Commended by the New York Times and the London Times, Emily White has appeared in recital at London’s Wigmore Hall and South Bank Centre, New York’s Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh, Saint David’s Hall in Cardiff, the Palais de l’Athénée in Geneva, and in many countries of Western and Eastern Europe and Asia, as well as throughout the United States and Canada. Dr. White’s recordings on the Arabesque label include “The White Peacock: American Collection, vol. 1,” “The Graceful Ghost: American Collection, vol. II),” Szymanowski Piano Works, and a live performance of Brahms’s Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major with Pawel Przytocki and the Filharmonia Sudecka in Poland. Other concerto engagements have included the Lake Forest Symphony (Illinois), National Orchestral Institute (Maryland), Oltenia Philharmonic (Romania), Lambeth Orchestra (London), and Brooklyn Symphony (New York).
Born in Rye, New York and raised in Miami, Florida, Emily White has won top prizes at the Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists Competition in England, the International Mozart Competition in Austria, the Chopin Competition of Greater New York, and the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Auditions. She has taken part in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and in the Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition in Santander, Spain, where she was the only American of twelve semifinalists. Her performances have been broadcast on WFLN-Philadelphia, WQXR-New York, National Public Radio in New York, Knoxville, San Antonio, and Omaha, and Accent4 in Strasbourg, France.
Dr. White has taught in the College Division at The Juilliard School and has given master classes in Hong Kong, the Philippines, the Colchester Institute in England, Bucharest Conservatory and the Gheorghe Dima Academy in Romania, and the United States (SMU and the Universities of Washington and Oregon). Dr. White holds degrees from the University of Maryland, The Juilliard School, the Royal Academy of Music (where she was sponsored by a London Symphony Orchestra Foundation grant), and the Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers have included Sascha Gorodnitzki, Christopher Elton, Solomon Mikowsky, Donn-Alexandre Feder, and Nelita True. Dr. White is a Steinway Artist and Member Laureate of the international music organization Sigma Alpha Iota.
“An impressive technician who plays with power and grace and keeps the music's textures wonderfully transparent . . . She played with a glistening sense of line in the Polonaise; dark tempestuousness in the first two movements of the Sonata; a silken glow in the Mazurkas and a misty, ruminative feeling in the Nocturne. Most critically, she captured the almost improvisational quality that is the mark of great Chopin playing.”
– Allan Kozinn
The New York Times
“An artist who excels in colourfully romantic keyboard expression . . . skilled pedalling in addition to supple finger-work . . .‘Feux d’artifice’ glittered in an array of virtuoso effects brilliantly executed. In Scriabin’s Sonata No. 3, she shone an intellectual light on its quasi-mysticism, illuminating its pianistic qualities in the Romantic bravura tradition, softened by a chastely poetic andante.”
– Noël Goodwin
The Times, London
“Cultivated technique and crisp clarity of touch . . . unerring ear for architectural proportion . . . slapstick chicanery . . . effortless ability to shift emotional gears in a nanosecond.”
– Patrick Rucker
International Record Review
“With piety and at the same time subtlety she performed [Szymanowski’s] Masques, op. 34 and several Mazurkas, but the chief attraction of her performance were the Rags of William Bolcom, in which the spiritual essence was deftly linked with the jest under the signature of Milhaud.”
– Andrzej GÅ‚owaczewski
Ruch muzyczny, Warsaw
“The cornerstone of this well-planned concert was Robert Schumann’s Fantasie in C Major, opus 17. Upon this gorgeous, episodic masterpiece, Ms. White imposed her own definite architecture; her performance of this most passionate of the composer’s works brought tears to the eyes of some listeners.”
– Robert Braunschweig
The Shelter Island Reporter, New York
“Our guest capitalized upon the richness of her inner resources, vis-à-vis the possibilities of expression which this instrument offers, moving from inwardness, gravity, and meditation to dramatic, temperamental feelings and magnificent accents. Her evolution transmitted sobriety, delicacy, and warmth.”
– Magdalena Vladila
Telegraf, Constanţa, Romania
“American Emily White opened the evening with Saint-SaÄŽns Piano Concerto No. 2. Her performance was neatand bright, characterized by verve and a strong sense of partnership with the orchestra.”
– Dorothy Andries
Pioneer Press, Lake Forest, Illinois
“The artist, aware of her value, performed the pieces with a sensibility and a mastery rarely heard in this country’s concert halls.”
– Victor Gavrila Loghin
Independentul, Constanţa, Romania
“Awe-inspiring vitality and technical virtuosity . . . brilliantly translucent in every detail . . . dazzlingly illuminated and tingling with excitement.”
– David Griffiths
The Scotsman, Edinburgh
“The Concerto No. 3 in C Major for Piano and Orchestra by Prokofiev was performed by the valorous American pianist Emily White, who received numerous curtain calls. The pianist’s artistic presence and impeccable technique were utterly impressive.”
– Constantin Ilie
Zum, Craiova, Romania
“Emily White put us into ecstasy in an exceptional piano recital. . . . In Liszt’s piano transcription of Wagner’s Overture to Tannhäuser, Emily White transformed herself into a pianist-orchestra, succeeding in revealing the fullness of Wagner’s harmonies and the dramatic tension of the musical discourse through the amazing inner force with which she is endowed.”
