Steinway Artist Steven Spooner in Concert – FREE!

Join us at Schmitt Music Kansas City for a free performance by Steinway Artist Steven Spooner on Thursday, July 11 at 7:00 PM! Mr. Spooner will be performing on the Horowitz Steinway!

Please RSVP to save your seats! Call 913-663-4756 or email us today!

“Spooner is a pianist in the tradition that many believe died with the likes of Horowitz, Arrau, Bolet, Cziffra, and Wild. His talent, to my ears, is easily the equal of most major pianists of today and far superior to a large number of those “most exciting and dynamic pianists of their generation” whose discs fill the new record catalogs to overflowing.” (FANFARE MAGAZINE)

Described as “dazzling” (Washington Post) critics have hailed the powerful performances of pianist Steven Spooner and noted that the “American had everything: polished technique, musical intelligence, innate sensitivity, and a personality that reaches across the keyboard.” Steven has performed around the world and is quickly becoming one of the more noted American pianists of his generation.

Play the Horowitz Steinway!

The Horowitz Steinway will be available for you to play during regular business hours from Saturday, July 6 – Thursday, July 11. Click here to learn more about “Your Chance to Play Vladimir Horowitz’s Steinway” at Schmitt Music.

Contact your Schmitt Music Piano Specialist to reserve your spot! Click here to visit our Specialists page, call 913-663-4756 or email us today!

Watch Steven perform Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13, S. 244-13:

Get to know Steven Spooner:

Critics and audiences have unanimously hailed the distinctive and compelling performances of pianist Steven Spooner describing him as “a pianist in the tradition that many believe died with the likes of Horowitz, Arrau, Bolet, Cziffra, and Wild. His talent, to my ears, is easily the equal of most major pianists of today” (FANFARE MAGAZINE). Passionately devoted to the solo recital, Steven has been engaged and often re-engaged at prestigious venues such as the Salle Cortot in Paris, Holland’s Vredenburg Centre, Budapest’s Great Hall of the Liszt Academy, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Rome’s Santa Cecilia, and Singapore’s Esplanade. During the past season he has daringly reinvented the solo recital format by allowing audiences to vote for one of several programs he has prepared.

Steven wields an unusually large repertoire and has mounted an enormous recital series akin to Anton Rubinstein’s solo recitals of 1885. These 18 live recitals were recently documented in a 5-cd box-set entitled The Historical Piano Recital Series. His enthusiasm for new music has produced an ongoing collaboration with renowned composer Mohammed Fairouz (commissioned by the ROKI Foundation) to premiere and record several of his works during the next few seasons. Steven is currently documenting his family’s musical life along with a traversal of the 32 Beethoven Sonatas for their new XOTV show ‘A Life With Music’.

Steven has been unusually successful in the limited number of international piano competitions in which he participated—he is prizewinner at each of the seven international piano competitions he has entered and top prizewinner at both the Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the Artlivre International Piano Competition. He captured First Prize and was recipient of the Niekamp Career Grant as most outstanding pianist in French music at the Paris Conservatory. His performances and recordings of works by Liszt have garnered particular attention worldwide.
Steven is an active collaborator and performs with a diverse and distinguished list of musicians including, the Borromeo Quartet, Violinist Renaud Capuçon, Silk Road Ensemble Bassist Daxun Zhang, and recent orchestral engagements of the Schnittke Concerto with the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin during their tour of North America. Steven has released 15 recordings on the Naxos,TMG, EMR Classics, Everythingmusic, and IU recording labels. He studied at Paris Conservatory, Moscow and Tbilisi Conservatories in the former Soviet Union, and Indiana University, Bloomington. In 2008 he was the final recipient of the Ivory Classics Foundation prize that enabled him to study with the legendary virtuoso Earl Wild.

He serves as guest artist at several international music festivals each year and is increasingly in demand for his humorous, engaging, and energetic masterclasses at major music institutions all over the world such as the Paris Conservatory, Milan Conservatory, Liszt Academy of Music, and the Shanghai and Beijing Conservatories. Steven currently serves on the piano faculty at the University of Kansas–A dedicated and caring teacher, Steven’s students have been named winners of several prizes at important international and national piano competitions. Steven Spooner is a Steinway Artist. Further info: www.stevenspooner.com.

We invite you to reserve time slots to play the Horowitz Steinway during regular Schmitt Music Kansas City store hours.  Please call 913-663-4756 or 800-734-3447 or email us to schedule a playing time. Or contact us through our Piano Specialists page – click here.

The Schmitt Music Kansas City Staff,

Blair Penney
Harry Reed
Mike Vaccaro