Robert Koenig
Pianist Robert Koenig is well known as a chamber music player, backing many of the world's top violinists. Koenig is also active as an educator and serves as professor and head of collaborative piano at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Koenig was born November 30, 1963, and grew up in tiny Englefeld, Saskatchewan, Canada. He was mentored musically by his older brother Mark, a violinist, and when he was 15, Robert moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, for studies at the Vancouver Academy of Music. His teachers there were Lee Kum-Sing and Gwen Thompson. He lived with his brother, who was already living in Vancouver. Supported by several grants from the Canadian government, he went on to the Banff School of Fine Arts in Albert and then to the Academie Musicale di Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Koenig earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, studying with Vladimir Sokoloff, and also taking chamber music classes with Felix Galimir and Karen Tuttle. Koenig served as staff pianist at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, and in 2000, he became professor of piano and piano chamber music at the University of Kansas. The following year, he backed John Rojak on the MMC album The Romantic Bass Trombone. While at Kansas, he commissioned composer Lowell Liebermann's Trio for flute, cello and piano, Op. 87, and premiered the work at the National Flute Association Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
Parallel to his teaching career, Koenig has been an active performer who has appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, among other major world halls. He has backed such major violinists as Hilary Hahn, Sarah Chang, and Augustin Hadelich, and he has had ongoing associations with Elmar Oliveira and the late Aaron Rosand. In 2007, Koenig moved to the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he serves as professor of piano and head of the collaborative piano department. He has appeared on recordings on Decca, Cedille, CRI, and other labels. Koenig's 2006 recording of William Primrose's transcriptions for viola and piano, with violist Roberto Díaz, was recorded for Naxos and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Solo Performance. He has continued to record for various labels, and in 2022, he backed cellist Jennifer Kloetzel on an Avie recording of Beethoven's complete sonatas for cello and piano.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
15 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Ecstasy
Sara Sant'ambrogio, Robert Koenig
Klassiek - Released by Sebastian Records on 1 dec. 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: The Conquering Hero – Complete Works for Cello and Piano
Jennifer Kloetzel, Robert Koenig
Kamermuziek - Released by AVIE Records on 21 jan. 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Transcriptions pour alto
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 25 jul. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Traumerei: Romantic Violin Favourites (Lu Siqing)
Kamermuziek - Released by Marco-Polo on 31 jul. 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Approaching Autumn
Kamermuziek - Released by Delos on 10 sep. 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Chopin Collection
Sara Sant'ambrogio, Robert Koenig
Klassiek - Released by Sebastian Records on 1 jan. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vieuxtemps: Viola and Piano Music
Kamermuziek - Released by Naxos on 1 jul. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
First Loves
Alternative en Indie - Released by Blind Bay Records on 1 sep. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sonata for Piano with Horn or Cello in F Major, Op. 17: II. Poco adagio
Jennifer Kloetzel, Robert Koenig
Kamermuziek - Released by AVIE Records on 14 jan. 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Forgotten Liszt
Benjamin Brecher, Robert Koenig
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by MSR Classics on 11 okt. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69: III. Adagio cantabile – Allegro vivace
Jennifer Kloetzel, Robert Koenig
Kamermuziek - Released by AVIE Records on 7 jan. 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Walton & Britten: Works for Violin & Piano
Kamermuziek - Released by Centaur Records, Inc. on 16 aug. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hurry Up, Christmas! Kringletown
Kinderen - Released by Kringletown on 12 nov. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Morning's Promise
Moderne jazz - Released by Kringletown on 12 nov. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo