Select Performer Spotlights

Reuben Allred

While working towards both a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance and a Graduate Artist Certificate at the University of North Texas, Reuben Allred still maintains a very active performance career, both as a solo pianist and as a collaborator. Recently, Mr. Allred has performed with the Dallas Festival of Modern Music, the UNT Center for Chamber Studies, the UNT Nova Ensemble, the Vienna Piano Academy, the UNT Orchestra as a winner of the 2008 UNT Concerto Competition, the American Repertory, Ensemble and the Lewisville Lake International Chamber series with his own solo transcription of 'The Rite of Spring' by Igor Stravinsky. In the spring of 2010 Reuben travelled with fellow colleagues to the Southern Chinese University of Technology in Guangzhou, China, to perform and to help establish a permanent chamber music program. Studying under Professor Gregory Allen, Reuben received both his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Piano Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. During this time, Mr. Allred pursued his passion for the music of our time as the principal pianist in the prestigious UT Austin New Music Ensemble, where he worked closely with composers such as George Crumb, Melinda Wagner, and Martin Bresnick. Reuben has received formal training from several important teachers, including Leon Fleischer, John Perry, Paul Badura-Skoda, Nelita True, Krassimira Jordan, Vladimir Viardo, Anton Nel, Carol Leone, Yves Henry, Frank Heneghan, Timothy Lovelace, David Renner, and Keith Snell. Mr. Allred has held several scholarships and teaching assistantships, and currently holds the Eastman Piano Scholarship at the University of North Texas. Reuben studies with Dr. Pamela Mia Paul.

Imre Pátkai

Born in Budapest in 1973. Mr. Pátkai took his first piano lesson at the age of 6. Three years later he continued at Kispest Music School under the direction of Ms. Ilona Erdélyi. In 1985 he was accepted to study at the Preparatory School of the Fr. Liszt Music Academy (Budapest) in the class of Ms. Zsuzsa Esztó. By that time he had performed in several cities in Hungary and abroad. From 1989 he was invited to the United States to attend the "Young Artist Piano Program” at Tanglewood Music Center (Lenox, Massachusetts) for three summers.

From 1991 he studied at the Fr. Liszt Music Academy as a student of Prof. László Baranyay and Prof. Jenő Jandó. In 1993 he won the second prize at the Mozart Piano Competition, organized by Hungarian State Orchestra and IBM corporation. Mr Pátkai was a participant in Prof. György Sebők’s mastercourse (Ernen, Switzerland) in 1995. He has taken his Master of Music in Performance Piano and Teaching, passed with honours, in November, 1996.

Mr. Pátkai has given concerts with several hungarian orchestras, such as BM Danube Symphony Orchestra, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, and the Hungarian State Orchestra. He was the one who made the Hungarian première of Ch. V. Alkan: Grande Sonate (Op. 33) in 2000. During his career Mr. Pátkai has performed with the following artists so far:

Singers:
Mr. Timothy Bentch, Ms. Csilla Boross, Mr. Péter Cser, Mr. Boldizsár Keönch, Ms. Andrea Meláth, Mr. Zsolt Oláh, Ms. Tünde Szabóki, Ms. Maria Teresa Uribe

Instrumental artist:
Mr. Károly Meleg, Mr. Vilmos Oláh, Mr. Tamás Rónaszéki, Mr. Péter Sárosi, Mr. Péter Somogyi – violin Ms. Judit Nagymiklósi, Mr. Miklós Oláh, Mr. László Pólus – cello Mr. Gergely Bodoky, Ms. Christa Gellén, Ms. Anett Jóföldi – flute Mr. Csaba Klenyán, Mr. Péter Schadl – clarinet Mr. György Fazekas – viola Mr. András Fejér – trombone Jason D. Ham (USA) – euphonium Mr. György Lakatos – bassoon

During the past 10 years he performed most of the Beethoven: Sonatas for Cello and Piano among many other works by Bach, Brahms, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, R. Strauss, Saint-Saëns, Bartók, and Kodály with his constant partner, Ms. Judit Nagymiklósi.

Mr. Pátkai has been a guest artist in the concert halls of Vienna, Göttingen, Jena, Helsinki, London, New York and Boston. He regulary performs both as a soloist and a chamber-musician in Budapest, in other provincial towns of Hungary and abroad as well. His artistic activity covers a wide range of piano recitals, chamber-music evenings, orchestral concerts, choir accompaniment and continuo-playing.

Currently he works as an assistant lecturer at the Music Department of the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) Faculty of Humanities, and teaches at the Teacher Training College of the Fr. Liszt Music Academy as well.

