Dean Kramer, Associate Professor
 (piano, chamber music) B.Mus., 1973, Oberlin Conservatory M.Mus., 1976, D.M.A., 1992, Texas at Austin |
(541) 346-3779 | dkramer@uoregon.edu
Steinway Artist Dean Kramer's career as recitalist and concerto soloist has taken him to all parts of the world, including Poland, Hungary, Romania, Finland, France, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Malta, and Egypt. In the United States he has appeared with the Oregon, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Miami, North Carolina, Eugene, and Boise symphonies. His concerto appearances include collaborations with the acclaimed American conductor Marin Alsop in works such as the Samuel Barber Piano Concerto and Leonard Bernstein's The Age of Anxiety. He has been featured as soloist with the renowned conductor Helmuth Rilling and the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra. For the 2011-2012 season Kramer will perform three Mozart concertos with the Oregon Mozart Players.
A prizewinner at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland, Kramer also won first prize in the first American Chopin Competition in Miami, Florida; first prize in the American Music Scholarship Competition in Cincinnati, Ohio; first prize in the Kosciuszko Competition in New York, New York; and laureate honors in the Three Rivers Competition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada awarded Kramer the prize for outstanding chamber music performances. Other honors are from The United States Information Agency, which selected Kramer to represent his country internationally as an Artistic Ambassador.
Kramer has had the privilege of playing for such legendary pianists such as Arthur Rubinstein (Alice Tully Hall, New York City) and Gina Bachauer (Duke University) and was one of the few pianists to have received lessons from the great Vladimir Horowitz (Mannes School of Music, New York City).
As chamber musician, Kramer has appeared with well-known musicians such as the Vermeer Quartet, the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble and the Russian River Chamber Players. He has performed chamber music with members of the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra of New York. Kramer has performed with such well-respected artists as violinist Joseph Genualdi from the Marlboro Music Festival and cellist James Kreger of the Juilliard School.
In 2010 Kramer was the convention artist for the Oregon Music Teachers Association Conference. He has been an invited presenter for the Music Teachers National Association conferences in Seattle (2005), and Toronto, Canada (2007) and New York City (2012). He received standing ovations for his lectures at The World Piano Pedagogy Conference (2004, 2005). Kramer has held performance and lecture residencies at the University of Georgia at Athens and The 5thSingapore Piano Pedagogy Symposium. He has presented master classes in Taiwan, Canada, France, Finland, Poland, China, Singapore and Japan.
Kramer is a native Philadelphian, and holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Naumberg winner Joseph Schwartz and the University of Texas at Austin, studying with the internationally recognized pianist and teacher John Perry. Additional studies were with Adele Marcus at The Juilliard School of Music in New York. He has received coaching by distinguished pianists Leon Fleisher, Meneham Pressler and Susan Starr.
Kramer is chair of the piano faculty at the University of Oregon where he teaches award-winning students.
