Coleman Blumfield

Possessed of an extraordinary technique, keen musical insight, and a spectacular performance style, Coleman Blumfield continues the historic tradition of the Romantic piano virtuosos by creating dazzling musical events that leave audiences breathless. His wide-ranging career is notable for both its attention to the development of a broader artistic appreciation by audiences of all sizes, and students of all ages, as well as for its triumphs in the world’s major musical centers. His early training began in Chicago, and was followed by advanced studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and with the legendary Vladimir Horowitz. Mr. Blumfield’s articles about his studies with the Horowitz have appeared in Clavier Magazine, Piano Quarterly and in David Dubal’s book, Remembering Horowitz. He has toured internationally on behalf of the United States Department of State and has performed at the White House. He accepted an appointment as the first artist-in-residence to a major American city (Flint, Michigan), during which time he gave performances in all the Flint public schools, as well as parochial schools, institutions for the disabled, and even automobile assembly plants. He also chose to make the first ever tours by a major artist for the Executive Office of the White House. “Because these tours had never been done,” says the pianist, “no one anticipated the response — the spontaneous ovations and huge reactions of these audiences to classical piano music.” Mr. Blumfield received the Esquire Magazine Businessman’s Council on the Arts Award for a project sponsored by the Ford Motor Company in which he performed for over one million young people in more than 130 cities across the United States. For several seasons, Mr. Blumfield has returned annually to the south of France to perform a series of engagements. He has performed in the United States and abroad with major orchestras and in recital in leading music centers such as Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. Highlights of Mr. Blumfield’s visits to the Washington, D.C. area include performances with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap, recitals at the University of Maryland, on the Dumbarton Oaks series in Georgetown, at the National Gallery of Art in a program heard live on WGMS-AM/FM, and two recitals in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, one of which was recorded by WETA-FM for later broadcast on National Public Radio member stations. Mr. Blumfield’s recordings, praised by music critics across the country, include three CDs on the Sonoris label. The first is filled with works by Scarlatti, Schubert, Moussorgsky, Chopin, Liszt and Saint-Saëns (SCD5151); the second features Chopin’s Sonatas No.2 and No.3 and Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor (SC5157). The third contains works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Barber, Chopin, Liszt, and Prokofieff (SC5163). Tonight, Mr. Blumfield returns to the Millennium Stage, where, during his previous visit to the Stage in July 1999, he performed romantic, historic, and traditional works for piano. Mr. Blumfield resides in New York City with his wife Hanita.