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Contact Information: Cougar Classics |
NEW RELEASEEnrique Graf: Bach, Mendelssohn, Mussorgsky
This CD released May, 2008, includes a rare recording of the Aria Variata Alla Maniera Italiana, one of two sets of variations written by Bach, the other being the often recorded and performed Goldberg Variations. The other works are Felix Mendelssohn's masterpiece, Variations Serieuses Op. 54 and a monumental reading of Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. |
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Enrique GrafEnrique Graf was born in Montevideo, Uruguay,
and is now an American citizen. After winning all of the national competitions
in Uruguay, he went to the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins
University to study with Leon Fleisher on a full scholarship from the
Organization of American States and the Peabody.
He won First Prize in the William Kapell International Competition, the National Ensemble Piano Competition and the East and West International Competition in New York City. He received the Immigrant Achievement Award from the American Immigration Law Foundation. Graf has given recitals all over the world and has been soloist with such orchestras as the Baltimore, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Florida, West Virginia, Illinois, Flagstaff, Charleston, New York City and Jupiter Symphonies, the Symphony of the Americas, the National Chamber Orchestra, the Illinois Chamber Orchestra, the American Chamber Orchestra, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Sinfonia da Camara, the Puerto Rico Symphony, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Montevideo Philharmonic, the Lviv Philharmonic, the Janacek Philharmonic in the Czech Republic, and the national orchestras of Ukraine, Chile, Uruguay, Peru and Colombia. He has appeared at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, Teatro Opera in Buenos Aires, the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Florida, South Bay Center for the Arts in Los Angeles, Chautauqua Festival, San Miguel de Allende Chamber Music Festival in Mexico, the University of Maryland and University of Houston International Piano Festivals, Spoleto International Piano Festival in Italy, “Contrasts” Festival in Lviv and Kiev Music Fest in the Ukraine. As a chamber musician he has toured with such ensembles as Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Baltimore Wind Ensemble, the American Chamber Players, the Prague Wind Quintet, the Ives Quartet. An all Poulenc CD with the Charleston Symphony was a pick of the month by the Sunday London Times and was awarded five stars in Classic CD. Other recordings of Mozart Sonatas, Liszt’s B Minor Sonata, Bach Suites, and concertos by Grieg , Edward Hart, Gershwin and Beethoven have received such praise as "ideal performances" (Fanfare). Graf taught for fourteen years at the Peabody Preparatory, received the Directors' Award for Outstanding Teaching and since 1989 he has been University Artist in Residence at the College of Charleston where he has been awarded the Distinguished Research Award. Since 1996 Graf has also been Artist Lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University. He is editor of an edition of Mozart piano sonatas published jointly by G. Schirmer and Hal Leonard. |
"Mr. Graf's Bach playing is extroverted, impulsive and altogether joyous, marked by an irresistible sense of flow."The New York Times"Wonderfully inevitable Bach... Graf is a musician first and, only after that, an assured and technically complete pianist."The Washington Post"The pianist managed to unify into a compelling whole the disparate elements in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition."The New York Times"He pulled off a superb performance (Mussorgsky). He is a master of detail and looks at each phrase closely and intimately. He is a master of the big picture and outlines musical structures with bold clarity."The Washington Post |
