UMKC Faculty Recital: Joseph Genualdi, violin and Henry Kramer, piano

The UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance proudly presents faculty recitals to the Kansas City community each semester, showcasing the breadth of talent our faculty brings to the arts.

Joseph Genualdi began his formal training at age 11 with Broadus Erle. At age 14 he started high school at The North Carolina School of the Arts studying violin with Vartan Manoogian. Upon graduating from high school, he was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he continued his violin studies with Jascha Brodsky and Ivan Galamian. During his years at Curtis, he formed a life long relationship with Felix Galimir.

At age 22, Genualdi won the audition as associate concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony. During his time in San Francisco he became a founding member of the Muir Quartet, under the aegis of the Wardwell Fellowship at Yale University. The Muir Quartet captured international attention by winning the first prizes of Le Concour’s D’Evian and the Naumberg Award. A performance seen on national television from the White House served to increase recognition for the ‘Muirs’. The Muir Quartet and pianist Jean Phillipe Collard Genualdi won the Grand Prix du Disque for their recording of the Frank Piano Quintet (EMI-­?Angel). With the Muir, then later the Los Angeles Quartet, and the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Genualdi has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe, also appearing at numerous festivals including Marlboro, Nimes (France), Spoleto (Italy), Cheltenham (GB), Bravo!Colorado, Angel Fire, Affinis (Japan), EuroArts (Leipzig), Arkansas, Ravinia, and Skaneateles.

Henry Kramer holds both a master’s and bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School and an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, where he received the Charles S. Miller Prize for the most outstanding first-year pianist. He is currently completing his doctoral studies at Yale. Henry teaches applied piano, chamber music, and graduate keyboard literature at the Conservatory.

As the winner of the Second Prize at the 2016 Queen Elisabeth Competition and the 2015 William Petschek Recital Debut Award from The Juilliard School, pianist Henry Kramer is establishing himself as one of the most exciting American musicians of his generation. His performances have been praised by critics as “triumphant” and “thrilling” (The New York Times), and “technically effortless” (La Presse, Montreal). A Maine native, Mr. Kramer has also earned top prizes in the 2015 Honens International Piano Competition, the 2011 Montreal International Music Competition, and the 6th China Shanghai International Piano Competition. He was also a prizewinner in the 8th National Chopin Competition in Miami and received the 2014 Harvard Musical Association Arthur Foote Award. He is a winner of Astral’s 2014 National Auditions.