HEATHER COLTMAN
piano
American pianist Heather Coltman is widely acclaimed across five continents as a solo and chamber musician. She has performed throughout the United States and in Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Switzerland, France, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Greece and South Africa. She is active as a soloist and chamber musician, and regularly presents lectures on a wide array of musical topics.Many of her former piano students are distinguished performers and educators throughout the Americas and in Europe.
Coltman first performed in public at the age of five in her native country of Zambia. Her early piano studies with her mother continued after the family emigrated to the United States in 1966. Coltman made her debut with the Austin Symphony at the age of 16. She has received many awards, including top placement in the Geza Anda International Piano Competition, the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition and the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition. Other prizes include the Outstanding Accompanist Award at both the Emanuel Feuermann Memorial International Cello Competition and the Corpus Christi Young Artists Competition.
Her concerto performances include appearances with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Conservatório de Tatuí, Boca Raton Philharmonic Symphonia, Boca Pops Orchestra, Florida Wind Symphony, Florida Atlantic UniversitySymphony, Charlotte Youth Symphony, the Weinstadt Kammerorchester in Germany, South Arkansas Symphony, University of Texas Symphony, Elmira Chamber Players, and Austin Chamber Music Center Chamber Orchestra.
Coltman’s numerous recordings include solo and chamber music performances and reflect her interest in new music. She can be heard on several labels, including Klavier Records, Wisdom Recordings, Innova Recordings, Lyra Productions and Heng Hao Records.
Coltman holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She received her Master of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music in New York after graduating from the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Music degree. Her teachers have included Lita Guerra, Claude Frank and David Bar-Illan. She also studied at the Ecoles d'Artes Americaines in Fontainebleau, France, where she received private instruction from Nadia Boulanger.
Since 1993 she has been on the faculty of the Department of Music at Florida Atlantic University, serving as Director of Keyboard Studies and Chair of the Department of Music. Since 2011 she has served as Dean of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters at Florida Atlantic University. She is the Founder and Director of the Teaching Outstanding PerformerS (TOPS) Camps, an annual summer music enrichment program for pre-college students.
The mother of three sons, Coltman makes her home in Boca Raton, Florida.
One of the most diligent, gifted and charming personalities I have had the privilege to guide.
- Nadia Boulanger
Heather Coltman is a superb pianist. Her musicianship is deep and finely honed, her technique fluent and versatile, her judgment mature and her erudition solid. Above all, she is a natural performer, able to project her original ideas and strong convictions with lyricism, passion and flair.
- David Bar-Illan
A splendid pianist….What shows most in her playing – beyond great technique, sensitive phrasing and giant strength – is authority without authoritarianism, confidence without self-importance
- Birmingham News
Coltman plays with grace and elegance: the Jahnhalle was filled by dramatic entrances, quick and clean runs, careful transitions, and sensitive cooperation with the orchestra.
- Gelbe Blatter, Germany
A skilled, confident performer….strong, well-defined interpretations supported by a very good technique, which made light of intricacies
- Natal Mercury, South Africa
….remarkable technique, at times stunning clarity, and a great deal of musical intelligence.
- Birmingham Post-Herald
World-class Schubert and Mozart….
- Ithaca Journal
Coltman brought instant life to Schubert’s music with her clean, clear interpretation and technical brilliance
- The Daily News, Batavia, New York
…strong, elegant playing enhanced by smooth, impressive technique….
- Austin American-Statesman
If this listener has heard a finer performance of the Brahms D Minor Violin and Piano Sonata…memory fails, bar none – recorded or live.
- Birmingham News
This was a brilliant recital, sold both in concept and execution.
- Transylvania Times, Brevard, North Carolina