LESLIE SPOTZ
Pianist
IPPEC Artistic Coordinator of Piano Examiners
Leslie Spotz,
pianist, is a graduate of the Curtis
Institute of Music, the internationally renowned conservatory for music, which
graduated pianists Lang Lang and Yuja Wang.
Receiving a full scholarship to
Curtis Institute, Spotz studied for five years with the legendary,
Mieczyslaw Horszowski, who shared his unique musical heritage.
Only three musicians away from close personal connection with Ludwig van
Beethoven, Horszowski’s piano teacher in Vienna in the early 1900s was Theodore
Leschetitzky; Leschetitzky’s piano teacher was Carl Czerny (the Czerny who is
now known for his technical piano etudes); Czerny was the pupil, trusted friend
and assistant to Beethoven, who in turn was a student of Joseph Haydn.
In addition, Horszowski’s mother was a piano student of Karl Mikuli,
Chopin’s pupil, friend, editor and assistant.
This heritage is founded on knowledge of music passed directly through
these great musicians, and is a precious gift which Spotz shares in her own
teaching, becoming the next link in a legacy of more than 250 years of musical
tradition.
Receiving the 2017 Texas Music
Teachers Association “Outstanding Collegiate Teaching Achievement” Award, she
was also winner of the 2017 TSU College of Liberal and Fine Arts Faculty
Excellence in Research and Creative Activities Award. Spotz enjoys an
international performing career that spans four continents and four decades, and
has included solo performances in Moscow at Tchaikovsky Hall of Moscow
University, South Bank Center of London, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the
famed Academy of Music in Philadelphia, her highly acclaimed tours of Germany,
concerts in Italy at the Lorenzo de’Medici Institute, solo recitals in Taiwan
and Brazil, and her performance at the inaugural opening of Philadelphia’s
magnificent performance venue, the Kimmel Center.
The 2018-2019 season includes recitals throughout Texas and solo
performances in Brazil. The
2016-2017 season included solo recitals in Texas and
performances at the first Music by Women Festival at Mississippi University for
Women. In 2015 she performed solo recitals in New York City’s Tenri Cultural
Institute, Indiana Wesleyan University, Dallas Public Library, and chamber music
concerts in Dallas, TX, Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, and Southern
University in Baton Rouge, LA. She
returned to New York and the Tenri Cultural Institute with colleague, Heather
Hawk, soprano, for the Leschetizky Association Annual Living Composers Concert
May, 2016. She returned to Italy in
June 2013 for performances at the Conservatorio di Milano and the Ambrosianeum
Foundation. Also, in June 2013 she
performed in Buenes Aires, Argentina with soprano Marika Kyriakos and returned
to London in May 2011.
February 2010 included an all-Chopin Bicentennial recital in New York City.
December 2010 she returned to Germany in a solo recital at the
Heilig–Kreuz–Kirche in Berlin. Hailed by the prestigious
Süddeutsche Zeitung of Munich, Spotz’
Beethoven was described thus: “Stripped of veneer, revealing all the edges and
corners, Spotz earnestly confronted Beethoven’s tempi and dynamic indications,
leaving mediocrity and shallow beauty behind and bringing out truth.
In all, a concert of the highest critical standard, further proof of the
high carat quality of this series.”
Spotz has performed extensively throughout the U.S. from coast to coast.
Concert highlights include her 2007 performance at Tarleton as soloist
with the Fort Worth Symphony, performances of twenty Beethoven Sonatas at
Rutgers University and her recitals for the Bach Festival of Philadelphia.
She completed her doctorate at
Rutgers University in 2002. Her
appearances as soloist include the Mozart Society of Philadelphia, South Jersey
Symphony, Curtis Symphony, Kinhaven Symphony in Vermont, the Piedmont Chamber
Orchestra in North Carolina, the Old York Road Symphony in Abington, PA, and the
Clear Lake Symphony in Texas. March
2013 she was soloist with the University of Texas – San Antonio Symphony.
Spotz has become an advocate for
women musicians through her performances, collaborating with flutist Adeline
Tomasone on the critically acclaimed CD Fantasias, and women composers
are featured on her solo CD, issued by Leonore Records in 1999.
Published recordings also include the three sets of 5 CDs each of
solo piano literature, representing the repertoire for 13 graded levels,
2019-2021, 2016-2018 and 2010-2012 for the International Piano Performance
Examination Committee (IPPEC) based in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
She has collaborated with violinists: Maria Bachmann, Joseph Genualdi,
and Mark Steinberg; flutist Laurel Zucker; David Wetherill, former co-principal
horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra; Frank Kaderabek, former principal trumpet of
the Philadelphia Orchestra; and Joseph Depasquale, who was longtime principal
viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Among the notable international singers for whom Spotz has accompanied are
sopranos Heather Hawk, Amanda Squitieri, Julianne Baird, Gwendolyn Bradley,
Judith Lovat and Donna Connolly, and tenors Martin Dillon and Robert Guarino.
For eight years she was a member of the Abilene Chamber Players.
According to the The Philadelphia
Inquirer, "Miss Spotz commands the resonant sound and the elegant gesture…
playing of great color, boldness, and suavity… most engaging…"
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