Biography

Pianist, composer and arranger Stephen Prutsman is known as one of the most versatile and innovative musicians of his generation, moving easily from classical to jazz to world music styles in his quest to explore and seek common ground in the music of all cultures and languages.

Born in Los Angeles in 1960, Stephen first began playing the piano by ear before moving on to more formal music studies. In his early teens he was the keyboard player for several art rock groups, including “Cerberus” and “Vysion” and enjoyed a moment of musical irony when he won television’s “Gong Show” as a pseudo honky-tonk pianist. In college, Stephen supported himself by playing jazz in various clubs and lounges throughout southern California and by working as the music arranger and pianist for a nationally syndicated televangelist program.

In the early ‘90s he was a medal winner at the Tchaikovsky and Queen Elisabeth piano competitions and the recipient of the Avery Fischer Career Grant, which established his career as a concert pianist and led to performances in various prestigious music centers and with leading orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. In 2004, Stephen was appointed to the position of Artistic Partner with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, where he currently acts as composer, arranger, program host and pianist conducting concerti from the keyboard.

Stephen’s dedication to the creation of new musical environments, coupled with his love for chamber music, led him to found music festivals in such far-flung places as the island of Guam and the border town of El Paso, where he served as music director for 10 years. He currently holds the position of Artistic Partner with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra where he hosts their chamber music series, and regularly travels with his trio Nobilis in Europe and the U.S. as well as through interesting and diverse locales throughout the developing world.

As a composer, Stephen’s long collaboration with the Kronos Quartet has resulted in over 40 arrangements for them. In the fall of 2006 Kronos will be presenting a retrospective of some of Stephen’s works along with the world premiere of his new piece for quartet and sound design. Other leading artists and ensembles who have performed Stephen’s compositions and arrangements include Leon Fleisher (his mentor and former teacher), Dawn Upshaw, the St. Lawrence Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma, Spoleto USA, and the Silk Road Project. As a pianist or arranger outside of the classical music world he has collaborated with Tom Waits, Dan Zane, Tony McMahon, Nelly Furtado, Rokia Traore, Kayhan Kalor, Asha Bhosle and Kronos on the music of Sigur Ros. His film work includes arrangements heard in Big Bad Love, The Man Who Cried and a recording with violinist Pamela Frank of a sonata by Beethoven for Immortal Beloved.

This season’s premieres include “Septet”, a work written by Stephen for the inauguration of the Michigan Chamber Music Society, a new work for piano four hands, and his contribution to a cycle of new silent film scores, performed with the St. Lawrence Quartet in Maine. Also forthcoming are a concert fantasy on themes from Der Rosenkavalier and a collaboration with friend and composer Osvaldo Golijov on a violin and piano transcription of a Golijov aria. The current season with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will include “Worldbeat”, (a new series featuring arrangements for the orchestra and folk musicians from Iraq, Iran and India); “Engine408” presenting music of living composers; and performances of piano concerti by Ravel and Mozart along with Stephen’s own “Jazz Fantasy on the name B-A-C-H” for piano and strings.

Stephen’s recent recordings include the MacDowell Piano Concertos with the National Symphony of Ireland and the Barber Piano Concertos with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Two new recordings are soon to be released under Stephen’s own “Studio AJEA” label, (under the name ‘Brotzman’): one of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and the other a solo piano jazz album. Stephen lives in San Francisco with his wife Sigrid and their two children, Alexander and Eloise.

September 2006
Please discard any previously printed materials.

Excerpts from the Press

…with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (“Rhapsody in Blue”):

'Grand excursion into passionate piano… Gershwin was, by all accounts, an outstanding pianist, and his compositions make tremendous demands on a soloist. But rarely will you have the opportunity to experience a pianist capturing both the spirit and letter of this composition as deftly as Prutsman did Friday. Bearing both the tremendous technical skill of a classical virtuoso and the explosive abandon of a jazz giant, he proved one passionate partner for this orchestra.”

Pioneer Press
December 2004

…with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra:

“The American pianist, Stephen Prutsman is a fascinating musician, especially known for his authoritative interpretation of Samuel Barber’s piano concerto, which luckily is included in the JPO concert. He is technically self-assured, intense, and “feels” the music physically. The left-hand splutters flamboyantly in the air, and even the left leg was part of the escalation in the powerful provocative fast chord-passages right over the keys. No problem: Prutsman is a pianist but also a showman and in Barber’s concerto this quality comes in handy.”

Johannesburg Beeld
October 2004

…in recital, opening the Steinway Society’s 2004-05 series:

“Stephen Prutsman performed root canal surgery on his piano Sunday night, drilling straight down into the bass notes to wrap up his terrific recital at Le Petit Trianon. This virtuoso does it all: plays passages with nail-gun physicality, or offers featherings of notes that hang in the air like dust motes. As an encore, he even left the audience whistling a tune. “You don’t run into this sort of range often. The recital, the opening salvo in the Steinway Society’s 2004-05 series at the little hall in downtown San Jose, began with the jewel-like brilliance of Ravel. It then moved to a quietly eruptive work by Prutsman himself, before engaging the sparkling and densely clanging sonorities of Stravinsky’s ‘Three Movements from Petrouchka.’”

San Jose Mercury News
September 2004

…with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24):

“Stephen Prutsman has an irresistible combination of virtuosity, elegance and style… “The last movement was something of a surprise: Prutsman kicked things up a notch, playing more passionately and dramatically. “The Adagio, a highlight of the night, was played with great care and expression. And the broad and expansive finale brimmed with nobility and warmth, with a decisive and thrilling ending.”

The Buffalo News
December 2003

Pianist Stephen Prutsman also composes!!

“Prutsman’s ‘Jazz Fantasy’, heard Thursday with the composer as soloist, grabbed the listener’s attention legitimately. It is a dark canvas, a fantasy of intense emotions, disgruntled harmonies and a few open and gentle aural spaces. Prutsman, who has been greatly admired as soloist with the Pacific Symphony, seems also to be a composer of genuine promise; as pianist, his presence is commanding. One suspects he has a piano concerto waiting in that lively imagination.”

Los Angeles Times
June 2001