Damon Denton
"Denton transforms the piano into a mirror of the human soul" (Athens Daily News) Damon Denton graduated from the Juilliard School in New York City with a M.M. as piano faculty assistant to reknowned Russian pianist Mme. Oxana Yablonskaya. Prior to Juilliard he received his B.M. from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. His major teachers have included Oxana Yablonskaya, Julian Martin, Lillian Freundlich, Ann Schein, Ilana Vered, and Raymond Dudley. As a young artist Mr. Denton was a winner of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Young Soloist Competitions; the Peabody Recital Competition and the Peabody Conservatory "Concours"; the Music Academy of the West and Aspen Summer Music Festival's Concerto Competitions; the First National Young Keyboard Artist's Competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At the Fourth International Piano Competition held in Pretoria, South Africa, Mr. Denton was the only American pianist passed through to the final round. His SABC televised performance of Prokofieff's Piano Concerto No. 3 live from the State Theater with the National Symphony Orchestra brought superb reviews and one of the competition's top prizes. ("Denton has a huge range of tone and articulation..." Pretoria News) Concerto performances of note include Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra; Bach Brandenburg No. 5 ("..the notable exception of the three was Mr. Denton. You could have added another line to the concerto and he would have played it with the same elan he displayed with the original. The most blurring passages of the Bach were to him, seemingly a walk in the park."...The Macon Telegraph); Gershwin Concerto in F with the Macon Symphony Orchestra; Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1, Poulenc "Aubade", and Gershwin Concerto in F with the Philharmonica de Queretaro in Mexico. A Cd Disk recording of Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 with Fred Mills, trumpet, and the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, is presently out on the Phoenix label ("Pianist Damon Denton scampers through the Shostakovich's figurations with a keen ear for melody and texture....darker emotions come into play...The second movement is morbidly dreamy, and its final measures have never sounded so beautiful.."...Classic NET Reviews). Most recently, Mr. Denton was piano concerto soloist in the Macon Symphony Orchestra's "Masterworks Series", presenting the opening concert with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Macon Grand Opera House (The Macon Telegraph: "... ....A warm yet straightforward interpretation...rhythmic drive...tumultuous urgency...drove the third movement to a final, thundering climax............Superb...") Solo performance highlights include concerts at: Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, University of South Africa at Pretoria, Leighton House Museum, London, The Arlington Theatre, The United Nations in NYC, among others. Mr. Denton is pianist for lyric coloratura soprano, Jeanine Thames, worldwide. To his great pleasure he was also collaborative studio pianist and personal friend of the great international opera star, Anna Moffo, in New York City. He currently resides in Athens, Georgia where he is a guest artist at the University of Georgia. He recently performed in Kauai and Capetown, South Africa, where his CD is in rotation on national radio.
"One of the nations most gifted pianists"... CNN
"One of the nations most gifted pianists"... CNN