Milton Rubén Laufer, Piano

Biography

Since making his debut at the age of twelve in Chicago's Petty Auditorium at the Skokie Public Library, pianist Milton Rubén Laufer has enjoyed performing throughout the world to the delight of audiences and critics alike.

A Chicago native of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, Laufer began playing the piano at three years of age, and his training includes studies at the Music Institute of Chicago, the Moscow Conservatory, the Gnessin Institute-Moscow, the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, the University of Michigan, and Rice University in Houston.

Mr. Laufer has garnered many prizes and awards, including top prizes in the Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition, Young Keyboard Artists International Piano Competition, Union League Civic Arts Foundation competition, the Nena Wideman International Piano Competition, and the National Federation of Music Clubs' Stillman-Kelley Award. His performance at the 10th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was declared, "fanfare-like...vividly colored" by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Mr. Laufer has performed in venues ranging from New York's Lincoln Center to Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall. His appearances on Spanish-speaking television and radio broadcasts have been aired throughout South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, Secretary of State James Baker, Spanish Ex-President Felipe Gonzales, and members of the Spanish Royal Family are among the many political dignitaries for whom Laufer has performed. The Illinois Senate drafted a resolution bill in Laufer's honor in 1990 prior to his departure for Moscow.

During 2000-2001, Mr. Laufer lived in Madrid, Spain where he was concertizing and researching the manuscripts of Spanish composer, Isaac Albéniz under the auspices of a Fulbright research grant. His edition of La Vega by Albéniz will be published by G. Henle Verlag in 2007 for release in over fifty countries.

Upcoming engagements include performances in North Carolina, New York, California, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, The Philippines, and Germany. Milton Rubén Laufer lives in North Carolina and teaches piano at Peace College, where he holds the Anne Weatherspoon Phoenix Professorship of Fine Arts. For Albany Records, he will record Latin music for flute and piano with flutist Merrie Siegel to be released in the Spring of 2007.