Press
Stecher & Horowitz Present KT Sullivan & Mark Nadler At The Lotos Club
by Stephen Sorokoff, September 21, 2019
There are many high profile and exciting items auctioned off at prestigious Galas. You can have lunch with Warren Buffett or other famous luminaries. You can replace Maestro Steven Reineke on the podium at Carnegie Hall and conduct The New York Pops Orchestra for a few minutes or win this writer to play piano at your private party if you bid high enough at the Pops Gala. Last night at the historic Lotos Club in New York City, one of the most prestigious classical music organizations in the country, had a dinner and the winning bidders at The Stecher Horowitz 60th Anniversary Gala last April and invited guests were entertained by the prize.
Music Icons Stecher & Horowitz Honored at 60th Anniversary Gala
by Stephen Sorokoff, April 29, 2019
Last night at the historic University Club some of New York’s most esteemed citizens gathered to honor two of the most remarkable men in the music world: Pianists, Educators, and Humanitarians Melvin Stecher & Norman Horowitz. The Gala celebrated the 60 years of the Stecher Horowitz Foundation and its Founders and Executive Directors, Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz.
William S. Hearst, Chairman of the Board welcomed the guests after the cocktail reception and introduced the Gala Chairs, David Rosenbloom, Even Steen, and Gus Rosendale. Following, was a concert by Joyce B. Cowin First Prize winner of the 2018 New York International Piano Competition, pianist Youlan Ji, with The Memling Ensemble.
The Original Sign – 1951
Steinway & Sons Releases Commissions from Acclaimed American Piano Duo Stecher & Horowitz
Norman Horowitz speaks at Steinway Hall as Melvin Stecher and Anna Han look on.
INTERNATIONALLY ACKNOWLEDGED as one of the most distinguished piano duos of their generation, Steinway Artists Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz sparked a major revival of interest in the two-piano concert. In 1951, these two young soloists, still in their teens, created a unique performing duo that for almost five decades afforded audiences the world over an unforgettable musical experience. read more…
Audiophile Audition – Stecher & Horowitz: Commissions
STECHER & HOROWITZ: COMMISSIONS – Aristo Sham, Charlie Albright, Daniel Kim, Mackenzie Melemed, Leann Osterkamp, Anna Han, Matthew Graybil, Larry Weng – Steinway and Sons
by Audiophile Audition | Aug 2, 2018 | Classical CD Reviews
https://www.audaud.com/stecher-horowitz-commissions-2018-steinway-and-sons/
STECHER & HOROWITZ: COMMISSIONS—LIEBERMANN: Two Impromptus—TORKE: Blue Pacific—GABRIELA LENA FRANK: Nocturno Nazqueno—DORMAN: Three Etudes—MUSTO: Improvisation and Fugue—BROWN: Suite for Piano—PISTON: Concerto for Two Pianos Soli—performed by pianists Aristo Sham, Charlie Albright, Daniel Kim, Mackenzie Melemed, Leann Osterkamp, Anna Han, Matthew Graybil, Larry Weng—Steinway and Sons 30079, 69:59 read more…
9th New York International Piano Competition & 58th Anniversary of The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation Celebrated at The Lotos Club
It’s a short walk, but an arduous journey from the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation’s headquarters on 57th street to Carnegie Hall or other concert venues, but Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz make the voyage much easier for talented young musicians.
For more than one-half century Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz, duo- pianists, music educators, composers and educational consultants have been ground zero as an incubator, mentor, supporter, and inspirer of talent in the world of classical music with their Stecher and Horowitz Foundation.
The Art Music Lounge – Stecher & Horowitz Commissions
L. LIEBERMANN: 2 Impromptus / Aristo Sham, pn / TORKE: Bays of Huatulco (Blue Pacific) / Charlie Albright, pn / G.L. FRANK: Nocturno Nazqueño / Daniel Kim, pn / DORMAN: 3 Études / Mackenzie Melemed, pn / MUSTO: Improvisation & Fugue / Leann Osterkamp, pn / M. BROWN: Suite for Piano / Anna Han, pn / PISTON: Concerto for 2 Solo Pianos / Matthew Graybil, Larry Weng, pn / Steinway & Sons STNS30079
https://artmusiclounge.wordpress.com/2018/02/14/various-pianists-play-stecher-horowitz-commissions/
From the booklet for this CD:
Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz, Executive Directors of the Stecher & Horowitz Foundation, have devoted a lifetime to the musical education of young people. Internationally recognized as one of the most distinguished duo-piano teams of their generation, Stecher and Horowitz are equally renowned for their multi-faceted activities as performers, teachers, composers and educational consultants…The Foundation’s New York International Piano Competition, held every two years, is dedicated to providing artistic development, educational enhancement, seminars, master classes, and performance opportunities. The competition has also commissioned original works from important composers of our day. These works are presented on this album, some for the first time, performed by some of the notable prize-winners of the competition. Also included is the premiere recording of the two-piano version of Walter Piston’s Concerto for 2 Pianos, written for Stecher & Horowitz. read more…
AllMusic Review – by James Manheim
Duo pianists Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz joined forces in 1951. Later in their career they established their own foundation and created the New York International Piano Competition, which has launched the careers of quite a few young pianists. The competition, unlike others, has also commissioned original works, and some of those are presented here. It would seem a no-brainer that new music helps to renew a tradition, but having music and performance proceed hand in hand like this is a rare thing. The performers are young New York International Piano Competition prize-winners, and to each, they find the music sympathetic. Standouts are Mackenzie Melemed’s performance of Avner Dorman’s Three Etudes, which bring real piano-friendly virtuosity to a modern Ligeti-like idiom, and the Concerto for Two Pianos Soli of Walter Piston (not a competition-commissioned work but one written for Stecher and Horowitz themselves), which is richly in need of revival. But the whole program is enjoyable, accessible, and varied. Recommended, with fine Steinway Hall sound.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/stecher-horowitz-commissions-mw0003137949
The Innovators: Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz
Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz have brought a refreshing concept to the often cutthroat arena of music competitions: Everybody wins.
Stecher and Horowitz met in 1951, and during the next five decades they toured the world as a celebrated duo-piano team, while also devoting themselves to nurturing talented young pianists. For 40 years, they had a music school in Cedarhurst, N.Y., and when that closed, they created the Stecher Horowitz Foundation, which supports the biennial New York International Piano Competition.
Bravo to Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz for their admirable New York International Piano Competition
by Michael Miller, November 1, 2016
Almost any seasoned music lover will at some time complain about the globally-renowned musicians who play at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall, or Tanglewood. You’ll hear that the players in this orchestra or that are cynical and bored, that a particular violinist over the years has developed into a parody of herself, or that a certain pianist is going through a dry period and that the life has gone out of his playing. The most efficacious antidote for that malaise is to seek out young musicians who are still enthusiastic and still believe that they have to do their best all the time.
The Musical Father Figures We All Need: In Conversation with Stecher and Horowitz
by Frank Daykin, June 29, 2016
Language has become so debased in our time, words no longer seem to mean what they once did, but one thing I can guarantee; an hour spent with duo-pianists Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz reveal them to be gentlemen, in the truest sense of the word. These dapper men have more energy than most people one-quarter their age. Their manners are impeccable, and their nurturing musical philosophy has kept them and their students going for decades. Their transformation from one of the world’s leading piano duos (five decades) to educators (four decades) to philanthropists (two decades) is dazzling.
The Competition Egg by Theo Fabergé
Created for the New York International Piano Competition