Robert Thies
A pianist of "unerring, warm-toned refinement, revealing judicious glimmers of power," [Los Angeles Times] Robert Edward Thies captured worldwide attention in December 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. With this victory, Thies became the first American pianist to win first prize in a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn's triumph in the 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
Thies has already performed with over forty orchestras including the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Mexico City Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Fort Worth Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, and the National Symphony of Mexico. He has appeared in recital throughout the United States, and his concerts have been broadcast in Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Bolivia, Hungary, Mexico, and New Zealand. Upcoming engagements include appearances with the Auckland Philharmonia, Huntsville Symphony, New West Symphony, and the Pasadena Symphony.
Renowned as a pianist of exceptional versatility, Thies in one season alone performed thirteen different concertos to critical acclaim. In December 2002 Thies played a performance with the LA Jewish Symphony of the Concertino for Piano and Orchestra, by composer Wladislaw Szpilman. (A survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, Szpilman's remarkable story is told in the acclaimed Roman Polanski film, "The Pianist.") In July 2002, Thies made his South American debut in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and immediately followed this with concerts in Germany and Hungary. Last year Thies garnered national recognition for his collaboration with noted cultural historian and author, Joseph Horowitz, in the Pacific Symphony's Dvorak in America Festival. In November 2001 Thies returned to Mexico to commemorate Schoenberg's 50th anniversary in a performance of his seldom-heard Piano Concerto with the National Symphony of Mexico. In May 1999, Thies returned to St. Petersburg and performed in the Hermitage Theater built for Empress Catherine the Great. In 1997 Thies worked with renowned Polish composer Henryk Górecki in the United States premiere of his Sonata for Piano.
Mr. Thies is also a dedicated chamber musician, collaborating with many eminent musicians. This past year marked the debut of the Thies Piano Quartet, comprised of violinist Roger Wilkie, cellist Cecilia Tsan, and violist Brian Dembow. He has been a guest artist with the New Hollywood String Quartet and the renowned Blair String Quartet and has worked with Yo-Yo Ma, Joel Krosnick, David Geringas, and Bernard Greenhouse. In 1995, Thies explored another area of the repertoire and studied lieder and song repertoire with Harold Heiberg at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Most recently he completed a recording of Hungarian music with the Hungarian flutist, Boglárka Kiss.
Born in New Jersey in 1971, Thies resides in Los Angeles. His teachers have included Robert Turner and Daniel Pollack, both protégés of the legendary Russian pedagogue Madame Rosina Lhevinne, and the great pianist Josef Lhevinne.Mr. Thies is a Steinway artist. You can visit him online at www.robertthies.org
