Artist description Along with Pollini and Argerich, Valarie Alexandra Valois is one of a handful of proteges of the late Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.

Music Style Classical

Musical Influences Michelangeli, Bloch, Griffes

Artist History Along with Argerich and Pollini, Valarie Alexandra Valois is one of an elect group of proteges of the celebrated Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, who selected her for intensive study at his Swiss villa from over 1500 applicants. Following her studies at Boston University, where she became the first woman "Scholar in Music" and at the Vienna Academy in Austria, she represented the United States as an Artistic Diplomat under the auspices of the U.S.I.A., the State Department and the Partners for America, touring Europe, the Middle East, and South America. She has also been a featured artist at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. Upon hearing Ms Valois play his sonata, Alberto Ginastera personally entrusted her with his original manuscripts, and asked her to give the debut of several of his piano works for the Austrian Broadcasting System (ORF). In preparing for this singular opportunity, Ms Valois studied the music with Ginastera himself. .Ms Valois's unusual career has taken her to some very exotic places and even a few hotspots. Indeed, she only narrowly escaped Iran, where she had been stationed as cultural ambassador by the U.S. State Department, shortly before the 1979 coup that led to several of her friends and colleagues being taken hostage, or worse. No less unusual is Ms. Valois's unusually large and varied repertoire, which includes the complete piano works of two major American composers, Charles Tomlinson Griffes and the Swiss born Ernst Bloch. As a teacher, Ms. Valois has cultivated a stellar reputation as one who has produced a number of extraordinary young players. For several years she represented Yamaha Pianos in the U.S. and Japan as its designated "master teacher for the unusually gifted." Her students, some as young as 6, have performed in concert at the White House, the United Nations, and with the NHK, Los Angeles and National Symphony Orchestras. Ms Valois is the Artist in Residence in Music at St. Catherine College in Kentucky. She is also a composer, and in that capacity, has cultivated a particular interest in sacred and choral music. Next season she performs with Leeds winner Arthur Pizarro in a two-piano recital in Italy and England.

Instruments Piano

Location Raywick, Kentucky - USA

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