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The IU School of Music will be adding two new faculty members. Celebrated pianists
Arnaldo Cohen and Andre Watts will begin teaching at IU in the fall. Watts has been selected to fill the new Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in music. Watts began his career as a musician in 1963 at the age of 16 when Leonard Bernstein chose him to debut with the New York Philharmonic, which was broadcast on CBS.
Soon he began to perform concerts and recitals at festivals and on television.
Watts has also performed for royalty and heads of state. He received the Avery
Fisher prize in 1988. He became the youngest person to receive an honorary doctorate
from Yale University and has since earned many other awards and honors. He spent
four years as artist-in-residence at the University of Maryland before deciding
to come to IU.
"It seemed to be the right thing at the right moment," he said. "(IU)
is known worldwide as a great institution."
Brazilian-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen will also join the IU School of Music
faculty in the fall. Cohen began playing piano at the age of five. The child
of Persian and Russian immigrants, Cohen won the Busoni Piano Competition in
Italy in 1972.
Cohen burst onto the world scene when he replaced Argentinian pianist Martha
Argerich at a concert in Amsterdam. Since that time, he has performed with numerous
renowned groups in the United States, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and
Cleveland Orchestra. At press time, Cohen could not be reached for comment.
The addition of the new faculty members is being met with much excitement at
the School of Music.
"This is an exceptional day, to say the least, for Indiana University,
the School of Music and the city of Bloomington," said School of Music
Dean Gwyn Richards in a press release. "The appointment of musicians of
such outstanding caliber is a tribute to our school, our faculty and our reputation
as a worldwide leader in music education and performance. We are delighted and
honored that André and Arnaldo have chosen Bloomington as the place to
continue their distinguished careers and look forward to them greatly enhancing
the artistic lives of our students."
Evelyne Brancart, chair of the Piano Department, agrees with Richards.
"I am absolutely delighted to welcome these two wonderful individuals,"
she said in a press release. "They are not only on top of the pianistic
and musical world, but they are both great human beings."
Indiana University
