Ian Hobson
Piano

Ian Hobson, Swanlund Professor of Piano (1975) and Professor at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Music School of the University of Illinois, Urbana, took his Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was granted a Bachelor of Arts in music at Cambridge University. He also received a Masters in Music (piano, organ, and harpsichord) and his Doctorate in Musical Arts (piano and conducting) at the Yale School of Music.

Dr. Hobson has achieved considerable success in international piano competitions, and he performs regularly as soloist with orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Israel. He has twice conducted the Cleveland Orchestra in its Young Conductors' Symposium and was a finalist in the Baltimore Symphony Conducting Competition. He pursued conducting studies at both Aspen and Tanglewood. He was named a visiting research fellow at Merton College of Oxford University. He has been guest conductor of several orchestras in the United States and Europe.

Dr. Hobson's performances and recordings with Sinfonia da Camera, a professional chamber orchestra which he founded, have met with great success in New York and elsewhere. The Sinfonia's live recording of music by Falla and Ravel, featuring pianist Michael Block, was nominated for a Grammy Award. Hobson's recordings on the Arabesque label include L'histoire du Soldat (Stravinsky) and Façade (Walton), with the late Professor Emeritus William Warfield narrating. Hobson is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, the highest honor the Academy can bestow upon an alumnus, and was made Professor in the Center for Advanced Study, the first faculty member from the College of Fine and Applied Arts so honored. His recording of the complete Piano Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven has received rave reviews. He has also recorded the complete arrangements by Godowsky of music by Schubert, D. Johnson's Twelve Preludes plus Fugues, and Sousa's El Capitan.

Hobson's performances as pianist have included appearances in Orchestra Hall (Minneapolis), the 92nd Street Y (New York), Fairfield Hall (Croydon), Paderewski Hall (Bydgoszcz, Poland), and at the American Liszt Society meeting in Hamilton, Ontario. At a recent New York concert presented at Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium he was featured both as piano soloist with the Sinfonia Varsovia as well as guest conductor.

Piano Program
Piano Program, Faculty