Bryan Pezzone
Bryan Pezzone is the consummate crossover pianist of his generation. He has excelled in classical, contemporary, jazz, and experimental genres and is known for both his versatility and virtuosity as a performing artist, improviser and composer. He has performed with many major symphony orchestra associations, has toured widely with the jazz group Free Flight, and is known in the Los Angeles area as one of the primary free-lance pianists for film and television soundtrack recording, contemporary music premieres, and chamber music accompanying. He is often asked to give workshops on his comprehensive approach to improvisation and is a consulting editor for the well-known publication “Piano and Keyboard.”
As a soloist, Bryan has performed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pasadena Pops, Santa Monica Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute Orchestra, United States International University Orchestra, U.C. Irvine Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Philharmonic and the Pacific Symphony. He has also been invited to perform solo keyboard concerts that blend traditional concert repertoire, improvisations and original works using the Yamaha Midi Grand by Willamette University for it’s Distinguished Artist Series, the University of Miami, Rice University and in many Southern California appearances including the California Institute of the Arts where he has been on the piano faculty since 1987 and has created their multi-focused keyboard program.
Since beginning his career in Los Angeles about ten years ago, Bryan has worked with many of the premiere contemporary music conductors (Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen, John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Kent Nagano). He is featured in collaborations on a number of professionally released recordings, and has been involved with nearly every major festival, series and performing arts organization. This list includes: regular appearances on Sundays at Four (broadcast live on KUSC FM 91.5), Monday Evening Concerts, the Green Umbrella Series with both the Cal Arts New Century Players and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, the Ojai Festival, Joeffrey Ballet (soloist in Stravinsky’s “Les Noces”), Southwest Chamber Music Series and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Recent recordings include the chamber works of John Briggs, “Settings” by Mel Powell, works of John Harbison and John Cage as well as with oboe soloists Allan Vogel (Delos), trombonist William Booth and many other area instrumentalists. Bryan has begun producing CDs of his own music which blends jazz and classical styles – most recently “Flying on Water” produced by Steve Wight and featuring M.B. Gordy on drums and Bart Samolis on bass.
In addition, Bryan has been the principal pianist with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra from its inception in 1991 through 1999, has received on-screen credit for his performance on the soundtrack of “The Game” (with Michael Douglas) and has been the pianist on virtually all of the cartoons released by Warner Brothers and Disney over the past six years. He is responsible for much of Yamaha’s Disklavier Piano Series with solo titles as disparate as “The Best of Elton John,” “Cinema Love Songs,” and “Debussy Piano Works” along with literally dozens of others, and he regularly performs at various clubs and bookstores (most notably Borders in Pasadena) performing with his group as well as in a new set of concerts called “Freedom Series” where he interpolates free improvisation with original poetry.
Bryan received his Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music in 1984 where he was awarded the Performers Certificate and won the concerto competition. He was invited to the Tanglewood Music Center two successive summers as a full scholarship fellow in 1983 and 1984 where he received the C.D. Jackson Master Award. He attended the Banif Centre during its winter term on scholarship from 1984 – 1985 as an alternative to graduate studies in order to have the necessary time to freely blend various aesthetics and diverse performance traditions into a unique approach. This passion remains the focus of his work and continues to evolve.
http://www.bryanpezzone.net