DR. KENNETH GARTNER
Pianist, Conductor, Teacher "Extraordinaire"
BIOGRAPHY
Kenneth Gartner began the study of the piano at the age of two and a half. He first studied with his mother and was to be a violinist. However, after breaking two violins, his mother decided on something sturdier. At eight he was a member of the Children’s Opera Company, singing children’s roles at the City Center, the Winter Garden, and the Metropolitan Opera. While a high school student at Staunton Military Academy in Virginia, he studied piano at Mary Baldwin College. At Cornell University, he worked with John Kirkpatrick (Charles Ives’ pianist) and majored in Music and followed with his graduate degree at the Juilliard School of Music where he studied with Adele Marcus and Eduard Steuermann (Arnold Schoenberg’s pianist). He also did work with Eugene List. He followed this with a graduate degree from Juilliard and studies at Cornell University, and his fourth degree is a Ph.D. in Performance from New York University.
Dr. Gartner has performed both formally and informally in more than 50 countries and has had experiences ranging from a command performance for the Lord Mayor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, to a Master Class in Piano at The Shanghai Institute, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
He was the first New York City teacher
to have performed in New York’s prestigious Town Hall, and as a high
school teacher his choruses won multiple awards.
Dr. Gartner spends most of his time teaching and conducting choruses and orchestras. His prize winning choruses recently performed Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s and Brahms’ Requiems, and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasie. His school choruses have gone on to win many prizes and scholarships.
Despite a full teaching schedule, he continues to perform, and is now in San Rafael, Marin County, close to San Francisco, with students coming in from as far away as Los Angeles
Here are some comments from various newspapers:
- The New York Times: "Mr. Gartner dispatched each work with admirable energy.…[He] brings genuine commitment to his playing….a rare ingredient." (Robert Sherman)
- The Cornell Daily Sun: "His playing [of Chopin’s Premier Ballade] was powerful and frightening."
- N.Y. Staats-Zeitung: "He played with sensitivity and delicacy [and] brought forth the undivided approbation of the entire house. He represents the unique combination of outstanding music teacher and virtuoso pianist." (F. Gutman)
- Berliner Zeitung (Berlin, Germany): "[His Ravel] was transformed into shimmering dream images and [his Liszt] was demonic." (K.W.)
- Het Binnenhof (The Hague, Netherlands):
"He played Ravel like a master.…An outstanding pianist….Gartner
intensely makes music." (K.S.)
Copyright © 2001 Manuel F. Pérez, All Rights Reserved. Design by Pérez, Africano y Asociados, C.A.
Last Update: June11, 2005
Images and Graphics property of M. Pérez and courtesy of Broderbund Software. Music and pictures property of artist showcased in WebPage.
