“Breathtaking, impeccable, and brilliant “ Music critics from Europe and across the Americas regularly write such words to describe the electrifying performances of Venezuelan-American pianist Vanessa Perez. At the age of 11, she was invited in Caracas to give her concert debut when she performed the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Orquesta Sinfonica Municipal conducted by Carlos Riazuelo in front of a sold-out 2,500 seat auditorium.
The President of Venezuela in 1998 awarded Ms. Perez the Jose Felix Ribas Prize, the highest honor for a young performer based on their contribution to the artistic enhancement of the country.
Ms. Perez has since performed in concert halls and festivals throughout the world. A few of these among many others have included the Montpellier Festival (Radio France); Schauspielhaus and Kammermusiksaal-Beethoven-Haus(Germany); Festival Settembre Musica (Italy); Schubertiade at Sotheby's (England); Gothic Hall (Belgium); Rios Reina (Venezuela); Luis Angel Arango (Colombia) . She has performed across the United States, including among others at the La Jolla Music Society Discovery series in San Diego, Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in New York City, Keyboard Concerts Series in Fresno, and the Wertheim Performing Arts Center in Miami.
In the past few years, highlights of her performances have included those in New York at the New York International Keyboard Institute & Festival and Rockefeller University Tri-Institutional Noon Recitals. In addition, she has performed frequently across the Americas. These performances have included those 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 concertos with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Miami Symphony, and Duluth Symphony with Mark Thakar. Ms. Perez was invited to perform in Germany with conductor John Axelrod and the Luzerner Sinfonie Orchester and in Caracas to perform with the Orquesta de la Juventud Simon Bolivar and conductor Gustavo Dudamel in 2007.
In addition to her orchestral performances, she has given solo and chamber music recitals 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. She also received a personal invitation by Grammy award-winning trumpeter and composer Arturo Sandoval to perform at the legendary Blue Note jazz club in New York, where he introduced her to perform his work for piano titled Sureña.
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.
She has recorded for the label VAI . Among her chamber music recordings, she was the pianist for Jan Vogler’s “Tango” CD and the Moritzburg Ensemble released by Sony Classical in August 2008, and in 2009 collaborated with violinist Joshua Bell and Bandoneon player Carel Kraayenhoff for an upcoming Sony Classical release.
Ms Perez recorded Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major with the Berlin Symphoniker, and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor (K466) with the Venezuelan conductor Eduardo Marturet. Following the recording was invited to join their Latin American tour as guest soloist in The Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires; in Montevideo, Uruguay, and in Monterrey, Mexico.
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, Paul Desenne and Alfred Scnnittke among others.
Recent engagements across the United States and Latin America have included concerto performances in the music capitals of Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and Brasil. She was also invited to perform with European orchestras in Germany and Spain. Among the conductors and orchestras to invite Ms. Perez include conductor Ligia Amadio and the USP at the Sala Sao Paulo, Carlos Riazuelo and the Sinfonica de la Juventud Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Rafael Gintoli in Buenos Aires, Enrique Batiz and the Orquesta del Estado de Mexico , and David Gimenez Carreras at the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona. Ms. Perez was also featured at music festivals including Puerto Rico’s Casals Festival with the Orquesta de La Juventud Simon Bolivar and Conductor Diego Matheuz, and Argentina's Llao Llao Festival.
As an avid chamber musician, her recent chamber music performances include those with Cellist Jan Vogler, violinists Colin Jacobsen and Mira Wang , a duo piano recital with Gabriela Montero (for TQ producciones in Peru), and chamber performances at the Moritzburg Festival in Germany.
Ms. Perez's began her studies in Venezuela with Luminita Duca, thereafter in the United States she studied with noted Claudio Arrau pupils, Ena Bronstein and Rosalina Sackstein . At the age of 17, she was awarded a full scholarship by the Royal Academy of Music (London) to study with Christopher Elton. Thereafter she continued her studies at the renowned Italian 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.