William Wolfram, piano
American pianist William Wolfram was a silver medalist at both the William Kapell and the Naumberg International Piano Competitions, and a bronze medalist at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. A versatile recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician, he has won the respect of musicians and critics across the country and abroad. Wolfram has several recordings on the Naxos label, has played recitals in cities throughout the U.S. and Europe, and has performed with dozens of the finest orchestras in the world.
In the 2008-09 season Wolfram appeared with Andrew Litton and the Minnesota Orchestra, Andreas Delfs and the Milwaukee Symphony, and the orchestras of San Antonio, Florida and Edmonton, among others. In 2007-08 his performances included the Corigliano Piano Concerto with the Baltimore Symphony under Marin Alsop. He also appeared with the American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center, Leon Botstein conducting; the Phoenix Symphony under Michael Christie; and the Rochester Philharmonic, with Jerzy Semkow.
His concerto debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony under the baton of Leonard Slatkin was the first in a long succession of appearances and career relationships with numerous American conductors and orchestras. He has appeared with the San Francisco, Saint Louis, Indianapolis, Seattle and New Jersey symphonies, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, and the Grand Teton and Obispo Mozart festival orchestras, among many others. He enjoys regular and ongoing close associations with the Dallas Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra. Conductors with whom he has worked include Mark Wigglesworth, Jeffrey Tate, Vladimir Spivakov, Gerard Schwarz, Keith Lockhart, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jeffrey Kahane, James Judd, Roberto Minczuk, Stefan Sanderling, JoAnn Falletta, James Paul, William Eddins, and Carlos Kalmar. Abroad, Wolfram has appeared with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Warsaw, Moscow, and Budapest philharmonics, the Capetown and Johannesberg symphonies of South Africa, L'Orchestre de Bretagne, and the National Symphony of Peru.
An enthusiastic supporter of new music, he has collaborated with and performed music by composers such as Aaron Jay Kernis, Kenneth Frazelle, Marc Andre Dalbavie, Kenji Bunch, and Paul Chihara. His world premiere performance of the Chihara re-orchestration of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1, with the Milwaukee Symphony under the baton of Andreas Delfs, was met with great critical attention and acclaim.
Wolfram has extensive experience in the recording studio. For the Albany label, he recorded the piano concertos of Edward Collins with Marin Alsop and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Wolfram has and continues to record the solo piano music of Franz Liszt for Naxos records. These recordings include Liszt's rarely heard transcription of Etude en douze exercices, as well as transcriptions of both Donizetti and Bellini. Wolfram was the focus of a full chapter in Joseph Horowitz's book, The Ivory Trade: Music and the Business of Music at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. On television, he was a featured pianist in the documentary of the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition.
A graduate of The Juilliard School, William Wolfram resides in New York City with his wife and two daughters.
Mr. Wolfram has appeared previously at the Festival in 1996, 2001, and 2003.