Important works by the great 20th century American composers - including the classic Gershwin preludes and Rhapsody in Blue.

12 MP3 Songs in this album (54:01) !
Related styles: CLASSICAL: Piano solo, CLASSICAL: Twentieth Century



Details:
Laureate of the 1996 Honens International Piano Competition, Eugene Watanabe was the first artist to graduate from The Curtis Institute of Music with degrees in two instruments, piano and violin. His principal piano teachers have been Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank and Gary Amano.

Watanabe's concert career has taken him through North America, Europe and Asia. At concerts in New York's Carnegie Hall and Washington's Kennedy Center he played concertos for both violin and piano with the New York String Orchestra directed by Alexander Schneider. With the Utah Symphony he performed two violin concertos in the first part of an all-Bach program and a piano concerto after the intermission.
about the artist:

Since 1997 Watanabe has concentrated on piano. That year he performed at Canadaâs Festival of the Sound and in recital across Germany. In 1998 he performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue outdoors at Calgary's Festival on the Bow with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 1 with the Utah Symphony. More recently Watanabe appeared with the CBCâs Barbara Budd in a performance of Poulenc's Babar at Torontoâs Harbourfront Centre, performed with Hans Graf and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and travelled to Germany for a seven-city tour. He has also appeared as guest soloist with the Hamburg Symphony, Moscow State Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Wichita Falls Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony, Martinu Chamber , and the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestras. An active chamber musician, the ensembles with which he has collaborated include Saint Lawrence String Quartet, New Zealand String Quartet, Western Arts String Quartet, and on the Nova Chamber Series.