Neal Larrabee, pianist, has concertised extensively in the United States and Europe. He has performed in major music centers including New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow. His appearances as recitalist and as soloist with orchestras have won critical acclaim. Nominated by the United States Information Service for performing under the auspices of the American embassies, Larrabee has toured Germany, Russia, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia. In Poland, Larrabee has become a well-known favorite of the concert-going public. There, his highly regarded interpretations of Chopin have led to recordings, national broadcasts on television and radio, and engagements in virtually every major concert hall. Invited for return engagements in Moscow, he performed at the Moscow Conservatory's Rachmaninoff Hall, the Moscow State University, and for the concert series presented at the U.S. Ambassador's Spaso House.
Awarded a Fulbright grant for study at the Moscow Conservatory under Stanislav Neuhaus, Larrabee became the first American pianist to study in the former Soviet Union under official government sponsorship. He also studied with Eugene List at the Eastman School of Music and with Rosina Lhevinne at the Juilliard School where he was awarded the Josef Lhevinne Scholarship. He earned his doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook under Martin Canin. Larrabee has won honors in the Fifth International Tchaikowsky Competition in Moscow and the Ninth International Chopin Competition in Warsaw; and was the first pianist to have been awarded the Artur Rubenstein Medal as winner of the Young Musician's Foundation Competition in Los Angeles.
Currently, he is a member of the music performance faculty at the University of Connecticut.
REVIEWS:
"There was magic. Clearly, this is a major virtuoso" - San Francisco Chronicle
"One could not remain untouched by the exceptional beauty of phrasing and the authenticity and freshness of the interpretive concept." - Ruch Muzyczny, Warsaw
"a strong, dynamic pianist with a sense of purpose" - Los Angeles Time