Thomas Schultz has established an international reputation both as an interpreter of music from the classical tradition – particularly Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt – and as one of the leading exponents of the music of our time. Among his recent engagements are solo recitals in New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Ghent, Seoul and Kyoto, and at the Schoenberg Festival in Vienna, Korea’s Tongyoung Festival, the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento and April in Santa Cruz Festival. He has also appeared as a soloist at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco, and in chamber music performances with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Da Camera Society of Houston, Robert Craft’s 20th Century Classics Ensemble and the St. Lawrence String Quartet.

His recitals are notable for programming that celebrates the continuing vitality of the piano repertoire, by juxtaposing the old and the new (Schubert’s B flat Sonata with Rzewski’s The People United Will Never be Defeated, Bach’s Goldberg Variations with recent music by Asian composers) and by focusing on new works (piano music from the Pacific Rim, recent Russian piano music and programs dedicated to the works of Cage and Rzewski). He has worked closely with such eminent composers as Cage, Feldman, Wolff, Rzewski, Earle Brown, Jonathan Harvey and Elliott Carter (in performances of the Double Concerto at the Colorado Music Festival and at Alice Tully Hall in New York).

Since 2002, Schultz has included in his recitals works written especially for him by Frederic Rzewski, Christian Wolff, Hyo-shin Na, Walter Zimmermann, Boudewijn Buckinx and Yuji Takahashi.

His recording of Stravinsky’s Concerto for Two Solo Pianosis on the MusicMasters label; he can be heard in chamber works of Earle Brown on a Newport Classics recording and his recordings of works by the Korean composer Hyo-shin Na on CDs from the Seoul and TopArt labels have received special recognition. His recent solo CD, with the Goldberg Variations of Bach and Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated, is on the Wooden Fish label.

Schultz’s musical studies were with John Perry, Leonard Stein and Philip Lillestol. He has been a member of the piano faculty at Stanford University since 1994.

"This was a fine undertaking, equally impressive for its thoughtful planning and for its strong, fearless execution. Schultz brought a depth of feeling to the music that gave even the splashiest passages an undercurrent of soulfulness. To dispatch Rzewski's extraordinary masterwork with the sort of fiery elegance and formal command that Schultz brought to the piece is another order of achievement entirely."

Joshua Kosman, The San Francisco Chronicle
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"A sensation... a stunning program... these were sterling performances of quality scores written between 1919 and the present. Schultz is the master of an enviable keyboard technique that is nourished by an incisive intellect. He' s an impressive artist who makes clear that technique alone does not lead to a satisfactory performance of contemporary music; the instinctive musicality that Schultz brings to his work is equally important."
Wes Blomster, The Boulder Daily Camera
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