Rebecca Penneys Bio

Rebecca Penneys is a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, educator, and adjudicator. For over six decades she has been hailed as a pianist of prodigious talent, has concertized throughout all the continents north of Antarctica, and represented the USA in Information Service State Department Cultural Tours over a ten-year period. She made her recital debut at age 9 and performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at 11. At 17 she received the unprecedented Special Critics’ Prize at the VII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, an award created in her honor. Other prizes include Nambung Chamber Music Award, on two separate occasions, Most Outstanding Musician Prize in Vianna Da Motta Competition, and top prize in Paloma O’Shea Competition. Critics worldwide have acclaimed her live performance and recordings. She made her NY Debut at Alice Tully Hall in 1972.

An International Steinway Artist, she has received accolades for her ability to teach Motion and Emotion, an approach to keyboard technique that helps pianists achieve individual performance goals without physical strain or injury. In 2021 she was inducted into the Steinway Teachers Hall of Fame. Having completed 43 years of full-time collegiate teaching, she retired in 2017 and is now Professor Emerita of Piano at Eastman School of Music and Courtesy-Steinway-Artist-in-Residence at University of South Florida. She was Chair of the Chautauqua Institution Piano Program for 34 years where she started its chamber music program.

Launched in 2013, the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival (RPPF), tuition-free for collegiate pianists, is held every summer at USF from June 27- July 17 and is supported by Rebecca Penneys Friends of Piano, non-profit 501c3. Forty students are selected from about 250 applicants from 25 countries. They each have a semester of lessons with twenty-three eminent artist faculty in just three-week’s time. More recently she inaugurated The Rebecca Penneys USF Music Fund and the Rebecca Penneys Graduate Collective, a venture that provides two-year tuition-free assistantships to select graduate performance majors.

Rebecca’s many CD’s, DVD’s, HD performance/teaching videos, and Chicken Soup for Pianists are available on-line and on all streaming platforms. Current and former students include prizewinners in international competitions and hold teaching posts worldwide. Rebecca’s teachers include Aube Tzerko, Leonard Stein, Rosina Lhevinne, Artur Rubinstein, Menahem Pressler, György Sebök, Janos Starker, and Josef Gingold. Learn more at RebeccaPenneys.com, RPPF, YouTube and Rebecca Penneys Graduate Collective

“Her playing is simply revelatory” – American Record Guide

Penneys’ playing is nothing short of amazing” –Fanfare Magazine

American pianist Rebecca Penneys is a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, educator, and adjudicator. For almost eight decades her passionate and insightful performances have held audiences spellbound. Hailed as a pianist of prodigious talent, she possesses a daredevil technique, the sort of charismatic stage presence that demands attention, and an interpretive gift that make her performances into musical revelations.

Rebecca has concertized throughout all the continents north of Antarctica and she has represented the United States on United States Information Service State Department Cultural tours.  Rebecca’s playing leaves an indelible impression. Her current CDs and DVDs for Naxos, Fleur De Son Classics and Centaur Records, available on all streaming audio and video platforms, have received worldwide acclaim and are eloquent testimonies of a major artist of intelligence, originality, massive technique, and bravura temperament. American Record Guide says: “Penneys offers an extraordinary collection of performances displaying an astonishing control over piano sound. It is gorgeous and full of unimaginable colors. She sings through the instrument, seemingly without effort. Her playing is simply revelatory.”

Born in Los Angeles, Rebecca made her recital debut at the age of nine and performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra when she was eleven. At seventeen, after winning several young artist competitions in the United States, she was awarded the unprecedented Special Critics’ Prize, created in her honor, at the Seventh International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland. Critics there said: “A sensational effect was created by the playing of Rebecca Penneys. She is a genius of the piano.” Subsequently, she won the Most Outstanding Musician Prize at the Fifth Vianna Da Motta International Piano Competition (Portugal) and was Top Prizewinner in the Second Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition (Spain). She made her New York Debut in Alice Tully Hall in 1972, and in 1974 she founded the acclaimed New Arts Trio, which won the prestigious Naumburg Award for Chamber Music in New York City on two separate occasions. The Trio was Trio-in-Residence at the Chautauqua Institution from 1978-2012. She was Chair of the Chautauqua Piano Department for thirty-four years.

A renowned Steinway Artist, and a member of the Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame, Rebecca is a popular guest artist, keynote speaker and celebrated pedagogue. She has received extensive recognition for her ability to teach keyboard technique (Motion and Emotion) that allows pianists to achieve individual performance goals without physical strain or injury. She has taught and performed in such summer festivals as Adamant Music School, PianoTexas, Eastern Music Festival, Sitka, Marlboro, Woodstock, Aspen, Vermont Mozart, Montreal, Tel Hai Israel, Tibor Varga, Birch Creek, International Music, Shawnigan Johannesen, Peninsula, Roycroft, Mammoth Lakes, Southeastern Piano Festival, Bay PianoFest and Music Mountain. In 2013, Rebecca formed the non-profit Rebecca Penneys Friends of Piano to support the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival and RPPF-Mini. The festival, held every summer from June 27-July 17 at the University of South Florida, is tuition-free for collegiate pianists worldwide. In 2013, Rebecca  formed the non-profit Rebecca Penneys Friends of Piano to support the Rebecca Penneys Piano  Festival and RPPF-Mini. The festival, held every summer from June 27-July 17 at the University  of South Florida, is tuition-free for collegiate pianists worldwide.

Rebecca is currently Professor Emerita of Piano at Eastman School of Music, and Courtesy-Steinway-Artist-in-Residence at the University of South Florida. Launched in 2021, The Rebecca Penneys USF Music Fund and RP Graduate Collective is a legacy venture for USF providing two-year tuition free assistantships to select graduate performance majors who study at USF and perform chamber music. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle notes, “In an age of pianistic sameness, Penneys shines as a true original.” Rebecca’s teachers included Aube

Tzerko, Leonard Stein, Rosina Lhevinne, Artur Rubinstein, Menahem Pressler, Gyorgy Sebok, Janos Starker, Josef Gingold, and Iannis Xenakis. Here are interview and review links. Learn more at rebeccapenneys.com, rebeccapenneyspianofestival.org and on https://www.youtube.com/c/RPPFRebeccaPenneys and RPGraduateCollective