Marvin Wolfthal

Pianist Marvin Allen Wolfthal studied piano with Murray Dranoff, Claudio Arrau and Rafael de Silva. While at Columbia University he studied composition with Charles Wuorinen and Harvey Sollberger and conducting with Howard Shanet. He founded the Columbia Chamber Players, an ensemble devoted to the performance of new music, and participated in numerous premieres, including the first performance in New York of Pierre Boulez' Structures II for Two Pianos.

From 1972 to 1984 Mr. Wolfthal resided in Milan, Italy. He was active in Italian musical life as pianist, conductor, teacher and essayist and was especially well known as a proponent of American composers including Charles Ives, Charles Griffes, Carl Ruggles, Donald Martino, Roger Sessions and Elliott Carter. He gave the Italian premieres of numerous major American works, including Sessions' Third Sonata, Martino's Fantasies and Impromptus, and Carter's Piano Concerto. His essays were published in the journals Musica and Musica/Realta and he was a frequent guest on Radio Italiana (RAI).

Since returning to the United States Mr. Wolfthal has continued to perform and teach. He has been a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music and has been a guest lecturer at institutions such as the Arnold Schoenberg Institute, Brooklyn College and the Longy School.

His most recent work is "Lulu Fantasy" for solo piano, based on the opera "Lulu" by Alban Berg, published by Universal Edition, Vienna.