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Brian Zator

Dr. Brian Zator is in his eleventh year serving as the Director of Percussion at Texas A&M University-Commerce. His responsibilities include the classical and marching percussion ensembles, the "Panimation" Steel Drum Band, “Samba Leão” Brazilian Ensemble, undergraduate and graduate applied lessons, and the percussion methods and literature courses. He earned his BME degree from Baylor University, MM degree from the University of Michigan and his DMA from the University of North Texas. He is also a student of world-renowned marimba artist, Keiko Abe, having performed and studied with her in Japan.

As a marimba/percussion soloist or ensemble director, Dr. Zator has performed at six Percussive Arts Society International Conventions, the Texas Music Educators Association Convention, the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention, the College Band Directors National Association Convention, the North Texas Marimba Workshop and abroad in Brazil, Japan and Australia. He has been a soloist with groups such as the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, the University of North Texas Wind Symphony, the Baylor Woodwind Quintet, the A&M-Commerce Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band, the Conroe and The Woodlands Symphonies, and with college and high school percussion ensembles around the country.

Dr. Zator and the A&M-Commerce percussion ensemble were one of the three winners of the 2010 PAS International Percussion Ensemble Competition and performed a showcase concert at PASIC 2010. The ensemble also presented a concert at PASIC 2006 featuring works of Minoru Miki and in 2007, released a CD entitled “Sohmon III: New and Unknown Percussion Works of Minoru Miki”. They will release their second CD later this year entitled, “Epic Proportions”.

Dr. Zator is the primary keyboard artist for the iPhone app, Pocket Percussion Teacher, providing detailed video explanations of technical aspects for marimba. He is a founding member of the percussion groups Pulsus and NT3, and the principal timpanist and percussionist with the Northeast Texas Symphony. He was a member of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps and taught the University of Michigan drumline. Active within the Percussive Arts Society, he is on the Board of Directors, serves on the Keyboard and Percussion Ensemble Committees, writes reviews for Percussive Notes and has adjudicated the PAS International Percussion Ensemble and Composition Competitions. Dr. Zator is proud to be a performing artist and clinician for Dynasty, Innovative Percussion, Sabian and Evans.

The Tidbits

Dallas and Ft.Worth and Denton (Texas, USA) has a lot of musicians. Many of the Dallas-area musicians like music that many people don't know is possible nor that it even exists. And they've been around for many many years. The cruciferous TIDBITS is a trio of existing Dallas musicians that improbably plays music in the hopes that the impossible and the nonexistent becomes possible and existent. We get a kick out of it and are quite easily amused by the possibilities inherent in the process and of the finished product. The gelatinous TIDBITS are an improvising trio. Whereas most improvisers set up a preconceived "background" of harmony, melody, and/or a rhythmic foundation in order to improvise "on top" of said "background", the voltage-regulated TIDBITS also improvises the "background". In other words the form(s) and "backgrounds" themselves are improvised. And since all three members are well-acquainted with the music of the the past 8 centuries (give or take a few weeks), this knowledge of forms/ techniques/colors/etc allows the total possibilities of ALL musics to be constantly referred to, stolen, borrowed, filtered, cajoled, plundered, seduced, warped, mis-appropriated, re-hydrated, frisked, grabbed screaming, and tickled into a possible musical existence.....an acceptance of any music(s) from anywhere from any time from any people so as to flash-to-bang-time it into the present moment of a "Life Dance Of Is" (the title of an Oliver Lake recording that I wish I had thought of first...!). The frothy TIDBITS approaches music performance as a vast buffet and not as music from a fixed menu.Yes, we like the music of the New World and the music of the Old World of any time period. Being Western, particularly North American, and being basically born in the later half of the 1900's makes the pierced TIDBITS quite sympathetic to North American Jazz and Rock and their varied and many off-shoots and permutations. We dig 'em all. The music of other continents also figures very prominently into our performances. We're also not immune to, indeed we revel in, the influences of Europe, South America, Africa (north and sub-Saharan), Middle-Eastern, Asian....of Theater, Dada-ism, Literature, and Dance. The collapsable TIDBITS first performed in the early part of the year 2000 and has since performed in many Dallas-area clubs, at S.M.U., the Richardson Wildflowers Festival, White Rock Bath House Cultural Center, etc. There are 3 recordings currently available : Impossible Music, Bunk As Pitch, and Bobbing For Fries. The impaled TIDBITS is a non-denominational, full-service, non-discriminatory, all-points bulletin, cruelty-free, kinda band. And proud of it.