Master Class: Recitative Style

“The most musically astute collaborator today.” NY Times

“Katz creates the Gold Standard of accompanying.” Washington Post

Martin Katz must surely be considered the Dean of collaborative pianists today. His five-decade career has taken him to five continents, consistently in demand by the world’s most celebrated singers to share the recital stage with them. He has appeared and recorded regularly with Marilyn Horne, Frederica von Stade, José Carreras, Karita Mattila, Cecilia Bartoli, Kiri te Kanawa, Kathleen Battle, Piotr Beczala, and Michael Fabiano, to name only a few. Season after season, the world’s musical capitals figure prominently in his schedule.

Katz is a native of Los Angeles, where he began piano studies at the age of five. He attended the University of Southern California, and studied the specialized field of collaboration with its pioneer teacher, Gwendolyn Koldofsky. While still a student, he was honored with the unique opportunity to accompany the classes of such luminaries as Jascha Heifetz, Lotte Lehmann, and Pierre Bernac. Following a three-year stint as pianist for the U.S. Army Chorus, he moved to NYC, where his career began in earnest in 1969.

In addition to his work at the piano, Katz has also added conducting to his work. He has often partnered his regular soloists from the podium for the orchestras of the BBC, Houston, Washington, DC, Tokyo’s NHK, and Miami. He has led complete staged opera productions for San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola program and for the Music Academy of the West, as well as his home base, Michigan’s Opera Theatre.

Finally, the profile of Martin Katz is completed with his commitment to teaching. For four decades the University of Michigan has been his base, where he chairs the school’s collaborative piano program. He has been a pivotal figure in the training of countless young artists—-singers, pianists, and conductors—who are now working all over the world in their chosen field. He is also a frequent guest teacher at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, Chicago College of Performing Arts, the New National Theatre of Tokyo, and many other esteemed schools.

Katz is the author of a comprehensive guide for accompanists, “The Complete Collaborator,” (Oxford Press), which is widely considered the seminal work on this subject.