Pianist Bryan Wallick returns to Hamilton for hometown concert, memorial performance

Growing up in town as a young pianist, he often practiced after dinner at the Belews’ home on their grand piano. He also practiced at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts after school.

“The Fitton Center is where I grew up practicing. I used to practice over there every day throughout high school. I used to play the piano I’m going to play on Saturday. It was the workhorse that helped me build my chops to do what I’ve done in my career,” he said.

“Between practicing at Dave’s house and practicing at the Fitton Center, those were my two pianos that I beat up and destroyed for many years in high school before I went to Juilliard,” Wallick said.

“To come back and play this program for Hamilton in my old practice room is a great experience for me,” Wallick said.

He said playing both Belew’s piano and the Fitton Center’s piano were “great experiences to have these two very different pianos.”

“It’s like a painter who has a small set of brushes versus an entire plethora of colors … you just have many more colors and sounds to work with. So, the more you get used to being able to express what you want to say with all of those colors and sounds, the more you can explore, learn and grow, and without access to those kinds of instruments, you are always limited to the exploration of sounds and what you can say with an instrument,” Wallick said.

Wallick said the Belews’ piano was easy to play and the Fitton Center’s piano was “more stiff, and it develops your fingers and your action, and it’s like lifting weights.”

“The Fitton Center piano built the strength of my hands in a certain way. So, I have lots of memories of working on the stiffer action piano,” Wallick said.

“Dave basically opened his door to me, and he said you can come and practice whenever you want, and I did. I went there after school and in the evenings throughout high school,” Wallick said.

He said Belew taught him things like how to speak with people, network and make connections, and how to write thank-you notes. Belew also encouraged Bryan to play tennis, which is another lifelong passion of his.

Wallick’s journey

A native of Hamilton, Wallick studied with Jerome Lowenthal at The Juilliard School, where he became the first student to earn both an undergraduate Honors Diploma in 2000 and an accelerated master’s degree in 2001. He graduated from Hamilton High School in 1996. He started playing piano at the age of four, and he went to Cincinnati every weekend for lessons. His parents were both music teachers.

He continued his studies with Christopher Elton at London’s Royal Academy of Music, receiving the Associated Board International Scholarship and graduating with Distinction. Earlier studies were with Eugene and Elisabeth Pridonoff at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Wallick currently is an Associate Professor of Piano at Colorado State University, where he resides with his wife and three children.

He is a member of the Mendelssohn Trio, ensemble-in-residence at Colorado State University, which will embark on a European tour in May 2026 with performances in Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

As a gold medalist of the 1997 Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kyiv, he has performed extensively across the United States, Europe and in Africa.

Wallick made his New York debut in 1998 at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and his London debut in 2003 at Wigmore Hall. He has also appeared at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall with the London Sinfonietta, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and most recently made his debut at the city’s newly opened Bechstein Hall in March 2025.

In recent seasons, he has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Arizona Musicfest Orchestra, Boise Philharmonic, Boulder Symphony, Brevard Symphony, Cape Town Philharmonic, Cincinnati Pops, Evansville Philharmonic, Fort Collins Symphony, Illinois Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Kentucky Symphony and many others.

He has collaborated with conductors such as Erich Kunzel, Marvin Hamlisch, Robert Moody, Daniel Raiskin, Bernhard Gueller, Adrian Prabava, Daniel Boico, Arjen Tien, Yasuo Shinozaki, Andrew Sewell, Vladimir Verbitsky, Josep Vicent, Leslie Dunner, Alfred Savia, Christopher Confessore, Matthew Troy and Wes Kenney, among others.

Wallick’s recital appearances have taken him to the Château de Differdange in Luxembourg, Copenhagen’s Tivoli Artists Series, the Ravinia Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Xavier Piano Series in Cincinnati, Scottsdale Center’s Virginia Piper Series, Sanibel Island Music Festival, Cleveland Museum of Art’s Tri-C Classical Series and the Classics in the Atrium Series in the British Virgin Islands. In 2002, he performed two solo recitals at Ledreborg Palace for HRH Princess Marie Gabrielle Luxembourg and HRH Prince Philip Bourbon de Parme.

As an avid chamber musician, Wallick has collaborated and performed with violinists Nikita Boriso-Glebsky, Rachel Lee Priday, Yi-Jia Susanne Hou, Miriam Contzen, and Sergei Malov, as well as cellists Zuill Bailey, Alexander Buzlov, Alexander Ramm and Wolfgang Emmanuel Schmidt.

From 2015 to 2020, Wallick served as Artistic Director of Schalk Visser Concert Promotions, presenting international artists on concert tours throughout South Africa. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he collaborated virtually across three continents with violinist Frank Stadler (Austria) and cellist Peter Martens (South Africa) to record Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto, Op. 56” (Trio Version), which received South Africa’s 2020 KykNet Fiesta Award for Best Achievement in Classical Music. He is also actively involved in the International Keyboard Odyssiad and Summer Festival in Colorado, where he performs, lectures and teaches. Additionally, he is on the faculty of the Rocky Ridge Summer Festival in Estes Park, Colorado.

His recital project “Virtuosic Fugue” has been presented at the Grand Teton Music Festival, University of Texas (El Paso), Las Cruces (New Mexico), Scottsdale Center, Ravinia Festival, Xavier Piano Series, Cleveland Museum of Art, and throughout South Africa. He recorded “Virtuosic Fugue, Vol. 1” for Navona Records in July 2023 and will release an album of Franz Liszt’s piano music in spring 2026.

“I’ve just recorded a new album of Franz Liszt’s music. Liszt wrote a lot of things on his own, but he also transcribed a lot of pieces of other composers. He was a very generous composer, and he wanted to make older composers more known to the public because he had the platform to really bring music to hundreds of thousands or millions of people in Europe. He was the first touring musical rock star,” Wallick said.

The first half of the program at the Fitton Center will begin with some Liszt/Schubert songs. It will also include Liszt’s “Sonata in B Minor,” which became a landmark nineteenth century piano work.

The second half of the concert will include two piano études or study pieces. The performance will conclude with Mozart’s “Reminiscence of Don Juan,” which is one of the most difficult pieces ever written for piano.

The Fitton Center will also host a Bake Sale pop-up event from 4-7:30 p.m. the same day, inside the dance studio.

HOW TO GO

What: “In Recital” featuring Pianist Bryan Wallick

When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15

Where: Fitton Center for Creative Arts, 101 S. Monument Ave., Hamilton

Cost: $41 for members and $51 for non-members

Purchase: fittoncenter.org or call (513) 863-8873, ext. 110