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The American pianist and music pedagogue, Larry (Michael) Graham, attended public schools in Ada, Oklahoma, where he was president of his senior class and a member of the tennis team. He studied piano with the late Mabel Crabtree. He received his training at the Juilliard School of Music in New York as scholarship student of Rosina Lhevinne (she who won the Gold Medal in piano when she graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1898) and Martin Canin. He obtained there his Bachelor of Music and Msster of Music degrees in Piano Performance. He also studied with Van Cliburn. Early successes in piano competitions such as the Kosciusko, Bloch and G.B. Dealey resulted in his debut with Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1965. In 1969 he won the Concert Artists auditions which led to his New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall. At Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Belgium in 1975, he won by overwhelming vote the "Prize of the Public," which was presented to the pianist most admired by the audience at the final performance; he was also the top-ranked American in this competition. Other international successes followed as in 1977 at the Arthur Rubinstein competition in Tel Aviv, in which he was also top-ranking American. In 1986, he closed out his brilliant competitive career with First Prize at the McMahan international Music Competition.
Larry Graham’s performances have garnered acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. He has subsequently played over 35 different concerti in performances with orchestras both in the USA and abroad. There have been numerous solo engagements as well. He performed a solo series in Japan in spring 2009. His sound is remarkably integrated across all the registers. He is an exponent of the finest traditions of what some call the golden age of pianism. His mastery of the repertoire encompasses a full range of piano works from J.S. Bach through Igor Stravinsky.
In addition to his activities as a soloist, Larry Graham has also performed extensively with chamber music ensembles along with such artists as Gil Shaham, Arnold Steinhardt, and Ransom Wilson. He has also appeared with the Guarneri, Takacs, and Tokyo string quartets. For eleven years, since the summer of 1979, he was the pianist for the highly acclaimed Pablo Casals Trio, the only ensemble that Pablo Casals personally lent his name to. He toured with the Pablo Casals Trio throughout Europe and South America.
Larry Graham joined the piano faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1975 and served there as Professor of piano for 25 years. As a teacher, he has had abundant distinction, his students having competed successfully at local, state and international levels. He is devoted to teaching, and after retirement, he continues working with gifted pre-college students and adults. Among his pupils: Kevin Ahfat, Crystal Lee, Jiaqi Long, Lori Sims, Zicong "Simon" Su.
Larry Graham has recorded on the Decca and Deutsche Grammophon labels.
Larry Graham balances his love of teaching and performing with an active outdoors life. An avid runner, backpacker, and rock climber, he was the subject of an American PBS documentary that explored the relationship between the two very diverse disciplines that he has pursued. |
