2022 State Conference
featured ARTIST
ENRIQUE GRAF, piano
LECTURE PRESENTATION & ADVANCED MASTER CLASS ARTIST
Enrique Graf was born in Uruguay and is also an American citizen. After winning all of the national piano competitions in Uruguay, he went to the Peabody Conservatory to study with Leon Fleisher on a full scholarship from the Organization of American States.
First Prize Winner in the William Kapell International Piano Competition, Enrique Graf has been soloist with the Baltimore, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Florida, New York, West Virginia, Chautauqua, Flagstaff, Augusta, Macon, Charleston, Greenville, Illinois Symphonies, the National Chamber Orchestra, American Chamber Orchestra, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, South Carolina Philharmonic, Symphony of the Americas, the Moscow Philharmonic, and the orchestras of Ukraine, Czech Republic, Russia, Chile, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.
Graf has given recitals all over the world in such places as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Cultural Centers of Manila and Sao Paulo, St. Martin in the Fields in London, Teatro Opera in Buenos Aires, Krannert Center, South Bay Center for the Arts en Los Ángeles, y los Festivales de San Miguel de Allende, Trujillo, Natal, Kiev, Houston, Maryland, Santa Maria, Ann Arbor, Perugia and Spoleto.
An all Poulenc CD with the Charleston Symphony was a pick of the month by the Sunday London Times. Other recordings of Bach Suites, Mozart Sonatas, Liszt Sonata, Variations by Bach and Mendelssohn, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, a recital with favorite piano pieces, a recital of latin american works and another with Sonatas by Debussy and Strauss for violin and piano; and concertos by Beethoven, Grieg, Hart and Gershwin have received such praise as "ideal performances'' ( Fanfare ), and “could not imagine them better played” ( American Record Guide ). He gave the world premiere of Florencia Di Concilio and Edward Hart’s Piano Concertos and recorded for Naxos a Concerto by Leonardo Balada.
As a chamber musician he has performed with Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Baltimore and Prague Wind Quintets, the Ives and Apollo Quartets and the American Chamber Players.
Enrique Graf received the Director’s Award for Outstanding Teaching from the Peabody Preparatory. In Charleston he was awarded the Distinguished Research Award and named University Artist in Residence. He was also Artist Lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University and has given master classes at such renowned institutions as Yale University, Oberlin and Eastman Conservatories, the Shanghai and Seoul Conservatory, the University of Sao Paulo and the Hong Kong Performing Arts Academy. He has been on the jury and his students have won many national and international competitions. He is Founder and Artistic Director of the Festival Internacional de Colonia (www.FestivalColonia.org).
The New York Times described one of his appearances as "a triumph, in all respects", The Washington Post has called him on different occasions "memorable, elegant, masterful, and refined" and La Nación of Buenos Aires said: “Musicality is Enrique Graf’s calling card”.