Martin Katz (born November 27, 1945) [1] is an American pianist, educator and conductor, primarily known for his work as an accompanist.
Katz was trained as a collaborative pianist by Gwendolyn Koldofsky at the Thornton School of Music, part of the University of Southern California; where he was a member of the USC's music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. [2] [3] He is also an alumnus of the Music Academy of the West. [4] From 1966 to 1969, he served in the U.S. Army as a member of the United States Army Band (Pershing's Own) in Washington, DC and as a piano soloist and accompanist with the United States Army Chorus. When he returned to civilian life, he embarked upon a thirty year career that saw him collaborating with many of the most acclaimed classical singers of the day, including Marilyn Horne, Cecilia Bartoli, Kathleen Battle, Kiri Te Kanawa, Sylvia McNair, Frederica von Stade, Karita Mattila, David Daniels, José Carreras, Samuel Ramey, and Piotr Beczała. [1] [3] He also worked as a conductor, and prepared editions of baroque and bel canto operas that were performed at the Metropolitan Opera, the Houston Grand Opera and Opera Lyra Ottawa. [5]
Musical America's "Accompanist of the Year" in 1998, [1] Katz currently teaches collaborative piano at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. [5] He is the author of the book, The Complete Collaborator: The Pianist as Partner. [6]
Marilyn Berneice Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honors, and has won four Grammy Awards.
Frederica von Stade is a semi-retired American classical singer. Best known for her work in opera, she was also a recitalist and concert artist, and she recorded more than a hundred albums and videos. She is especially associated with operas by Mozart and Rossini, and also with music by French and American composers, most notably Jake Heggie. A Chevalier of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, twice the winner of a Grand Prix du Disque and nominated nine times for a Grammy award, she is widely regarded as the pre-eminent lyric mezzo-soprano of her generation.
Jake Heggie is an American composer of opera, vocal, orchestral, and chamber music. He is best known for his operas and art songs as well as for his collaborations with internationally renowned performers and writers.
Henry Jay Lewis was an American double-bassist and orchestral conductor whose career extended over four decades. A child prodigy, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 16, becoming the first African-American instrumentalist in a major symphony orchestra and, later, the first African-American symphony orchestra conductor in the United States. As musical director of the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra, he supported America's cultural diplomacy initiatives in Europe after World War II.
Judith Blegen is an American soprano, particularly associated with light lyric roles of the French, Italian and German repertories.
The Music Academy of the West is a summer classical music training program in Montecito, California, and festival with performances in the County of Santa Barbara.
Antonio de Almeida was a French conductor and musicologist of Portuguese-American descent.
John Pfeiffer was a classical recording producer, a design engineer, and an occasional electronic music composer.
Richard Albert Hundley was an American pianist and composer of art songs for voice and piano.
A Carnegie Hall Christmas Concert is an 89-minute television film starring the opera singers Kathleen Battle and Frederica von Stade, the jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the Wynton Marsalis Septet, the American Boychoir, the Christmas Concert Chorus, the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the pianist and conductor André Previn. It first aired as part of PBS's Great Performances series in 1991, and was subsequently released on VHS, Laserdisc, DVD and CD. It was jointly produced by CAMI Video, Sony, PBS and WNET.
Martin Johannes Sebastian Isepp was an Austrian‐born British pianist, harpsichordist, conductor and teacher. He had an international career, and worked with leading singers for several decades. Among those with whom he performed were Janet Baker, Hugues Cuénod, Hans Hotter and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. For more than forty years he was associated with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and he held posts in opera houses and music academies in Britain, continental Europe and North America.
Paul Walter Myers was a classical record producer who worked for CBS, Decca Records and Naxos. He worked with conductor George Szell of the Cleveland Orchestra, the pianist Glenn Gould, and the guitarist John Williams. Myers was the author of the "Deadly" series of mystery novels set in the world of classical music.
The Faces of Love is a 78-minute studio album of contemporary classical songs composed by Jake Heggie, performed by Brian Asawa, Zheng Cao, Kristin Clayton, Renée Fleming, Nicolle Foland, Jennifer Larmore, Sylvia McNair, Frederica von Stade and Carol Vaness, with piano accompaniment by Heggie and with two contributions by cellist Emil Miland. It was released in 1999.
The Marilyn Horne Song Competition is an annual competition for participants of the voice and piano programs at the Music Academy of The West.
Song Recital is a 54-minute studio album of Lieder, mélodies and English and American songs performed by Frederica von Stade with piano accompaniment by Martin Katz. It was released in 1978.
Frederica von Stade Live! is a 46-minute live album of arias, art songs and folk songs from America, France, Ireland and Italy, performed by von Stade with piano accompaniment by Martin Katz. It was released in 1982.
Voyage à Paris is a 70-minute studio album of French art songs performed by Frederica von Stade with piano accompaniment by Martin Katz. It was released in 1995.
Marilyn Horne & Frederica von Stade: Lieder & Duets is a 49-minute classical studio album in which Horne sings songs by Robert Schumann and Antonin Dvoŕák, and Horne and von Stade sing duets by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, all accompanied by Martin Katz on the piano. The recording was released in 1993.
Marilyn Horne: Divas in Song: A 60th Birthday Celebration is a 77-minute live album of art and popular songs performed by Olafur Bjarnason, Montserrat Caballé, Helen Donath, Renée Fleming, Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade, Ruth Ann Swenson and Marilyn Horne herself, with piano accompaniment by Manuel Burgueras, Klaus Donath, Warren Jones, Martin Katz and James Levine. It was released in 1994.
A Salute to American Music is a 113-minute live album of music, both classical and popular, performed by Steven Blier, Renée Fleming, Paul Groves, Jerry Hadley, Karen Holvik, Marilyn Horne, Jeff Mattsey, Robert Merrill, Sherrill Milnes, Maureen O'Flynn, Phyllis Pancella, Leontyne Price, Samuel Ramey, Daniel Smith, Frederica von Stade, Tatiana Troyanos, Carol Vaness and Denise Woods with the Collegiate Chorale and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under the direction of James Conlon. The album was released in 1992.