The pianist and composer Neil Galanter began his musical studies at the age of seven. He gave his first recital at the age of nine, and made his debut at twelve with orchestra. He has since gone on to play many recitals and concerts spanning four continents including appearances throughout the USA, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. His concerts have brought him to such venues as Centenary Hall in Leeds, Salle Cortot in Paris, McCain Hall in Dublin, Ulster Hall in Belfast, the Sydney Opera House and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
He received his Bachelor of Music with minors in French Language and Journalism from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and a MM in Piano Performance in Philadelphia where he was a student of Alexander Fiorillo at student of Horowitz. He received his Doctoral degree in Music from the University of Southern California(USC). He also studied at the Juilliard School of Music and Manhattan School of Music in New York. His teachers included such well-known pianists as Adele Marcus, Theodore Lettvin, Robert Goldsand, (who was a direct link to Franz Liszt). Jerome Rose, and Nicholas Zumbro. As a young adult, he lived for several years teaching and touring in Europe including The Netherlands, Germany, France and Sweden. He is also a composer and has written over a dozen pieces for solo piano, woodwinds, chamber music and choir.
As a conductor, he has been the music director both at the South Bay Christian Church in Redondo Beach, CA and at Culver Palms Methodist Church in Los Angeles, CA. in addition to conducting various instrumental, choral and handbell ensembles.
Galanter was the recipient of a fellowship and Spanish Music Prize two years in a row from the commission for "Musica en Compostela" from the Spanish Government in Santiago Spain. He has done extensive research in the origins of Spanish Piano Music of the 19th and 20th centuries, which is one of his specialties. He has been on the faculties of Temple University, University of Arizona, Settlement School in Philadelphia, Bethesda University, Muzikschule-Habichtswald in Germany, and also as a Visiting Artist in Residence at A&M University in Huntsville, Alabama.
Other awards include a first prize in the Jackson Symphony Piano Competition, the Young Artists Award from the Detroit Symphony, the silver medal from the Amsterdamse Regio Muziek Concurrentie and fellowships and scholarships at the New England Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Temple University Philadelphia, and at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
His recital activities have included many performances of Goyescas the Spanish Piano Suite of Enrique Granados, Iberia of Albeniz, as well as varied recital programs including many of the important Spanish, English, French and Belgian composers. Recital Programs and concertos of Spanish music and English music have taken him to England, Ireland, Holland and Paris as well as two tours to Australia and New Zealand, where he played concerts in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Toowoomba, Christchurch & Dunedin. A tour of Ireland and the UK included a performance of the Liszt E Flat Concerto with the Cork Symphony Orchestra.
He is a researcher and exponent of music of many major Spanish, English, French and Belgian composers: Albeniz, Absil, Bax, Bliss, Blancafort, Granados, De Falla, Poot, Turina, Mompou and Montsalvatge among others. The well known Spanish/Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge himself lauded Mr. Galanter's interpretations of Spanish Music and invited Dr. Galanter to Spain to meet him and his wife after the composer heard Mr. Galanter's interpretations of his works on his CD of all Spanish Music. William Blezard of the UK wrote a piano work especially for Mr. Galanter during one of his Australian Tours.
He has played the French, Russian, American, English, Spanish and Belgian Repertoires extensively and as well as the works of the Australian composers Percy Grainger and Arthur Benjamin. He is also a linguist & has worked as an interpreter/translator being fluent in five languages: French, German, Dutch, Swedish and English.
His musical interests are varied and broad and stretch from many unusual and neglected repertoires of Western European composers all the way to myriads of Pop/Rock, Indie, alternative, Folk and Brazilian Music. His library of recordings equally includes music of the great Rock and Pop Stars just as it does the great Classical Standards.
In recent seasons, he collaborated in a series of chamber music and solo concerts with members of the LA Philharmonic and the LA Chamber Orchestra including several performances of the TURINA Piano Quartet. He gave the American Premiere of the Belgian Composer Marcel Poot's Piano Concerto in Los Angeles with the Los Angeles Valley Symphony Orchestra. He has been a professor and lecturer at many institutions including: Temple University, A&M University in Alabama, Bethesda University of California, USC, Loyola Marymount University and presently at National University in Los Angeles. He has been invited to conduct master classes throughout England, France, Australia and New Zealand and has been a visiting lecturer at various universities abroad and in the USA. Over the years, his piano students have placed and won many awards at a variety of contests, programs and festivals throughout the US and Europe. At LMU, he designed a special course called Musical Artistry & Appreciation. He records for Disques Pyrennes. He is presently a Core Adjunct Professor at National University in Los Angeles.
He received his Bachelor of Music with minors in French Language and Journalism from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and a MM in Piano Performance in Philadelphia where he was a student of Alexander Fiorillo at student of Horowitz. He received his Doctoral degree in Music from the University of Southern California(USC). He also studied at the Juilliard School of Music and Manhattan School of Music in New York. His teachers included such well-known pianists as Adele Marcus, Theodore Lettvin, Robert Goldsand, (who was a direct link to Franz Liszt). Jerome Rose, and Nicholas Zumbro. As a young adult, he lived for several years teaching and touring in Europe including The Netherlands, Germany, France and Sweden. He is also a composer and has written over a dozen pieces for solo piano, woodwinds, chamber music and choir.
As a conductor, he has been the music director both at the South Bay Christian Church in Redondo Beach, CA and at Culver Palms Methodist Church in Los Angeles, CA. in addition to conducting various instrumental, choral and handbell ensembles.
