Joseph Rackers

Hailed as an “American Virtuoso” (Audiophile Audition), “enormous power and intelligent, instinctive interpretation” (Spoleto Today), and “simply dazzling” (The State), pianist Joseph Rackers has performed for enthusiastic audiences in New York, Boston, Chicago, Kiev, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Seoul and Washington D.C., at venues across Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Bulgaria, Ukraine and extensively throughout the United States.  His performances around the world include the Shanghai and Sichuan Conservatories of Music, Kiev International Music Festival, Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival, Seoul International Piano Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Dame Myra Hess Concert Series and Banff Centre for the Arts, in addition to recitals in most of the fifty states in the U.S. Gramophone writes, “the results are consistently compelling… if Rackers response were primarily to his relationship with the composer as some sort of kindred spirit.”  

A devoted teacher, Rackers’ students have earned awards in dozens of national and international piano competitions, including the Bonn Beethoven International Piano Competition (First Prize, Audience Prize, Contemporary Music Prize, Chamber Music Prize and Bärenreiter-Urtext Prize), Leipzig Bach International Piano Competition, Concours International de Piano d’Orléans, National Winner of the MTNA National Competition, Minnesota International, Seattle International, Yamaha Young Performing Artists, National Society of Arts and Letters, Steinway, Shenzhen, YoungArts, Eastman Concerto Competition, Blount-Slawson, Liszt-Garrison, Dubois, and numerous others.  His students have performed for venues including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Minnesota Orchestra, Aspen and Cliburn music festivals, From the Top on NPR and Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater.

Joseph Rackers is a Steinway Artist.