Hungarian Pictures

Featured in “Hungarian Pictures” in January.

German Pianist Andreas Klein has distinguished himself as a dynamic and compelling performer with his command of a wide range of tonal colors and imaginative interpretations. The New York Times declared him “A fascinating artist with all the indispensable qualities: temperament, taste, touch, tone, the four T’s of pianism” and “A pianist who makes silences sound like music”. Andreas Klein’s career as orchestra soloist and recitalist has taken him to the world’s most prestigious venues from London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, to Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center. In Europe as well as in the USA, Mexico, and the Middle East, he has gained critical acclaim for his performances in major cities such as Berlin, Rome, Milan, Bern, Leipzig, Dresden, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, Cleveland, Damascus, and Mexico City.

His signature repertoire includes all Mozart and Beethoven Concerti. The Tagesspiegel in Berlin raved about his Mozart Piano Concerto KV 459 with the legendary Berlin Philharmonic: “humorous flamboyancy and impeccable technique, grace, melodious sound and plenty of brilliance Andreas Klein was invited to perform with other important orchestras in Germany, including the Berlin Symphony and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony, the later with which he was the first to premier and record Mendelssohn’s Concerto in A minor. MDR Radio’s broadcast of the Frank and Liszt Concerti with the Halle Orchestra received acclaim from listeners nationwide.

His CD releases have received praise by critics, conductors and presenters alike. Of his Beethoven and Berg album, the New York Times wrote: “Mr. Klein is an excellent pianist. In Berg’s Sonata the voluptuous haze was blown away: one followed the progress of every theme and motive as they steadily transformed themselves into a single architectural design”.

Andreas Klein is a graduate of the Juilliard School and complemented his studies with the legendary Claudio Arrau and Nikita Magaloff. Copies of his dissertation on the Chopin Etudes are in the libraries of the Chopin Society in Vienna and in Leipzig as well as downloadable form Rice University Library.

Represented by: Marianne Schmocker Artists International
marianneschmockerartists@gmail.com Tel/Fax: 631-470-0393 25 Madison St. , Huntington, NY 11743

Raymond Chobaz, Professor of Music and Conductor Laureate of the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra

Raymond will conduct “Vive la France!” in January, 2025.

Raymond Chobaz holds the Provost’s UF Term Professorship and is music director and conductor of the University of Florida Symphony Orchestra and conductor of Dance Alive National Ballet. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics summa cum laude, and a Master of Arts degree in music theory. As an International Rotary Scholar at the University of Utah, he received both a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting and a Ph.D. in music composition under Vladimir Ussachevsky. Post-doctoral studies allowed him to assist and work with Herbert Blomstedt in San Francisco, Kyrill Kondrashin in Amsterdam, Raphael Kubelik in Lucerne, Erich Leinsdorf in New York, Witold Rowicki in Vienna, Georg Tintner in Prague, and Pierre Boulez in Basel and Paris.

Chobaz is the recipient of numerous federal grants, scholarships, awards, and first prizes in both composition and conducting, which include the Leroy Robertson, Intercollegiate Bicentennial Composition Competition, Utah Composers Guild, Paul Sacher Stiftung, Martha Baird Rockefeller, Blomstedt International Conducting Award for Orchestral Performance and Symphonic Literature, the Beethoven Festival in Marienbad, and Czech National Opera and Radio Prague International Conducting Competition. As the top winner, he was invited to conduct all major symphony orchestras and opera companies in the Czech Republic and appointed conductor-in-residence of the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, the Marienbad International Music Festival with the West Bohemian National Orchestra, and the annual International Composition Workshop with the Olomouc Symphony Orchestra.

In recognition of his national and international accomplishments, Chobaz has received grants for Advanced Research in Music Performance from the International Research and Exchanges Board in Washington, D.C., US Department of Education, US Information Agency, US Department of State, US Army, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, and International Symphonic Workshops, Canada. Additionally, he has received various grants from the Florida Department of Cultural Affairs, which included the official representation of the State of Florida with Dance Alive National Ballet at the International Ballet Festival in Havana, Cuba, Florida Sea Grant, a special Research Leave by the Office of the Provost to work with Prof. Richard Ernst, Nobel Prize Laureate, at the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, and most recently, both a Distinguished Alumnus and Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Utah. This past fall, Dr. Chobaz has also been asked to take over the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra in Orlando.

During his tenure at the University of Florida, Chobaz has founded the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra and provided many new experiences for his students with internationally known artists, first-time ballet and opera productions, television and radio broadcasts, children’s and pops concerts, multi-media and interdisciplinary collaborations with painters, poets, writers, dancers, and ethnic ensembles, commissions and first performances that earned the orchestra an ASCAP Nissim Award for innovative programing.