Galanter was the recipient of a fellowship and Spanish Music Prize two years in a row from the commission for "Musica en Compostela" from the Spanish Government in Santiago Spain. He has done extensive research in the origins of Spanish Piano Music of the 19th and 20th centuries, which is one of his specialties. He has been on the faculties of Temple University, University of Arizona, Settlement School in Philadelphia, Bethesda University, Muzikschule-Habichtswald in Germany, and also as a Visiting Artist in Residence at A&M University in Huntsville, Alabama.
Other awards include a first prize in the Jackson Symphony Piano Competition, the Young Artists Award from the Detroit Symphony, the silver medal from the Amsterdamse Regio Muziek Concurrentie and fellowships and scholarships at the New England Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Temple University Philadelphia, and at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
His recital activities have included many performances of Goyescas the Spanish Piano Suite of Enrique Granados, Iberia of Albeniz, as well as varied recital programs including many of the important Spanish, English, French and Belgian composers. Recital Programs and concertos of Spanish music and English music have taken him to England, Ireland, Holland and Paris as well as two tours to Australia and New Zealand, where he played concerts in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Toowoomba, Christchurch & Dunedin. A tour of Ireland and the UK included a performance of the Liszt E Flat Concerto with the Cork Symphony Orchestra.
He is a researcher and exponent of music of many major Spanish, English, French and Belgian composers: Albeniz, Absil, Bax, Bliss, Blancafort, Granados, De Falla, Poot, Turina, Mompou and Montsalvatge among others. The well known Spanish/Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge himself lauded Mr. Galanter's interpretations of Spanish Music and invited Dr. Galanter to Spain to meet him and his wife after the composer heard Mr. Galanter's interpretations of his works on his CD of all Spanish Music. William Blezard of the UK wrote a piano work especially for Mr. Galanter during one of his Australian Tours.
He has played the French, Russian, American, English, Spanish and Belgian Repertoires extensively and as well as the works of the Australian composers Percy Grainger and Arthur Benjamin. He is also a linguist & has worked as an interpreter/translator being fluent in five languages: French, German, Dutch, Swedish and English.
His musical interests are varied and broad and stretch from many unusual and neglected repertoires of Western European composers all the way to myriads of Pop/Rock, Indie, alternative, Folk and Brazilian Music. His library of recordings equally includes music of the great Rock and Pop Stars just as it does the great Classical Standards.
In recent seasons, he collaborated in a series of chamber music and solo concerts with members of the LA Philharmonic and the LA Chamber Orchestra including several performances of the TURINA Piano Quartet. He gave the American Premiere of the Belgian Composer Marcel Poot's Piano Concerto in Los Angeles with the Los Angeles Valley Symphony Orchestra. He has been a professor and lecturer at many institutions including: Temple University, A&M University in Alabama, Bethesda University of California, USC, Loyola Marymount University and presently at National University in Los Angeles. He has been invited to conduct master classes throughout England, France, Australia and New Zealand and has been a visiting lecturer at various universities abroad and in the USA. Over the years, his piano students have placed and won many awards at a variety of contests, programs and festivals throughout the US and Europe. At LMU, he designed a special course called Musical Artistry & Appreciation. He records for Disques Pyrennes. He is presently a Core Adjunct Professor at National University in Los Angeles.
PRESS, REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS etc.
What the critics have said...
"His (interpretations of Blancafort's) When Autumn Comes and In the Garden were most enchanting..."
The Courier Mail (Brisbane, Australia)
"...impassioned playing always with an edge of the seat kind of playing..."
Akron Beacon Journal (USA)
"...marvelous rhythmic control, a tremendous color palette and a playing reminiscent of the previous century..."
De Telegraaf (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
"...viscerally exciting, powerhouse pianism but always with a poetic and passionate fluidity..."
HNA Zeitung (Germany)
"...dazzling, colourful, exquisitely shaped and utmost expressive playing..."
Yorkshire Evening Post (England)
"...at Marama Hall in Dunedin the Maiden and the Nightingale(Granados) and El Albaicin and El Polo of Albeniz brought enjoyable breath of Andalucia and the Costa Brava to our winter day..."
Otago Daily Times (Dunedin, New Zealand)
..."he brought off the coda to Albeniz' El Polo with a most impressive explosiveness..."
The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand)
What the critics have said...
"His (interpretations of Blancafort's) When Autumn Comes and In the Garden were most enchanting..."
The Courier Mail (Brisbane, Australia)
"...impassioned playing always with an edge of the seat kind of playing..."
Akron Beacon Journal (USA)
"...marvelous rhythmic control, a tremendous color palette and a playing reminiscent of the previous century..."
De Telegraaf (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
"...viscerally exciting, powerhouse pianism but always with a poetic and passionate fluidity..."
HNA Zeitung (Germany)
"...dazzling, colourful, exquisitely shaped and utmost expressive playing..."
Yorkshire Evening Post (England)
"...at Marama Hall in Dunedin the Maiden and the Nightingale(Granados) and El Albaicin and El Polo of Albeniz brought enjoyable breath of Andalucia and the Costa Brava to our winter day..."
Otago Daily Times (Dunedin, New Zealand)
..."he brought off the coda to Albeniz' El Polo with a most impressive explosiveness..."
The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Click on the links below for printed interviews and press information:
PIANOFORTE MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
NORTHWEST ON TOUR ARTISTS INFORMATION
PIANOFORTE MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
NORTHWEST ON TOUR ARTISTS INFORMATION
