Biography
Banowetz studied first in New York City with Carl Friedberg, a pupil of German composer-pianist Clara Schumann. He continued his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Vienna Akademie für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, where György Sándor, a pupil of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, was among his teachers. He graduated with a First Prize in piano performance and was later sent by the Austrian government on an extended European concert tour. He also studied with Sándor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Dallas, Texas, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree. Banowetz was heard as recitalist and orchestral soloist on five continents, with performances with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic (formerly Leningrad), Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (SOČR), Prague and Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bratislava Radio Orchestras, Budapest Symphony, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony (on a twelve-concert national tour), Central Philharmonic Orchestra, Beijing Central Philharmonic, Barcelona Concert Society Orchestra, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, in addition to several recitals in New Delhi and Mumbai, India.Grammy nominations
Affiliations
Banowetz was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.Publications and editions
Joseph Banowetz was also internationally recognized as an author and editor. His book ''The Pianist's Guide to Pedaling'' (Indiana University Press, USA) has been printed in five languages to date and is universally recognized as the authoritative reference on the history and art of piano pedaling. Many of his piano editions have been translated into Chinese, Korean, and Japanese and include: # ''The Pianist's Book of Early Contemporary Treasures'' (published by Neil A. Kjos) # ''Franz Liszt: An Introduction to the Composer and His Music'' (published by Neil A. Kjos) # ''Johann Sebastian Bach: An Introduction to the Composer and his Music'' (published by Neil A. Kjos) # ''Mily Balakirev: Islamy and Other Favorite Russian Piano Works'' (published by Dover Publications, Dover) # ''Leopold Godowsky: Miniatures (for Piano, Four Hands – with Alton Chung Ming Chan)'' (3 volumes – published by Alfred Music) He had also published editions of music by Chopin, Anton Rubinstein, Rubinstein, Robert Schumann, Schumann, Rachmaninoff and Debussy.As a jurist and teacher
Banowetz served on major piano juries such as the Arthur Rubinstein Master Piano Competition (Israel), the Scottish International Piano Competition (Glasgow), the Belarusian International Piano Competition (Minsk), the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition (USA), the 2001 World Piano Competition (USA) and the Antonín Dvořák International Piano Competition (Czech Republic). Banowetz was invited to teach and lecture at many schools, including the St. Petersburg Conservatory, the Juilliard in New York City, London's Royal College and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Artmúsic Escola de Música I Dansa of Barcelona, the Chopin Academy of Warsaw, Hong Kong's The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Academy for Performing Arts, and the national conservatories of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. He concertized in 30 countries worldwide, including performances at festivals in the Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and South Africa. Students of Joseph Banowetz have been awarded important national and international competition prizes, including first prizes at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition (U.S.), Shreveport Symphony International Piano Competition (U.S.), Missouri Southern International Piano Competition (U.S.), Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, and McMahan International Piano Competition (U.S.). His pupils have also received awards from the Minsk (Belarus) International Piano Competition, the Varna (Bulgaria) International Orchestral Soloist Competition, and the Louisiana International Piano Competition (U.S.). Several of his students have also been recorded on internationally distributed commercial compact disc recordings. His former student Petronel Malan received a Grammy nomination from the Recording Academy (U.S.) for her recording "Transfigured Bach" on the Hänssler Classic label.Activities in China
Following his first concerts in Asia in 1981, Banowetz's tours there received an ever-increasing enthusiastic response. In 1984 he became the first foreign artist ever to be invited by the Chinese Ministry of Culture to record and give world premiere performances of a contemporary Chinese piano concerto (Piano Concerto, Op. 25b by Huang An-lun). Banowetz recorded with the CSR Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the China Central Opera Orchestra of Beijing. Banowetz visited the People's Republic of China eleven times since 1983 to perform and give master-classes. He was a soloist with such Chinese orchestras as the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Beijing Central Philharmonic, the Beijing Central Opera Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony, and the Guangzhou Philharmonic. In 1985 Banowetz was again honored by the Shenyang Conservatory with the title of "permanent visiting professor". His book on pedaling has been translated into Chinese and published by the Shanghai Music Publishing House. The book is scheduled for its second Chinese edition.Recordings
Joseph Banowetz recorded twenty-five compact discs for the Naxos Records, Naxos, Marco Polo, Toccata Classics, Warner Brothers, and Altarus labels, these including the Grammy-Nominated recording of Mily Balakirev, Balakirev's "Thirty Songs of the Russian People" (with Alton Chung Ming Chan), Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky), Concerto No. 1, Franz Liszt's Concertos and ''Totentanz (Liszt), Totentanz'', Eugen d'Albert, d'Albert concertos, world-premiere recordings of all Rubinstein piano and orchestra works, and solo repertory of Bach, Ferruccio Busoni, Busoni, Mily Balakirev, Balakirev, Chopin, Debussy, Leopold Godowsky, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Schumann, Anton Rubinstein, Rubinstein and Ronald Stevenson, Stevenson. His recordings of the Rubinstein orchestra and piano series was named by a Fanfare (magazine), Fanfare magazine record review as an outstanding international release for 1993, and a similar citation was given in 1987 by the German Music Critics Association for his world-premiere recording of works by Balakirev. Recently, Naxos has released Banowetz's recordings of the complete F. Liszt transcriptions of lieder by Robert Schumann, Robert and Clara Schumann, Chopin and F. Mendelssohn, Rubinstein's 24 Kamennoy-ostrow, and both piano concertos of Eugen d'Albert with the Moscow Symphony.Death
Banowetz died on July 3, 2022, aged 87.Audio samples
* , Paul Kletzki (composer), Banowetz (pianist), Thomas Sanderling (conductor), Russian PhilharmonicExternal links
References
General references Name: Joseph Banowetz Source Citation: * ''Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines'', Volume 23: September 1997 – August 1998, H. W. Wilson Company, New York (1998) * ''International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory'', 10th edition, Cambridge, England (1984) * David Dubal, ''The Art of the Piano, Its performers, Literature, and Recordings'' third edition (the pianists section begins on page 11), Amadeus Press, Pompton Plains, New Jersey (2004) * Grady Maurice Hinson (1930– ), ''The Pianist's Dictionary,'' Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, Bloomington (2004) * ''Who's Who in America, 48th edition, 1994,'' Marquis Who's Who, New Providence, New Jersey (1993) * ''Who's Who in America, 49th edition, 1995'', Marquis Who's Who, New Providence, New Jersey (1994) * ''Who's Who in America, 50th edition, 1996,'' Marquis Who's Who, New Providence, New Jersey (1995) * ''Who's Who in American Music: Classical,'' R.R. Bowker, New York City (1983) * ''Who's Who in Entertainment, Second edition, 1992–1993,'' Marquis Who's Who, Wilmette, Illinois (1992) * ''Who's Who in Entertainment, Third edition, 1998– 1999.'' Marquis Who's Who, New Providence, New Jersey (1997) * ''Who's Who in the World, 10th edition, 1991–1992,'' Marquis Who's Who, Wilmette, Illinois (1990) * ''Who's Who in the World, 11th edition, 1993–1994,'' Marquis Who's Who, New Providence, New Jersey (1992) Inline citationsExternal links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banowetz, Joseph 1934 births 2022 deaths University of North Texas College of Music faculty Piano pedagogues American classical pianists American male classical pianists Texas classical music 20th-century American pianists 21st-century classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists