William Wolfram

Pianist

American pianist William Wolfram has gained recognition as an artist who combines powerful Romantic instincts with a truly formidable command of the keyboard. A former Silver Medallist at both the William Kapell and Naumburg competitions. as well as Bronze Medallist at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Mr. Wolfram has drawn plaudits from critics both here and abroad for his musical integrity and compelling pianism. In the words of  The New York Times, “Wolfram’s technique is flabbergasting; fiendishly difficult octave passages were as child’s play, and his strength is tempered by an easy poetry.” 

In November 1999, Mr. Wolfram was lauded by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for his performance of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra:

Wolfram navigated the concerto with the tremendous technical agility required by Liszt's piano music. But his technical facility paled in comparison to the gripping interpretation he gave the piece. The quick, almost schizophrenic shifts of mood and texture of this single-movement piece are a tough feat to pull off. Wolfram caught the attention and imagination of his audience in the piece's first bars, and kept them to the end with a commanding performance. Moving between the contrasting sections of the piece, Wolfram did not just change dynamics, articulations and tone color, he changed character. It was that sense of drama, conveyed musically that made his performance thoroughly fascinating to hear.

Wolfram was also hailed for his February 1999 recital in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York by Faubion Bowers, writing for the American Record Guide.

[Mr. Wolfram] presented a superb program of four sonatas by three Russian titans. Aside from reveling in some of the greatest music of the twentieth century, the evening offered a chance to measure the abilities of a now mature artist. With Scriabin's Sixth Sonata, the pianist uncovered poetry -- so redemptive a poetry in fact that the music's satanic and poisonous brew of evil vapors was almost neutralized. This sonata's trills were shudders of eternity,  its diabolic sparks spasms of flight; and in the climaxes, Wolfram lingered long enough to let the resonances reverberate in the mind as well as the ear. All in all, this was the finest performance of the Sixth Sonata I have ever heard.    (May/June 1999)

The 1999-2000 season features Mr. Wolfram as guest soloist with the Richmond (VA) Symphony, the Valdosta (GA) Symphony, the Jupiter Symphony in New York City, the Milwaukee Symphony, and the Omaha Symphony. Also featured are a performance with other pianists at Alice Tully Hall in a recital commemorating the 150th anniversary of Chopin’s death. Other engagements include those with New York’s Bargemusic and with the Pittsburgh Ballet.

 Mr. Wolfram performs regularly throughout North America as recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician. After making his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, Mr. Wolfram has gone on to perform with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, San San Diego, Indianapolis, North Carolina, New Jersey, Syracuse, Florida, Fort Worth, and the National Symphony of Washington, D. C.

 For the past three years, his seasons have been highlighted by appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra under such conductors as Jeffrey Tate, William Eddins, and Hans Vonk, with whom Mr. Wolfram scored a triumph as a last minute as a replacement for pianist Leif Ove Andsnes in a rehearsal-less reading of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto. More recently, he was heard with the Minnesota Orchestra under Jeffrey Tate in Richard Strauss's "Burleske" for piano and orchestra. Michael Anthony, writing for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, found much to admire in this performance:

(Richard Strauss's) "Burleske' was an apt vehicle for Wolfram's formidable skills. This is wickedly witty music. Strauss always undercuts his own sentiment. Wolfram and Tate effectively captured both elements: tears and laughter." (July 8, 1999)

Abroad, Mr. Wolfram has performed with the Moscow Philharmonic, Budapest Philharmonic, the Krakow Symphony and Wroclaw Philharmonic of Poland. the Capetown and Johannesburg symphonies of South Africa, the National Symphony of Peru, and the Bangkok Philharmonic of Thailand. An active recitalist and chamber player, Mr. Wolfram has appeared in festivals and recitals throughout France, Spain, Holland, the Philippines, Canada, Italy, and Switzerland.

Millions have seen William Wolfram on public television, where he was prominently featured throughout the 90-minute documentary on the 1986 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. The noted writer and piano authority Joseph Horowitz, in his book The Ivory Trade, devotes a full chapter to Mr. Wolfram, who is characterized as a polished Romantic virtuoso, worthy of comparison to the young Van Cliburn and Vladimir Horowitz

. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Mr. Wolfram makes his home in New York City with his wife and two daughters.