Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2, Winner of the 2023 Mozart Concerto Competition, Liszt’s Les Préludes, Berlioz’s Hungarian March

Pianist Andrew Staupe is emerging as one of the distinctive voices in a new generation of pianists. With a Concerto repertoire spanning over 70 works, Andrew has appeared as soloist with many of the top orchestras throughout North America and in Europe, including the Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, the George Enescu Philharmonic in Romania, the Orquestra Filarmónica de Bogotá in Colombia, and many others. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors Osmo Vänskä, Cristian Macelaru, Jahja Ling, Gerard Schwarz, Andrew Litton, Lucas Richman, Rossen Milanov, Josep-Caballé Domenech, and Philip Mann. Andrew has performed recitals across the United States and extensively in Europe, appearing at Carnegie Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow, the Schumann Haus in Leipzig, and the Salle Cortot in Paris. The New York Concert Review raved that in his 2012 Carnegie Hall debut “Mr. Staupe gave a brilliant performance, handling the virtuosic demands with apparent ease…I was stunned- this was one of the most incredible performances of this masterpiece I have ever heard, live or recorded. I wanted to shout out to the audience, “Wake up! Don’t you realize you have had the privilege of hearing a once-in-a-lifetime performance!”

An avid chamber musician, Andrew has jammed with legendary vocalist Bobby McFerrin, played Tangos with the Assad Brothers, and performed with legendary violinists Cho-Liang Lin, Chee-Yun, and Martin Chalifour, cellists Sharon Robinson and Desmond Hoebig, and soprano Jessica Rivera Schafer. Most recently, his debut recording of the complete works for piano and violin of Carl Nielsen, with Danish violinist Hasse Borup, has been released and critically acclaimed in October 2020 on the acclaimed Naxos label.

Andrew has a keen interest in performing new music and has collaborated with Academy-Award winning composer Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings), Lowell Liebermann, Augusta Read Thomas, Yehudi Wyner, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Libby Larsen, Pierre Jalbert, Richard Lavenda, Rob Smith, Anthony Brandt, Christopher Goddard, Karl Blench, and debuted Christopher Walczak’s Piano Concerto in August 2020. He will premiere renowned Norwegian composer Ketil Hvoslef’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in an upcoming 2023 concert.

Deeply committed to teaching, Andrew is an Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Houston, and formerly taught at the University of Utah. He is Artistic Director of the Young Artist World Piano Festival in Minnesota, and gives frequent master classes and lectures around the United States. A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, he earned his Doctorate at Rice University with Jon Kimura Parker, and studied at the University of Minnesota with Lydia Artymiw.

André Previn Peck is a 13-year-old pianist from La Crosse, Wisconsin. Studying piano since the age of 4, he is currently a student of the internationally recognized Artist/Teacher, Dr. Joseph Zins of Crocus Hill Studios in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

In June of 2021, as a winner of the Concerto Competition of the Piano Texas International Festival & Academy, André made his orchestral debut at the age of eleven with the Fort Worth Symphony conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya. He was one of just 24 selected from around the world to attend the Academy in the Junior Category (17 and under). In June of 2022, André was once again selected for the Academy. For the second year in a row, he was a winner of the Concerto Competition and performed with the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Geoffrey Simon. André has performed in Master Classes and private lessons with such international luminaries as Tamás Ungár, Asaf Zohar, Pascal Nemirovsky, Andrey Ponochevny, Igor Resnianski, and John Owings.

Most recently in February of 2023, André was named winner of the Minneapolis Music Teachers Forum (MMTF) Mozart Concerto Competition resulting in tonight’s performance with the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra. In November of 2021, André was named Alternate in the State Division of the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Competition in the Junior Level (ages 11-14). In December of 2020, Andre received Second Place in the St. Paul Piano Teachers Association Concerto Competition.

André is currently in eighth grade and his passions in addition to piano include sports, mathematics, cubing, chess, and friends. His interest in giving back to his community with his pianistic gifts includes organizing Kids Helping Kids concerts for the La Crosse Children’s Museum and the Memorial Pool. The spirit of philanthropy was instilled by his parents, Chris Peck and Chau Nguyen. His younger brother Stephen is a cellist and the two occasionally perform together.

Andre’s joie de vivre is exceptional and reflects a youth with enormous talent in a relationship-based life.