Soloist, chamber musician, master teacher and recording
artist, Lois Brandwynne
represents the fourth generation in a family of professional musicians. Her
father, Nat Brandwynne, was a pianist and orchestra leader accompanying such
pop legends as Frank Sinatra and Lena Horne. Her greatuncle, Naftulah Brandwein,
“the pied-piper of Brooklyn,” is an icon among Eastern European gypsy musicians,
remembered for his passionate and wildly imaginative clarinet style.
She left New York for California’s Mills College on a full music scholarship. There she studied piano with the great Dutch pianist Egon Petri, the revered Russian coach Alexander Libermann, and composition with composers Darius Milhaud and Leon Kirchner. She then coached with pianists Leonard Shure in New York and Alfred Brendel in Vienna thanks to two successive traveling music fellowships from the University of California at Berkeley.
It was a life-long inspiration that her first performance with orchestra was conducted by the great French composer Darius Milhaud from his wheelchair. Since then, she has soloed with the San Francisco and Oakland symphonies, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and others. She has given recitals in the United States and Europe to critical acclaim and given chamber music recitals with major performers.
The critiques of her playing are universally in agreement: “…genuine passion and emotional urgency” wedded to “technical mastery and understanding.” (San Francisco Classical Voice) It is clear that Lois Brandwynne has resoundingly continued the musical tradition of her family.
[Listen to Transcendental Etude No.
9 (Ricordanza)]
[Listen to Transcendental Etude No. 10 (Allegro, agitato molto)]
[Listen to Ballade in F minor
Op. 58, Chopin]
[Listen to 2005 performance of Impromptu in G flat major, Op. 90, Schubert]
“Today I find that I have more insight, technique, maturity and energy than I ever had in my youth. Ripeness is the result of all the discipline, work, and artistic striving. I bring a rich lifetime’s experience to each note that I play, and it is my reward for having been faithful to the task.” —L.B.