Lynn University

Roberta Rust has inspired audiences and captivated critics on four continents with concert programming and a discography that reveal eclectic imagination and artistic range. Her recent CD release, “Devoted to Debussy,” joins acclaimed discs Franz Joseph Haydn, Piano Music of Villa-Lobos  and Three American Premieres & the Prokofieff Sonata No. 6 (Protone Records). FANFARE Magazine described her Debussy as follows: “On this disc she proves herself a first-rate Debussy player, someone who listens acutely to each sound she makes, who characterizes the music in a personal way while at the same time honoring Debussy’s very detailed notation, and who has an arsenal of touches…This is quite simply one of the finest Debussy discs I have heard in recent memory.”

Rust has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Houston Symphony, the Philippine Philharmonic, the New World Symphony, the Boca Raton Symphonia, the New Philharmonic and with orchestras throughout Latin America. As an outstanding chamber musician, she has played with the Lark, Ying, and Amernet String Quartets; members of the Empire Brass Quintet and the Clarion Chamber Ensemble; and as a duo-pianist with her husband, Phillip Evans. She served as Artistic Ambassador for the United States and has been the recipient of a major grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She was awarded additional grants and prizes from the Organization of American States, National Society of Arts & Letters, and the International Concours de Fortepiano in Paris. She has participated in the OPUSFEST and Chautauqua festivals. Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Tim Page wrote in The New York Times: “Roberta Rust is a powerhouse of a pianist—one who combines an almost frightening fervor and intensity with impeccable technique and Spartan control.” The Miami Herald described her as follows: “There was tremendous bravura, sweep and power…Here was a virtuosa.”

Roberta Rust serves as artist faculty-piano, professor, and head of the Piano Department at the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. She gives master classes internationally, serves as an adjudicator for piano competitions and has written articles for such publications as Clavier Magazine. Rust also served on the faculties of Florida International University and the Harid Conservatory. She studied at the Peabody Conservatory, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin, and received performer’s certificates in piano and German Lieder from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Rust earned her master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music and her doctorate at the University of Miami. Her teachers included Ivan Davis, Artur Balsam, John Perry, and Phillip Evans and master class studies were with Gary Graffman, Leon Fleisher, and Carlo Zecchi.

Education

• B.M., University of Texas at Austin
• P.C., Mozarteum-Salzburg
• M.M., Manhattan School of Music
• D.M.A., University of Miami