Scott Dunn, Piano

SCOTT DUNN, pianist, conductor and associate artistic director of the Music Festival of the Hamptons made his Carnegie Hall debut in January 1999 with Dennis Russell Davies and the American Composers Orchestra playing the world premiere of Vernon Duke’s 1923 Concerto in C (written for Rubinstein and orchestrated by Dunn himself). In recent months he has appeared with such distinguished ensembles as the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (with John Mauceri) and the St. Louis Symphony (with Marin Alsop); performed in the official Kurt Weill Centennial Concerts in Berlin (with Angelina Reaux); recorded and performed with composer-pianist Richard Rodney Bennett; made broadcasts on radio WNYC in New York and on NPR in Los Angeles; and this May he made his European conducting debut with the Philharmonic in Pleven, Bulgaria.

Dunn holds a Masters degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied piano with legendary Byron Janis, composition with Ludmila Ulehla and earned the Cohn prize for chamber music. A winner also of the USIS’s Artistic Ambassadors Competition, he was awarded a highly acclaimed seven-week solo concert tour of Europe and former Soviet States.

Born in rural Iowa, Dunn began music studies at seven and by age twelve he was making solo appearances with Midwestern orchestras. Frustrated with international competitions, he was initially reluctant to establish a musical career and instead earned an M.D. and board certification in ophthalmology. After a seven year absence from the stage, Dunn gave a solo concert in Los Angeles, designed to raise funds for charity surgery in Guatemala, which the Los Angeles Times reviewed and exclaimed ” an abundance of technique and musicality&ldots;clearly born to play the piano”. Encouraged, Dunn followed his heart, left medicine, moved to New York and a burgeoning career has followed.

A prize-winning advocate of American music, Dunn has appeared as soloist and collaborator in concerts and festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe. His performances and recordings of contemporary piano music have won him the endorsements of numerous prominent composers (including the festival’s own director Lukas Foss). His playing is available on CRI, Neuma, Albany and illia C.D. labels. His new solo CD the night’s music is available through Amazon.com. He performs exclusively on Steinway piano.

7/14/2000