Robert McDonald (pianist): Difference between revisions

Robert McDonald (born 1951) is an American concert pianist, known for his work as a pedagogue at the Juilliard School and Curtis Institute.

Robert McDonald underwent undergraduate studies at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, where he graduated magna cum laude. He then attended the Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School, and the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers there included Theodore Rehl, Seymour Lipkin, Rudolf Serkin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Beveridge Webster, and Gary Graffman. He also attended the Marlboro, Casals, and Lucerne festivals.^[1]

Upon graduation, he won the gold medal from the Busoni International Piano Competition in 1983,^[2] the top prize at the William Kapell International Competition, and the Deutsche Schallplatten Critics Award. He has also received the National Federation of Music Clubs Artist Award, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. As a soloist, he has performed with many of the world’s top orchestras.^[3] As a chamber musican, he has performed alongside the Takács, Vermeer, Juilliard, Brentano, Borromeo, American, Shanghai, and St. Lawrence string quartets. He was the long-time recital partner of Isaac Stern, until his death in 2001.^[4][5]

McDonald joined the faculty at the Juilliard School in 1999,^[1] and the Penelope P. Watkins Chair in piano studies at the Curtis Institute of Music since 2007.^[6] As the artistic director of Taos School of Music and Chamber Music Festival, he teaches many young pianists every summer.^[7]