Technically dazzling and intellectually probing artistry exemplify Ran Dank’s pianism and musicality. He brings his thoughtful and dynamic style to a 2015/2016 season that includes appearances with the Mobile Symphony performing Kevin Puts’ Night for piano and orchestra, the Ashland Symphony for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto. No. 4, and the season closing concerts of the Charleston Symphony’s season with Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2. An acclaimed recitalist, Ran Dankplays concerts at the Gilmore Foundation, at the Philip Lorenz Memorial Concerts in Fresno, and for Pro Musica in San Miguel de Allende as well as in duo recitals with his wife, Soyeon Kate Lee, for the Ames Town and Gown Association in Iowa, and for the Hawaii Concert Association.
2015 summer appearances included chamber works of Mozart, Brahms, and Schubert, a solo recital, and a world premiere for piano, four hands by Alexander Goehre with Ms. Lee at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; the Schumann Piano Quintet with the Shanghai String Quartet at The Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, New York; and solo and chamber music programs of Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Robert Hornstein, and Schumann at the Great Lakes Festival in Michigan.
A favorite with New York audiences, in the 2014/15 season Ran Dank was presented by Peoples Symphony Concerts at Town Hall, in several concerts at Bargemusic in Brooklyn and in the WQXR Beethoven piano sonata marathon. He performed the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 and Totentanz with the Jerusalem Symphony, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony as well as recitals in Charleston and a duo concert with Ms. Lee for the JCC of Greater Washington in Rockville, MD.
Among recent highlights are the Prokofiev Second Piano concerto at Alice Tully Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Grieg Concerto with Daniel Meyer and the Asheville Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony and numerous other ensembles. Recitals have included the Washington Performing Arts Society at the Kennedy Center, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, Finland’s Mantta Festival, the Israel Conservatory of Music and chamber music at YCA’s Tokyo Festival, the Seattle, Montreal, and Israel Chamber Music Festivals. He and Ms. Lee also performed the world premiere of Fredric Rzewski’s “Four Hands” at (le) Poisson Rouge in the fall of 2013.
In 2014 Ran Dank joined the Music Department Faculty of the College of Charleston as the Director of Piano Studies and Assistant Professor and also serves as Artistic Director of the College of Charleston International Piano Series. He recently completed Doctoral studies with Ursula Oppens and Richard Good at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York as a Chancellor’s Fellow, and previously received a Bachelor’s Degree from the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University in his native Israel and a Master’s Degree and Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School.
Ran Dank and Soyeon Kate Lee have established a series of concerts, Music by the Glass, held in a New York So-Ho art gallery, where the audience of young professionals listen, mix and mingle with performing artists who play solo pieces and chamber works accompanied by treats sweet and savory paired with wines, by the glass. A delightful explanation of these popular events may be viewed on the organization’s website www.musicbytheglass.com.
The recipient of numerous honors, Ran Dank won a coveted place on the Young Concert Artists roster in 2009 and subsequently made his New York recital debut sponsored by YCA and the Jerome L.Greene Foundation at Merkin Hall December 14, 2009. He was a laureate of the Cleveland International Competition, the Naumburg Piano Competition and the Sydney International Piano Competition and First Prize winner of the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.