– Iuliana Carlig
Cuget Liber, Constanţa, Romania
“Bach’s Partita No. 6 in E minor was played to perfection. The rhythmic bounce of the dance movements and her light, airy touch were such as to move every sense in the body. This was magical playing.”
– John Dalton
Midweek Herald, Devonshire, UK
“Miss White’s technically masterful performance emphasized masculine energy and self assurance, combined with rhythmic decisiveness and varied tone colors . . . She displayed a sophisticated sense of humor in Three Fantasies by the contemporary American composer Yehudi Wyner, in such a way that the three fantasies appeared to be a parade of modern American jazz.”
– Gabriella Kulcsár
Szabadság, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
“She didn’t simply perform–she was at one with the music throughout.”
– Malcolm Rees
South Wales Evening Post, Swansea, Wales
BACH
Brandenburg No. 5, BWV 1050
MOZART
G Major, K. 453
A Major, K. 488
B-flat Major, K. 595
BEETHOVEN
No. 4 in G Major, op. 58
CHOPIN
No. 1 in E Minor, op. 11
MENDELSSOHN
“Double” Concerto for Piano and Violin
SCHUMANN
A Minor, op. 54
BRAHMS
No. 2 in B-flat Major, op. 83
TCHAIKOVSKY
No. 1 in B-flat Minor, op. 23
GRIEG
A Minor, op. 16
SAINT-SAŤNS
No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22
MACDOWELL
No. 2 in D Minor, op. 23
RACHMANINOFF
No. 1 in F-sharp Minor, op. 1
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, op. 43
PROKOFIEV
No. 1 in D-flat Major, op. 10
No. 3 in C Major, op. 26
STRAVINSKY
Piano and Winds (1924)
GERSHWIN
Rhapsody in Blue
J. S. Bach English Suite No. 6 in D Minor, BWV 811
Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830
Pastorale in F Major, BWV 590 (arr. Lipatti)
Scarlatti Sonata in G Minor, K. 30 (“The Cat Fugue”); Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 545
Mozart Sonata in D Major, K. 311
Sonata in B-flat, K. 333
Variations on Paisiello’s “Salve tu Domine,” K. 398
Fantasy in C Minor, K. 475
Beethoven Sonata in D Major, op. 10, no. 3
Sonata in F Minor, op. 57 (“Appassionata”)
Sonata in E-flat Major, op. 81a (“Les Adieux”)
Sonata in A Major, op. 101
Chopin Ballade in F Minor, op. 52
Barcarolle, op. 60
Fantaisie in F Minor, op. 49
Mazurkas (group) from opp. 17, 50, 56
Nocturnes: C Minor, op. 48, no.1; E-flat Major, op. 55, no. 2; E Minor, op. 72, no. 1
Polonaise in F-sharp Minor, op. 44
Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 35 (“Funeral March”)
Tarantelle, op. 43
Waltzes: A-flat Major, op. 64, no. 3; B Minor, op. 69, no. 2
Schubert Liebesbotschaft; Gretchen am Spinnrade; Du bist die Ruh; Rastlose Liebe (arr. Liszt)
Schumann Carnaval, op. 9
Fantasie, op. 17
Songs: Widmung; Frühlingsnacht (arr. Liszt)
Mendelssohn Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream (arr. Rachmaninoff)
Brahms Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel, op. 24
Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12
Paganini Étude No. 6
Wagner Overture to Tannhäuser (arr. Liszt)
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
Scriabin Sonata No. 3 in F-sharp Minor, op. 23; PoŹme ailé, op. 51, no. 3; PoŹme satanique, op. 36
Rachmaninoff Études-Tableaux: F-sharp Minor, op. 39, no. 3; E-flat Minor, op. 39, no. 5
Moszkowski Caprice espagnol, op. 37
Debussy Préludes: Ondine; La cathédrale engloutie; La sérénade interrompue; La terrasse des audiences
du clair de lune; Feux d’artifice
Albéniz Iberia, Book I: Evocación; El puerto; Corpus Christi en Sevilla
Bartók Two Romanian Dances, op. 8a
Griffes Scherzo, op. 6, no. 3; The White Peacock, op. 7, no. 1; The Fountain of the Acqua Paola, op. 7, no. 3
Paderewski Legend in A-flat, op. 16, no. 1
Szymanowski Etudes, op. 4; Metopes, op. 29; Masques, op. 34; Sonata No. 3, op. 36; Mazurkas (group), op. 50
Chávez Two Preludes (1937)
Barber Sonata for Piano, op. 26 (1949)
Messiaen Le courlis cendré, from Catalogue d’Oiseaux (1958)
Bolcom Ghost Rags: The Graceful Ghost; Poltergeist; Dream Shadows (1971)
Wyner Threefingered Don; Addio Roma, Addio; From the Flow; Mano a Mano (1990–91); Refrain (2012)
Photos by Robert Carpenter Turner and Richard Blinkoff