Hanson at the Society for American Music 

Looking forward to my lecture-recital at the National Conference of the Society for American Music in March. See details in "UPCOMING APPEARANCES."

Howard Hanson's "Symphonic Rhapsody," Op. 14, for solo piano 

Delighted to announce that my edition of Howard Hanson's "Symphonic Rhapsody," Op. 14, for solo piano, has been published by Carl Fischer and is now available here https://www.amazon.com/Symphonic-Rhapsody-Op-14-Edited-Watkins/dp/1491149906 It's also available via carlfischermusic.com I discovered the work in manuscript in May, 2016, while at the Eastman School of Music doing research on my forthcoming book about Hanson's early career in California, "Before Eastman." The work is similar in difficulty…

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College Music Society - Northwest Regional Annual Conference 

American composer Howard Hanson's beautiful "Symphonic Rhapsody, Op. 14," gets its international debut in this performance and lecture for the College Music Society. Composed in 1919 the work has remained in obscurity having never been published (the work is still in manuscript form) Once thought to be a piano transcription of an orchestral work, research has revealed that Hanson himself was very proud of his "Rhapsody" and performed it on piano often! On one such occasion music reviewer Clarence Urmy,…

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Florida State Music Teachers Association Annual Conference 

I am very excited to announce that I will be presenting my research on my forthcoming book about Howard Hanson's early life and career at the FSMTA Annual Conference in Orlando on October 28 As part of this presentation I will perform a recently discovered, unpublished work by Hanson, his extraordinary "Symphonic Rhapsody, Op. 14," composed in 1919 and played by Hanson a number of times. One reviewer, after hearing the work, wrote on October 28, 1919, that the work is a "delicate tone poem" which "should…

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New York Concert Review of recital at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall 

Rorianne Schrade, writing for New York Concert Review, heaped praise on Watkins for his early twentieth century recital which featured the New York premiere of American composer Howard Hanson's Piano Sonata, Op. 11, nearly one hundred years after it was composed "American pianist Scott Watkins performed music of Bartók, Hanson, and Debussy last weekend, in a program that was well suited to his particular pianistic and musical gifts. A keen intellect was immediately apparent in his opener, the Piano…

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AMERICAN PIANO SONATAS 

Praise for American Piano Sonatas Watkins plays this music “splendidly, bringing a fine balance of colorful tonality and elegance” to the works - Peter Burwasser, Fanfare Magazine Watkins “plays authoritatively and expressively.” - Scott Cantrell, The Dallas Morning News Watkins' new recording, American Piano Sonatas, is "an enterprising triptych of formally traditional but stylistically varied sonatas spanning seven decades. He plays authoritatively and expressively and is admirably recorded" (The…

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American Music Symposium and New Music Festival at Jacksonville University, March 2014 

Exciting News! We are hosting a first-ever American Music Symposium and New Music Festival at Jacksonville University March 2 - 10, 2014. Concerts, lectures, demonstrations, presentations of all kinds. Full details to be released soon, but concert music will include works by Howard Hanson, Samuel Barber, Carlisle Floyd, Donald McCullough, Thomas Harrison, Tony Steve, many others. Check Calendar Dates for more details.

Farewell to my friend, Marilyn Meier 

With a heavy heart I join the world to say good-bye to Marilyn Meier, an extraordinary human being and pianist of stunning ability. Marilyn died June 22. She battled a rare form of liver cancer for a year. Her last words, according to her father, Hermann, were to him: "don't forget the children's piano lessons." I met Marilyn in Cincinnati while we were in Bela Siki's class at the College-Conservatory of Music. There she "wowed" all of us with her fearlessness, her friendliness, and her wonderful…

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Alexis Weissenberg (July 29, 1929 - January 8, 2012) 

Although Mr. Weissenberg had been ill for some time, his death is no less sad nor shocking. I had the good fortune to have had a lesson with Mr. Weissenberg in the 1990s which was an experience I will never forget. He was a generous man (generous with his time, energy, money, art) to whom the sound of the piano was his own voice ... his language. His career was storied, legendary, and his playing was revered by so many. He played the piano with what was once called scientific clarity, could produce…

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WATKINS NAMED SHIGERU KAWAI ARTIST! 

I am honored to have been recently named one of five living Shigeru Kawai artists. For further details, please visit http://shigerukawai.com/main_links/artists_bios/scott_watkins.html When I play a Shigeru, I feel like a real pianist ... like an artist. Thank you to the wonderful people at Kawai and Shigeru Kawai for this humbling honor.