Young Masters Recital Series: Michael Noble and Colin Brooks

Michael Noble, DMA is a pianist whose primary goal is to connect with and inspire audiences through ambitious initiatives and illuminating programming. Since his debut at the age of six, he has developed an international reputation as a pianist whose performances and initiatives have engrossed audiences throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

He has won awards in numerous competitions, including the Grand Prize at the Carmel Music Society Competition, Gold Medal at the Crescendo Music Awards (Tulsa, OK), and prizes in the Chopin International Competition of the 1000 Islands and The Plowman Chamber Music Competition. Michael has been called “a pianist to remember” and “poetic” by Het Nieuwsblad, and his playing has been hailed as “elegant, stylish, and powerful” (Peninsula Reviews).

Michael has performed in renowned venues, including Carnegie Hall, Orchestra Hall (Minneapolis), the Preston Bradley Center (Chicago), the Museum of the History of Polish Jews (Warsaw), the National Academy for the Performing Arts of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Musical Instrument Museum (Brussels). Additionally, he is a sought-after guest artist, appearing regularly at festivals and series including the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series (Chicago), the Gentsche Festspiele (Belgium), the Kwadrofonik Festival (Poland), the Lake George Music Festival (New York), Musiksommer Schloss Rosenegg (Austria), and the Thailand International Composition Festival. He has been featured as soloist with the Monterey and Tulsa Symphonies, and the Idyllwild Arts Academy Alumni Orchestra, among others.

Michael holds doctoral and masters degrees from the Yale School of Music and obtained his BM and a BA in English Literature cum laude from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester respectively. In addition, he attended the Paris Conservatoire and the Royal Ghent Conservatory, the latter as a Fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation. His principal teachers and mentors include Peter Frankl, Nelita True, Melvin Chen, Daan Vandewalle, and Nicholas Angelich.

Michael’s debut album, American Dissident, which features political works by Rzewski and Margaret Bonds was released in November 2022. Michael resides in Washington, D.C. Previously, he lived in New York City and taught at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts.

For more information, please visit his website at michaelnoble.net.

Praised as “master of the strong lines”, concert violist Colin Brookes is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he made his solo debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony at the age of 17. A founding member of the award-winning Ulysses Quartet, Colin has taught in the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School, and the undergraduate programs of Yale University and SUNY Stony Brook.

Colin performs regularly with The Knights, A Far Cry, and other critically acclaimed ensembles. Festival appearances include Kneisel Hall, Geneva Music Festival, Manchester Summer Chamber Music, and Tanglewood. In June 2013 he gave a solo recital with pianist Euntaek Kim for the St. Gaudens Concert Series in Cornish, NH. Traveling and performing allow for many unexpected opportunities to capture moments in time. An interest evolved recently into a passion, film photography has profoundly changed Colin’s appreciation for perspective and awareness. Colin holds a Bachelor of Music from the Juilliard School and a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from Yale University. His mentors include Ettore Causa, Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, Nicholas Cords, Larry Dutton, Marylene Gingras-Roy, Roger Chase, Jeffrey Irvine, and Carolyn Hills. He currently plays a 19th-century Italian viola and a modern bow generously on loan from the Maestro Foundation, and a 1799 Grancino viola along with an Ouchard bow from the Juilliard School.

Registration is required.