Gary Kirkpatrick (August 19, 1941 - February 22, 2021) was an American

concert pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

from

Junction City, Kansas Junction City is a city in and the county seat of Geary County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 22,932. Fort Riley, a major U.S. Army post, is nearby. History Junction City is so named from its ...

. Kirkpatrick received his Bachelor of Music at

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M ...

and his artist's diploma from the

University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

. Kirkpatrick was a member of the award-winning Vehrder Trio, composed of a rare violin, clarinet and piano. The ensemble commissioned over 100 pieces, including five triple concertos, by such composers as Alan Hovhannes,

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, ...

Ned Rorem Ned Rorem (October 23, 1923 – November 18, 2022) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and writer. Best known for his art songs, which number over 500, Rorem was the leading American of his time writing in the genre. Althou ...

and many others. They have recorded over 15 installments in the Making of a Medium CD Series. Recently, Kirkpatrick was a member of The Halcyon Trio, a trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano. The instrumentation of this ensemble was invented by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

in his

Kegelstatt Trio The ''Kegelstatt Trio'', K. 498, is a piano trio for clarinet, viola and piano in E-flat major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. History Mozart wrote the piano trio on 10 sheets (19 pages) in Vienna and dated the manuscript on 5 August 1786. Accordin ...

K. 498 for the same instrumentation known as Kegelstadt. The movie composer

Lalo Schiffrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical eleme ...

, composer of the theme from ''Mission: Impossible'', was commissioned to compose a

triple concerto A triple concerto (Italian: ''Concerto triplo'', German: ''Tripelkonzert'') is a concerto with three soloists. Such concertos have been composed from the Baroque period, including works by Corelli, Vivaldi, Bach and Telemann, to the 21st century ...

for the Halcyon Trio, which was premiered at The

New Jersey Performing Arts Center The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Home to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), more than nine million visitors (i ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.New Jersey Symphony Orchestra The New Jersey Symphony, formerly the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, is an American symphony orchestra based in the state of New Jersey. The New Jersey Symphony is the state orchestra of New Jersey, performing classical subscription concert serie ...

conducted by Anne Mason. He was recipient of the Top Prize in the International Piano Competition Premio in

Jaén, Spain Jaén () is the urban capital city of the province of Jaén, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. The city of Jaén is the administrative and industrial centre for the province. Industrial establishments in the city include chemical ...

and the Stepenov Piano Competition. He made his New York City debut at

Carnegie Recital Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. He has worked as a soloist,

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

ian and teacher. He has performed in more than 40 countries, and has recently given the world premiere of John Link's Piano Concerto, premiered by the Wayne Chamber Orchestra. Kirkpatrick was professor of music at

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...

, where he taught from 1973 to 2019. He received The Dean's Award for Excellent Artistic Achievement in 1995 for excellence in teaching. Kirkpatrick died on February 22, 2021, at age 79.Gary Kirkpatrick 2/22/2021
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkpatrick, Gary 1941 births 2021 deaths American male pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American male musicians People from Junction City, Kansas