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Rene Lecuona, piano
Professor Réne Lecuona is co-chair of the piano area at the University of Iowa. She has performed in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Scotland as well as throughout Latin America and the United States.She earned undergraduate and master's degrees at Indiana University, andwas awarded a Performer’s Certificate and a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music. Her teachers have included Rebecca Penneys, Menahem Pressler, Edward Auer, Shigeo Neriki, Laurie Conrad, and György Sebök.
Réne Lecuona’s performances and recordings have received high praise: “Lecuona seems to lavish well-considered planning to every note she plays. Her control of the keyboard is amazing.” (Karl F. Miller, Fanfare Magazine, Nov/Dec 2019); “Lecuona plays it [the Boëllmann Sonata for Cello and Piano] with scintillating brilliance.” (Jerry Dubins, Fanfare 2015); “Pianist Lecuona’s playing was remarkable, and her dialoguing and interplay with the string players was exceptional” (Chantal Incandela: Nuvo, Indianapolis Arts); and “…Lecuona was the brightest star in the galaxy that night. She plays [Rhapsody in Blue] with such passion and fervor…” (Diana Nollen, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA 2018).
Lecuona co-directs the Piano Festival of the Americas, an intensive summer course which takes place alternately at the University of Iowa and Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia. Her students continue to garner successes, and hold faculty positions in Korea, Brazil, Colombia and in the United States.She joined the faculty of the virtual session of InterHarmony International Music Festival (Misha Quint, director) and was a guest presenter at the International Piano Café (Svetozar Ivanov, director) in 2020. In July 2021, she served on the faculty of the InterHarmony Festival, which took place in Acqui Terme, Italy. Lecuona’s upcoming performances include concerts in Chile, Spain, Colombia, Florida, and California.
For many years, Réne Lecuona has performed with cellist Hannah Holman, a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra. They have presented recitals in Europe and North America, and have made three CD recordings together. During the pandemic, they were able to perform live and recorded performances for audiences in Iowa and New York. Their next recording project, which will be completed in July 2022, will feature late Romantic sonatas by composers Dora Pejacevic, Henriette Bosmans, and Ethel Smyth.