Dr. Joel Schoenhals

Schoenhals is a prolific recording artist.  His discography includes the Bach Six Partitas, Chopin Preludes and B Minor Sonata, Bartok For Children, Schubert and Schumann Fantasies, Rachmaninoff and Schubert Musical Moments, Schubert-Liszt piano transcriptions, Schubert Waltzes, Drew DeFour’s piano solos, and several chamber music recordings.  Fanfare wrote of his recording Schubert and Schumann Fantasies, “Schoenhals has a real feel for the core of Schubert’s writing.  There is no denying the beauty, ravishing at times.  The lasting impression of this disc is something to really treasure.”  Fanfare also wrote of his other new release, Chinese Piano Music. “Consummate technical skill and polish.  Schoenhals’ tonal palette is massively varied.  The recording is simply staggeringly good.  This is a pure winner.”  Schoenhals has also received praise for his recordings Bartók’s For Children, Lieder of Schubert Transcribed for Piano by Franz Liszt, and Musical Moments of Schubert and Rachmaninoff on Fleur de Son Classics.  “These are rich and romantic readings (Musical Moments), beautifully played and recorded. There is no more sensitive and poetic recording of the Schubert. A wonderful program, played with great sensitivity and tone” (American Record Guide).” “Seek this one out and find one of the greatest releases of the year (Liszt). Now if someone would only help me to close my jaw, hung open by the second track. Only then can I return to mundane existence” (American Record Guide). 

Between 2012 and 2018, Schoenhals performed the cycle of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, the complete Bach Partitas, and the complete character works of Johannes.  In addition to performing around the world, Schoenhals reached thousands of Michiganders through over 125 house concerts throughout Southeast Michigan.  Live and unedited video recordings of his performance can be found on YouTube.

 Schoenhals is currently performing and recording the works of Navajo composer Connor Chee.  His commission of Chee’s seminal work Sandpaintings for Piano, a set of sixteen pieces based on Navajo melodies and themes, serves to broaden the landscape of the piano literature.  

Schoenhals holds a Master of Music, Doctoral of Musical Arts, and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. He earned his undergraduate degree in piano performance at Vanderbilt University.  From 1998-2010, he was a faculty member of the Summer Piano Program at the Chautauqua Music Festival in Chautauqua, New York.  Over the past decade he has held guest professorships at Nanchang University and Central China Normal University in China.  

Joel Schoenhals lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and two children. 

Dr. Koji Attwood

“Picture Liszt’s extravagant concerts–theatrical, virtuosic, full of music to show the expansive horizons of the piano–and the pianist.  No fawn gloves in Koji Attwood’s appearance onstage, but Liszt’s spirit lives.”

–H. Daniel Webster, Philadelphia Inquirer

Koji Attwood, a Kansas native, made his solo debut at the age of ten, and one year later won 2nd prize at the Young Keyboard Artists International Competition.  He earned 2nd prize at both the Stravinsky and Missouri Southern International Keyboard competitions, and was a participant in the International William Kapell Keyboard and the Hamamatsu International Piano competitions.  He received honorable mention at the VII International Web Concert Hall Competition, which entitled him to a performance that will continue to be broadcast on the internet, via the Web Concert Hall Artist Series, over the next seven years.  Koji was also a winner of Astral Artistic Services’ 2003 International Auditions, and was the featured artist on yamahamusicsoft.com’s  “New York City Rising Star” series.

Mr.  Attwood has performed numerous solo recitals across much of the country, including concerts in Steinway Hall, Lincoln Center, and on the Kosciuszko Foundation Concert Series.  He appeared regularly on the “World of the Piano” series at the Julliard School and was frequently heard on a weekly radio show on New York’s WQXR, hosted by David Dubal entitled “Reflections From the Keyboard: the Pianist in Comparative Performance” and currently on Dubal’s new show, “The Piano Matters” on WWFM.

Committed to the performance of contemporary music, Mr. Attwood has given world premiere performances of works by Cynthia Folio, Hector Martinez Morales, and Daniel Ott. Also active in chamber music, Mr. Attwood has performed with members of the Borromeo, St. Lawrence, Koryo, and Enso quartets, and is a regular collaborator with Mikhail Baryshnikov. He performed with the dancer’s White Oak Dance Project, and partnered with Mr. Baryshnikov for his 2002-3 solo tour of the United States–providing solo interludes as well as accompaniment for the dances–garnering praise for being a “phenomenal pianist” [Binghamton Press &Sun-Bulletin], ” beautifully nuanced” [Cleveland Plain Dealer], “enchanting” [Santa Barbara News Press], “wonderful pianist” [Seattle Times], “Koji Attwood…is a pianist of rare
gifts, both as a solo artist and as a collaborator. Playing solo pieces of Scriabin, Scarlatti, Liszt and Soler, this young pianist was much more than fill. He is a concert pianist with an impeccable technique, a rich tone, and an assured sense of good interpretive taste” [Nevada-Events], and described by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “Koji Attwood percolated rapturously…they (Baryshnikov and Attwood) displayed lovely chemistry in a performance full of virtuosity, and humor,whimsy and seriousness. Their coordination was so tight that it sometimes seemed as though the dancer’s limbs were attached to the musician’s notes.”; Mr. Attwood has also performed throughout the United States and in Europe with the Mark Morris Dance Group, Wally Cardona Quartet, and C. Eule Dance. In May and June 2010 he joined the American Ballet Theatre for eight sold-out all-Chopin performances at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, playing in the company’s critically lauded premiere of the John Neumeier ballet Lady of the Camellias, and was invited back the following year for seven repeat performances.

Mr. Attwood’s recent performances include a highly acclaimed recital at Merkin Hall in New York City, a European debut at the prestigious Husum festival in Germany, debut in Canada, performing in Montreal at the Theatre Outremont, and invitation by the Fondation Cziffra to perform at the Chapelle Royale Saint-Frambourg in France. He is featured, along with pianists Marc-Andre Hamelin, Lev Vinacour, and Daniel Berman on the 2009 “Rarities of Piano” Danacord release, and as an avid transcriber, has over twenty arrangements to his credit.

Prior to receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Seymour Lipkin, Koji studied at the University of Kansas with Richard Angeletti.  He then went on to earn a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Julliard School, under the tutelage of Jerome Lowenthal.  Mr. Attwood currently serves on the faculty of the Gifted Music School, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is a Visiting Associate Professor of piano at the University of Utah.  Koji is a Yamaha Artist.

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Dr. Svetlana Belsky