UAB Piano Series presents Rachel Breen

On the program are Bach’s “The Art of Fugue” Contrapunctus 1, Medtner’s Sonata op. 22, Schoenberg’s Op. 19 no. 2, Mozart’s Sonata K 330 and Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

The UAB Piano Series is presented by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music. Performances are held in UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.

Breen’s performances have been described as “truly show-stopping” (Gramophone UK), having “a beautiful piano sound and original detail.” She is a student of the late Lars Vogt at Hannover’s Hochschule für Musik; previously, she completed degrees at Yale University and the Juilliard School under Boris Slutsky and Julian Martin, according to her artist’s statement.

Breen, 26, was self-taught until age 10, when she began lessons with Sharon Mann at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Breen has enjoyed an active competition career, having been awarded top prizes at the Bösendorfer International Competition (2023), the Honens International Piano Competition (2022), Concorso Internazionale Palma D’Oro (2022), the Beethoven International Competition in Vienna (2021), the Livorno International Piano Competition (2020), the Georges Cziffra International Competition (2019), the Nuova Coppa Pianisti International Competition (2019), the Gallinari International Competition (2019), Premio Melini (2019), and Concurso Internacional de Piano Compositores de España (2018), among others. She was selected as the 2021-2023 National Federation of Music Clubs’ Young Artist in the United States and received the 2021 Kurt Alten Prize at her university in Germany.

She has performed and taught master classes around the United States, as well as in Argentina, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Hungary.