Pianist John Salmon has distinguished himself on five continents, as both a classical and jazz artist. He will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall at the University of Arkansas. The public is invited to attend and admission is free. A reception will follow the performance.
In the United States, he has given recitals for the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the Discovery Series in Indianapolis, the Van Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth, and a Busoni Gala at Symphony Space in New York. He has also appeared as recitalist at many colleges and universities across the United States, including Tulane, Vanderbilt, Cincinnati College Conservatory, and San Francisco State University.
His broad repertoire covers the classics – Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms – though his involvement with contemporary music is equally strong. Salmon has championed and been at the forefront of performing new works by such celebrated composers as Dave Brubeck, Nikolai Kapustin, and Lalo Schifrin.
His performances have been heard on many radio stations in the U.S., including National Public Radio, WNYC in New York, WFMT in Chicago, and KUSC in Los Angeles; and on the national radio stations of Australia, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Ukraine.
His versatility often produces striking juxtapositions. In one concert with the Wilmington (North Carolina) Symphony in 2001, Salmon performed Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto in the first half, and then, in the second half, Dave Brubeck’s Elementals for orchestra and jazz trio (with Brubeck’s sons, bassist Chris and drummer Dan).
John Salmon has been a member of the faculty of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Music since 1989. He holds the doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin; the master of music degree from The Juilliard School; the Solistendiplom from the Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg, Germany; and the bachelor of music and bachelor of arts degrees from Texas Christian University. His awards include the Premio Jaén (1979), the Gina Bachauer Award from Juilliard, a fellowship from the Beethoven Foundation, and prizes from the 1979 University of Maryland William Kapell Competition and 1984 Busoni competitions.