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The American pianist and music pedagogue, Roberta Rust, was born in Texas of American Indian ancestry. She studied at the Peabody Conservatory, graduated "summa cum laude" from the University of Texas at Austin, and received performer's certificates in piano and German Lieder from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. She earned her master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music and her doctorate at the University of Miami. Her teachers included Ivan Davis, Artur Balsam, John Perry, and Phillip Evans and master-class studies were with Gary Graffman, Leon Fleisher, and Carlo Zecchi.
Roberta Rust enjoys a vibrant global career. Her acclaimed recordings feature music of Debussy, Haydn, Villa-Lobos, Prokofiev, and contemporary American composers. Of her most recent release, Fanfare Magazine notes, "she proves herself a first-rate Debussy player ... This is quite simply one of the finest Debussy discs I have heard in recent memory." She made her debut as soloist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra at age 16 and following her Weill Recital Hall debut at Carnegie Hall, The New York Times hailed her as "a powerhouse of a pianist - one who combines an almost frightening fervor and intensity with impeccable technique and spartan control." Rust has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras including the New Philharmonic, Philippine Philharmonic, Boca Raton Symphonia, Redlands Symphony, and New World Symphony Orchestra.
Solo recitals include performances at Sala Cecilia Meireles (Rio de Janeiro), Merkin Concert Hall (New York City), Corcoran Gallery (Washington, DC), and KNUA Hall (Seoul). The Miami Herald wrote of her, "There was tremendous bravura, sweep and power ... Here was a virtuosa."
Roberta Rust has played with the Lark, Ying, and Amernet String Quartets. Festival appearances include the Beethoven Festival (Oyster Bay), Opusfest (Philippines), La Gesse (France), and the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival. She served as Artistic Ambassador for the USA and received a major NEA grant. Additional prizes and recognition were awarded her from the OAS, National Society of Arts & Letters, and International Concours de Fortepiano (Paris). She is a CD music critic for Clavier Companion Magazine. |
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Roberta Rust serves as Artist Faculty-Piano, Professor, and Piano Department Head at the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida (www.lynn.edu/music). She has given master classes internationally at prominent institutions including the Shanghai Conservatory, the Central Conservatory (Beijing), Interlochen and Idyllwild Arts Academies, and the Chautauqua Institute. Rust taught at the Harid Conservatory, Florida International University, and as guest faculty at the New World School of the Arts and the Dreyfoos School of the Arts in Palm Beach.
Her students have appeared as soloists with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Soloists Orchestra at St. Martin in the Fields, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. They have appeared on the NPR broadcast "From the Top" and many have been awarded top prizes or finalist status in the Virginia Waring Competition, Josef Hoffman Competition, Jeonju International Competition (Korea), Wideman Competition, Symphony of the Mountains Competition, Ars Flores Competition, Artist Series of Sarasota Competition, E-Competition, and the Bartok-Prokofiev-Kabalevsky Competition. Her students have been semi-finalists or participants in the Iowa International Piano Competition, Byrd Young Artists Competition, Louisiana International, Chopin Competition (Warsaw), Leeds, Rubinstein, Kapell, and Sydney International Competitions. Rust's students have been declared state winners (Florida) of the MTNA-Steinway Collegiate Artist and MTNA Yamaha High School competitions and FSMTA's Gray Perry Young Collegiate Piano Award and the Byrd Piano Ensemble Competition.
They have participated on scholarship at festivals including Aspen, Tanglewood, The New York International Keyboard Festival, Tel-Hai International Piano Master Classes (Israel), Washington International, Imani Winds, Bowdoin, Chautauqua, Mozarteum (Salzburg), Piano Texas, Piano Summer at New Paltz, Orford, Kneisel Hall, Music Academy of the West, PianoFest, Eastern, Brevard, and Fontainebleau.
Many of her graduates combine their performance careers with a commitment to the next generation and grace the faculties at Kent State University, University of Memphis, Wesleyan University, Lamar University, University of Miami, Barry University, St. Paul's University (Manila), and Lynn University. Her students have pursued graduate studies at Yale University, Manhattan School of Music, Eastman, IU-Bloomington, San Francisco Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, SUNY-Stony Brook, USC, Rutgers University, University of Houston, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and University of British Columbia. |
