Featured Artists of the
Chamber Music Society
of Fort Worth

Petronel Malan
Piano

Grammy® Nominated Artist, Petronel Malan released her debut recording "Transfigured Bach: The Complete Bach Transcriptions of Bartok, Lipatti and Friedman," in 2003. The recording was nominated for three Grammy awards, including "Best Instrumental Solo Album 2004." Since the recording release, the album remained on the Top-10 list for Classic FM (Southern Africa) for over 40 weeks and critics across the world have been singing her praises.

Born into a political family in South Africa, of French Huguenot descent, she started piano lessons with her mother, an opera singer, at age four. Considered the "last prodigy" of the late South African pedagogue Adolph Hallis, Malan debuted with the Johannesburg Symphony at the age of ten, playing Kabalevsky's Youth Concerto. She won her first national gold medal at age twelve and the first international gold at age fourteen in the Third International Piano Competition in Marsala, Sicily. After winning every competition she was eligible to enter in South Africa, she topped it off to become the youngest person ever to win the gold medal in the SABC Music Prize Competition - South Africa's most prestigious. She relocated to the United States in 1991 to pursue her career.

She continued her studies under Joseph Stanford, Steven de Groote and Ralph Votapek. Following her European debut in Rome in 1987, she has continued to make orchestral, recital and chamber music appearances on four continents. Highlights include prestigious venues such as Carnegie Recital Hall, Salle Cortot (Paris), Mozarteum (Salzburg), Liszt Museum (Budapest) and Orchestra Hall (Chicago) and Bass Hall (Fort Worth). Festival appearances include the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Jasper Festival, Ravinia Festival (with cellist Nina Kotova) and "The Great Romantics Festival" in Hamilton, Ontario. She has worked with conductors like Dmitry Manilov, Omri Hadari, Yashima Takeda, Bernhard Gueller, Victor Yampolsky and Terence Kern. Broadcasts include live performances in Europe, across the US (also on NPR) and several documentary television-profiles in South Africa. Upcoming performances include appearances in Japan, Canada, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, across North America and an extended tour of Southern Africa in 2006.

In 2000, four gold medals were awarded to Ms Malan at the Louise McMahon International Music Competition, the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the Los Angeles Liszt Competition "Budapest Concert." She was also a grand prizewinner in the 2000 Web Concert Hall Auditions, the silver medalist in the 1999 New Orleans International Piano Competition, gold medalist in the 1998 Young Texas Artists Competition and first prize winner at the Grace Welsh Piano Prize, to name but a few.

In 2003, she was awarded the coveted national "Rapport/City Press Prestige Award" as one of the "!0 Most Inspirational Women Achievers" in South Africa. She was also nominated for "Woman of the Year" in South Africa award in 2004. Ms. Malan completed her undergraduate studies at Michigan State University and her graduate degrees at the University of North Texas, studying with Joseph Banowetz. She is currently serving as Artist-in-Residence at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

You can get more information on her website at www.petronelmalan.com.

For more information, simply email us at info@chambermusicsocietyoffortworth.com.