Venezuelan-American pianist Vanessa Perez has already been recognized as a virtuosa of the keyboard, endowed with an extraordinary interpretative power that captivates audiences. She began her studies at the age of seven in Caracas, Venezuela. Since the age of eight, she has appeared in solo recitals and with orchestras in concert halls around the world. At the age of 11, she gave her official debut in Caracas, playing the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Orquesta Sinfonica Municipal conducted by Carlos Riazuelo in front of an audience of 2500 people.
Legendary pianist Claudio Arrau heard Ms. Perez in 1989, and described her “a pianist whose technique, musicality, and intelligent approach to the music she plays made a profound impression on me. It is not possible to find a young artist today better equipped with all of the necessary qualities that my school of pianists requires from a performer.”
After winning top prizes at numerous young artist competitions in South America, the United States and Europe, Ms. Perez continued performing in concert halls and festivals throughout the world including the Montpellier Festival - Radio France; Schauspielhaus, Berlin; Kammermusiksaal - Beethoven-Haus, Bonn; Festival Settembre Musica, Turin; Schubertiade at Sotheby's in London; Keyboard Concerts Series, Fresno; Gothic Hall in Brussels; Rios Reina in Caracas; Luis Angel Arango in Bogota and Wertheim Performing Arts Center Concert Hall, Miami.
Miss Perez performed on the La Jolla Music Society Discovery series in San Diego and at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in New York City in 2004. Recordings of her performances have recently been featured on various media, including Robert Sherman's Young Artists' Showcase on WQXR-FM in New York City, WFMT in Chicago, Boston’s WGBH, and Washington’s NPR station.
Her first of a Series of recital CDs for the label VAI was released in the Fall of 2005. She has most recently recorded a CD with cellist Jan Vogler and the Moritzburg Ensemble which was released by Sony in August 2008, and has also recently collaborated with violinist Joshua Bell and Bandoneon player Carel Kraayenhoff also for their upcoming Sony release.
Ms Perez also recorded Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major with the Berliner Symphoniker, and in October 2001, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor (K466) with the Venezuelan conductor Eduardo Marturet. During that same year she toured with the Berliner Symphoniker in their Latin American Tour performing as guest soloist in The Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires; in Montevideo, Uruguay, and in Monterrey, Mexico.
Among her 2006-2007 performances were concerts with the 2006 New York International Keyboard Institute & Festival, and Rockefeller University Tri-Institutional Noon Recitals. Ms. Perez performed in Colombia with the Filarmonica de Bogota under Diazmunoz, as well as recitals in Mexico and Puerto Rico; in the US her concerto performances included the Bridgeport Symphony with conductor Gustav Meier and, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Miami Symphony, and Duluth Symphony. Ms. Perez toured Germany with conductor John Axelrod, and appeared with conductor Gustavo Dudamel in Caracas and the Orquesta de la Juventud Simon Bolivar.
In chamber music collaborations, she has performed at the Wigmore Hall, London; Schnittke Festival at the RAM , London; and the Montpellier Festival, France. She has also collaborated with renowned Spanish Soprano Isabel Rey at the Opernhaus, Zurich, the Dresdner Musik Festspiele, and for the Lirica privanza's 3er Cicle d' Opera in Barcelona, Spain. In March of 2002, she received a unique invitation by Grammy award-winning trumpeter and composer Arturo Sandoval to perform at The Blue Note in New York, where he introduced her to perform his work for piano titled Sureña.
Actively involved in 20th century and New music, Ms Perez has performed works and collaborated with composers such as by Paul Moravec, Suzanne Farrin, Lowell Liebermann, and Alfred Scnnittke among others.
In 1998, she was awarded the Jose Felix Ribas Prize, highest honor given by the president of Venezuela to a young performer who has contributed to the artistic enhancement of the country.
In the US she studied with Rosalina Sackstein and Ena Bronstein. At the age of 17 she was awarded a full scholarship by the Royal Academy of Music, London, studying with Christopher Elton. After graduating she continued her studies in Italy at the Accademia Pianistica Incontri Col Maestro in Imola with pianists Lazar Berman, and Franco Scala. Later she completed postgraduate studies at Yale University with Hungarian pianist Peter Frankl.
Among other musicians who have strongly contributed to her musical growth are Richard Goode, Tamas Vasary, Claude Frank, Boris Berman, Lynn Harrell, Zubin Mehta, Lev Naumov and Dimitri Bashkirov.
Engagements in 2008 included collaborations with Cellist Jan Vogler, violinists Colin Jacobsen and Mira Wang , for TQ producciones in Peru a duo piano recital with Gabriela Montero, solo recitals in the US, in Puerto Rico’s Casals Festival; Ms. Perez performed as soloist with the Orquesta de La Juventud Simon Bolivar and Conductor Diego Matheuz, for the Llao Llao Festival in Argentina, and chamber performances at the Moritzburg Festival.
Future highlights include concerto performances in Spain, Germany, recitals in the US, and concerto performances in Latin America , which includes Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina in 2010.