voices Hannah Schygulla Billie Holiday |
Peter Ablinger (b. 1959) |
| Pefume for Piano and Stereo Electronics (2013) World Premiere |
Paul Leary (b. 1974) |
| The Body of Your Dreams (2002) | Jacob Ter Veldhuis (b. 1951) |
