NEXTGEN COMPETITION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Piano Faculty of Manhattan School of Music
Pianist Joanne Polk was catapulted into the public eye with her recordings of the complete piano works of American composer Amy Beach (1867-1944) on the Arabesque Recordings label. Ms. Polk celebrated the centennial of Beach's Piano Concerto by giving the work its London premiere with the English Chamber Orchestra at the Barbican Center under the baton of Paul Goodwin. A few days later, Ms. Polk performed the Piano Concerto with the Women's Philharmonic in San Francisco with conductor Apo Hsu in a performance described as "brilliant" by critic Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle. He went on to describe Ms. Polk's performance as, "an enormously vital, imaginative reading. Her playing was expansive in the opening movement, brittle and keen in the delightful scherzo. She brought a light touch to the foreshortened slow movement and fearless technical penache to the showy conclusion."
The first recording in the Beach series, by the still waters, received the 1998 INDIE award for best solo recording. Empress of Night, the fifth volume of Ms. Polk's survey of Beach's piano works, includes the Piano Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra, Paul Goodwin conducting. The sixth volume of the series, Morning Glories, joins Ms. Polk with the Lark Quartet in three outstanding chamber music works by Amy Beach. Two all-Beach performances at Merkin Concert Hall, which featured Joanne Polk and the Lark Quartet, were applauded by the New York Times, as they deemed Polk's performances "polished and assured." American Record Guide reported, "Polk and the Larks played their hearts out. We in the audience shouted ourselves hoarse with gratitude."
Prior to recording the complete piano music of Amy Beach, Ms. Polk recorded Completely Clara: Lieder by Clara Wieck Schumann, her debut CD for Arabesque Recording, featuring Metropolitan Opera soprano Korliss Uecker. This CD was selected as a "Best of the Year" recording by The Seattle Times and was featured on Performance Today on New York Public Radio. Ms. Polk's CD for Albany Records, Callisto, features the solo piano music of Judith Lang Zaimont. Her CD titled Songs of Amy Beach, recorded with baritone Patrick Mason for Bridge Records, was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2010, Ms. Polk's two-CD set of solo piano music by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Songs for Pianofore, was released on the Newport Classic label. Ms. Polk's solo piano CD, titled Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, was released in 2012 on the Bridge Records label.
In 2014, Ms. Polk's CD titled The Flatterer, solo piano music of French Romantic composer Cécile Chaminade, was released on the Steinway & Sons Label. The CD was a "Pick of the Week" on New York's classical radio station WQXR and debuted at #1 on the Classical Billboard Chart. In 2017, Joanne Polk's CD, Gershwin & Wild, was released on the Steinway & Sons Label and features Earl Wild's transcriptions of Gershwin songs, as well as Wild's Piano Sonata. American Record Guide called Ms. Polk's playing on this CD, "plush and dreamily attractive…"
In 2014, Joanne Polk was named as one of Musical America's Top 30 Professionals of the Year in an article titled, "Profiles in Courage." Ms. Polk's profile focused on her work promoting the music of women composers.
Ms. Polk received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music Degrees from The Juilliard School, and her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Manhattan School of Music. She has given master classes at many summer festivals and universities across the country, and in 2018 completed a five-city, three-week concert and master class tour of Taiwan and China.
In 2019, two of Ms. Polk's CDs, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn and The Flatterer: Solo Piano Music by Cécile Chaminade, were included on New York City's classical radio station WQXR's Essential Piano Recordings.
In February 2020, Ms. Polk's CD Louise Farrenc Etudes and Variations for Solo Piano, was released on the Steinway & Sons Label. In March 2020, Joanne Polk was interviewed about her Farrenc CD on NPR's Performance Today hosted by radio personality Fred Child. In December 2020, Ms. Polk's Farrenc CD was on The New York Times "Best Classical Music of 2020" list.
Ms. Polk recorded Variations on Santa Claus is Coming To Town (after Chopin's Etudes), a brilliant and fun set of variations composed by David Shenton, utilizing all 24 Chopin Etudes, and weaving the popular Christmas song throughout. This digital album was released on the Steinway & Sons Label in November 2020. In November 2021, Steinway and Sons released Ms. Polk's latest CD, Social Flutterby, solo piano music by David Shenton. This CD includes Shenton's Piano Sonata, a Ballade dedicated to Joanne Polk, and a set of delightful short pieces titled Six Musical Oddities. Variations on Santa Claus is Coming To Town (after Chopin's Etudes) was rereleased on Social Flutterby.
Ms. Polk is a member of the piano faculty of Manhattan School of Music and is an exclusive Steinway artist.
Job Titles:
- International Steinway Artist
- Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music
Hailed as an "American Virtuoso" (Audiophile Audition), "enormous power and intelligent, instinctive interpretation" (Spoleto Today), and "simply dazzling" (The State), pianist Joseph Rackers has performed for enthusiastic audiences in New York, Boston, Chicago, Kiev, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Seoul and Washington D.C., at venues across Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Bulgaria, Ukraine and extensively throughout the United States. His performances around the world include the Shanghai and Sichuan Conservatories of Music, Kiev International Music Festival, Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival, Seoul International Piano Festival, Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, Banff Centre for the Arts, Indiana University Piano Festival, American Liszt Society Festival, Yantai International Music Festival, Varna International Piano Festival and Society of Composers International Conference, in addition to recitals in most of the fifty states in the U.S. Gramophone writes, "the results are consistently compelling…as if Rackers response were primarily to his relationship with the composer as some sort of kindred spirit."
