Assistant Professor, Music
With “a special ability to present touching interpretations” (El Norte), Brazilian pianist Ronaldo Rolim has performed extensively over four continents, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Zurich’s Tonhalle, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Great Hall of the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts. Acclaimed for his “consummate elegance” (New York Concert Review) and “mastery of phrasing and dynamics” (Oberbaselbieter Zeitung), he is a Winner of the 2017 Astral National Auditions and has captured top prizes at numerous prestigious international competitions, including the Géza Anda, James Mottram, Bösendorfer, San Marino, Lyon, and Teresa Carreño competitions. In 2019, Mr. Rolim released his latest album on Odradek Records, Szymanowski - The Wartime Triptychs, devoted to the programmatic works the Polish composer wrote during World War I. Diapason magazine considers Mr. Rolim “an ideal guide to [Szymanowski's] magic world”, whereas Classica magazine hails his “clear but thunderous pianism”. The album's topic was extensively discussed in Mr. Rolim's doctoral thesis, completed in 2016 at Yale University.
Recent guest soloist performances include Ravel’s G major Concerto and Falla’s Noches en los Jardines de España with the Minas Gerais Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Concerto No. 5 with the Louisiana Philharmonic and on a tour of Germany with Ukraine’s Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, Grieg's Concerto with the European Philharmonic Orchestra of Switzerland and the Brazilian Symphony, Liszt's Concerto No.1 and Schumann's Concerto with the Youth Orchestra of Bahia, and Brahms’ Concerto No. 1 with the Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella. Other recent engagements include performances at the Septembre Musical Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, a chamber music recital at New York's Merkin Hall with members of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Chausson's Concerto with the São Paulo String Quartet, a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Enrique Granados with performances of the composer’s complete Goyescas in venues in the U.S., Europe, and Brazil, and an appearance in Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety in the Bernstein Centenary Festival hosted by the Minas Gerais Philharmonic.
Mr. Rolim has performed with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Concerto Budapest, Phoenix Symphony, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as many of Brazil’s foremost ensembles. A frequent presence at international music festivals, he has been featured in solo recitals and chamber music performances at Ravinia, Rio Folle Journée, Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Musikdorf Ernen, Académie Musicale de Villecroze, and the Kingston, Walla Walla and Crescent City Chamber Music Festivals. His performances have been featured in radio broadcasts in Brazil (Radios MEC and Cultura), the U.S. (Spokane Public Radio and WBJC Baltimore), and Europe (Radios SWR 2, BBC 3, Rai 3, and France Musique). He has also been featured in several television programs in his home country, including Brasil Piano Solo, a series of recitals dedicated exclusively to Brazilian music, presented by the TV Cultura Channel. He has also participated in the documentary Magda Tagliaferro: A World Inside The Piano, in which he performed music of Scriabin.
A passionate advocate of chamber music, Mr. Rolim was a founding member of Trio Appassionata, which during 15 years of activities cultivated multiple projects such as tours of the U.S., Europe, Brazil and China, a strong commitment to community engagement, and the release of the album gone into night are all the eyes, dedicated to piano trios by American composers. Mr. Rolim is a frequent chamber music collaborator to ensembles such as the Aizuri, Jasper, Guimarães and São Paulo string quartets, and has performed with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Brazilian Symphony, Ensemble Connect, and Bronx Arts Ensemble.
Ronaldo Rolim began musical studies with his mother, Miriam Correa, and gave his first public performance at the age of four. He was admitted to the Magda Tagliaferro School in São Paulo as a student of Zilda Candida dos Santos and Armando Fava Filho. After winning the Nelson Freire and the Magda Tagliaferro national piano competitions at the age of 18, he moved to the U.S., where he studied with Flavio Varani at Oakland University (Michigan), Benjamin Pasternack at the Peabody Conservatory, and Boris Berman at the Yale School of Music. Mr. Rolim has just been appointed Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, as well as pianist of the Puget Sound Piano Trio.