John Owings consistently wins enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics for hisexciting pianism and sensitive artistry. “Real spiritual elation” was how the London Daily Telegraph described hisplaying of the Elliott Carter Piano Sonata. The Cleveland Plain Dealer called his playing a “fine blend oftechnical brilliance with expressivity,” and the Houston Post , reviewing his performance of the Ravel G MajorConcerto, said, “the audience was spellbound.”

Since making his orchestral debut with the San Antonio Symphony at the age of 15, Mr.Owings has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, the Boston Pops, the EnglishChamber Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestras of Colombia and Peru. He has performed recitals in major cities in the United States, Latin America, Europe and the Far East and has been a guest artist at numerous music festivals. His CD recordings on the Koch International Classics label, as well as his newly released CD of piano music by Robert Casadesus for Opus Millésime , have received outstanding reviews.

The recipient of many prestigious awards and prizes, Mr. Owings won first prize in the 1975 Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition in Cleveland, the1968 London Liszt Society Competition and the Musical Arts Competition in Chicago in 1980. He has served on the juries for major international competitions including the Casadesus, the Gina Bachauer, and the Beethoven in Vienna.

Following his early musical training in his native Texas, John Owings studied at the Royal College of Music in London as a Fulbright Scholar. Later, his studies took him to Switzerland, Italy and The Juilliard School, where he received his Master's Degree. His teachers have included Dalies Frantz, Rosina Lhevinne, Martin Canin, Karl Leifheit, Geza Anda and Wilhelm Kempff.

Since 1990 John Owings has been a member of the faculty of Texas Christian University where he holds the Herndon Professorship of Music. In 1993, the University conferred upon him its highest award, the Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Research and Creative Activity, for his performances of the 32 Beethoven Sonatas. A CD with six of the sonatas from these live performances is available.

For further information visit http://www.johnowings.com/start.html

Leonard Richter is professor of music in piano and theory at Walla Walla College. At WWC since 1978, he is an award-winning teacher whose piano students have gained national and international recognition.

A native of Czechoslovakia, Richter completed a Performer's Diploma with high honors at the People's Conservatory in 1962. Six years later he graduated with majors in German and English from Palacky University in Olomouc. After leaving Czechoslovakia he completed M.Mus. degrees in piano at Andrews University in 1971 and at the Manhattan School of Music in 1977. He received a Ph.D. from New York University in 1984.

Richter has studied piano with several noted teachers including Anna Skalicka, Brno Conservatory; Dora Zaslavasky, Manhattan School of Music; and Adele Marcus, The Juilliard School. An active performer for many years, Dr. Richter is a frequent recitalist and accompanist. He has given numerous guest lecture-demonstrations and is a sought-after adjudicator for piano competitions in the Northwest.

While at WWC, Richter has established a reputation for producing outstanding pianists who consistently rank high in regional and national competitions. On four occasions his college students won the Northwest Wurlitzer Competition in piano and advanced to compete against six other regional winners in the national finals. In 2003 his student Stephen Beus was the first prize collegiate winner in the MTNA national competition. Many of Dr. Richter's students have gone on to complete graduate degrees and have obtained appointments teaching piano at various universities and colleges.

Robert Roux began his career at age 10 with a performance on the nationally televised Lawrence Welk Show. Since that time, he has been a winner of several piano competitions in the United States, including the United States Information Agency's Artistic Ambassador Competition and the International Piano Recording Competition. A Steinway Artist, Roux's performances include appearances at the White House, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Merkin Concert Hall in New York, Stude Concert Hall in Houston on the Horowitz Steinway, St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music, and Villa Pignatelli in Naples. He has toured as recitalist and concerto soloist in sixteen countries; Nuremberg Nachrichten , Germany's third largest daily newspaper, deemed him "...a smart interpreter of Viennese classicism whom we should bear in mind..." Clavier magazine, referring to a three-day American Liszt Society festival held in 2002, deemed Roux's performance of the Liszt Sonata "...the most stunning playing during the festival...for which the audience offered a well-deserved standing ovation."

Dr. Roux's students have been frequent prize winners and award recipients at the national and international level. He has been featured as a master teacher at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, and also has taught on the faculty of the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, where he took over John Perry's class in 1995. He has been Associate Director of the Prague International Piano Masterclasses since 1997, and has served on the faculty of the prestigious Van Cliburn Institute, the Moscow International Piano Masterclasses, the Paris International Piano Sessions, and the Association of German Music Schools. His list of teachers and coaches include Lili Kraus, Adele Marcus, William Race, and Leonard Shure. He is listed in Who's Who in America and is also interviewed as one of the top teachers in Benjamin Saver's publication, The Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the USA .