Joseph Rackers is an International Steinway Artist. His recordings as soloist, collaborative pianist and producer are available on MSR Classics, Navona, Centaur, Equilibrium, Beauport Classics and Steinway Spirio and his performances have been broadcast on radio and television across the United States and Europe. His recent solo release with MSR Classics was widely recognized by the press; "unflappable virtuosity…highly expressive…committed to letting the composer's voice-as he hears it-come through" (American Record Guide), "compelling power, rhythmic persuasiveness…consummate style…complete mastery" (Audio Society).
Rackers is Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music, Co-Founder of the Southeastern Piano Festival and Artistic Director of the Vivace Music Foundation. He has been honored as an Illustrious Alumni of the University of Missouri School of Music for the one-hundredth anniversary of the school and has also been honored by the South Carolina House of Representatives and South Carolina State Senate for his personal contribution to the arts in South Carolina and leadership of the Southeastern Piano Festival. He has given presentations and performances for conferences of the Music Teachers National Association, College Music Society and North American Historical Keyboard Society. Prior to his appointment at Eastman, he served as Professor of Piano at the University of South Carolina School of Music and head of the Piano Area.
Also active as a chamber musician, Rackers has performed widely as a member of the Lomazov/Rackers Piano Duo. Praised for "demon precision and complete dedication" (Audio Society), the duo garnered significant attention as the Second Prize Winners of the Sixth Ellis Competition for Duo Pianists, the only national duo piano competition in the United States at that time. Gramophone praises the duo for "assured and centered pianism" and American Record Guide writes "the ensemble between Lomazov and Rackers is dead-on". Rackers earned the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees at the Eastman School of Music, where he was also awarded the Performer's Certificate. His principal teachers were Raymond Herbert and Natalya Antonova with additional study or masterclasses with Julian Martin, Misha Dichter and Blanca Uribe, among others.
A devoted teacher, Rackers has given masterclasses at Indiana University, University of Michigan, Boston University, Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival, UCLA, UNLV, Vanderbilt, and at conservatories and music festivals across Europe and Asia. He has recently served as Schwartz Artist in Residence at Emory University and as faculty or guest artist at the Chicago International Music Institute, Music Fest Perugia, Burgos International Music Festival, Texas State International Piano Festival and as a National Reviewer for the National YoungArts Foundation. He is in demand as a jury member for national and international piano competitions and his students have performed for venues including Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Minnesota Orchestra, Aspen and Cliburn music festivals, From the Top on NPR and Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater. They have earned dozens of national and international awards and are active as performers and teachers in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Hailing from the Bay Area in California, Joshua Schiller founded the NextGen International Piano Competition in 2020. As COVID-19 restrictions tightened, pianists were drastically affected by the limitations imposed on the music world: in-person recitals, festivals, and competitions could not be held as usual. To overcome these limitations, Joshua decided to frame the competition within a virtual landscape, allowing pianists from a diverse array of countries and musical backgrounds to participate.
Hailed by the New York Times as "a marvelous pianist," Peter Takács has performed widely, receiving critical and audience acclaim for his penetrating and communicative musical interpretations.
Mr. Takács was born in Bucuresti, Romania and started his musical studies before his fourth birthday. After his debut recital at age seven, he was a frequent recitalist in his native city until his parents' request for emigration to the West, at which point all his studies and performances were banned. He continued studying clandestinely with his piano teacher until his family was finally allowed to emigrate to France, where, at age fourteen, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National de Paris.
Upon his arrival in the United States, his outstanding musical talents continued to be recognized with full scholarships to Northwestern University and the University of Illinois, and a three-year fellowship for doctoral studies at the Peabody Conservatory, where he completed his artistic training with renowned pianist Leon Fleisher.
Mr. Takács has received numerous prizes and awards, including First Prize in the William Kapell International Competition, the C.D. Jackson Award for Excellence in Chamber Music at the Tanglewood Music Center, and a Solo Recitalist Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. His performances have been hailed by audiences and the press for their penetrating intellectual insight as well as for emotional urgency and communication.
Mr. Takács has performed as guest soloist with major orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, as well as at important summer festivals such as Tanglewood, Music Mountain, Chautauqua Institution, ARIA International, Schlern Music Festival in the Italian Alps, Tel Hai International Master Classes in Israel, Sweden's Helsingborg Festival, Musicfest Perugia, and the Beijing International Music Festival. Since 2008, he has been a member of the faculty at the Montecito Summer Music Festival in Riverside, CA. He has performed and recorded the complete cycle of Beethoven Piano Sonatas, which was released on the CAMBRIA label in July 2011. In 2015, he was selected to inaugurate a new series in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall entitled "Key Pianists", presenting three recitals of Beethoven solo and chamber music to critical acclaim. His recording of the complete Beethoven piano-cello music with cellist Robert DeMaine was released in July 2022.
Mr. Takács' success as a teacher is attested to by his students' accomplishments, who have won top prizes in competitions in the United States, Canada, Europe, and South Africa. They have been accepted at major graduate schools such as the Curtis Institute, Juilliard School, Peabody Conservatory, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, among many others. Mr. Takács has given master classes in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and has been a jury member at prestigious national and international competitions such as San Antonio International Keyboard Competition, Canadian National Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition, and Hilton Head International Piano Competition. In 2020, a generous donor established a fund for a Takács/Beethoven Piano Sonata Prize to be awarded to a student excelling in Beethoven interpretation. Mr. Takács is Professor of Piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he has been teaching since 1976.