Acclaimed as “a pianist of poetry, elegance, and power” (American Record Guide), “a pianist of exceptional, cherishable finesse” (Los Angeles Times), and “one of those rare pianists who combine structural intelligence with a hundred color gradations” (Village Voice), Phillip Bush has established a performing career over the past three decades that is noted for its remarkable versatility and eclecticism, with a repertoire extending from the 16th century to the 21st. Since the launch of his career upon winning the American Pianists Association Fellowship Award and subsequent New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1984, Mr. Bush has appeared as recitalist throughout North America as well as in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.
Phillip Bush has performed and recorded with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, appeared innumerable times on Brooklyn’s Bargemusic series, and has performed at the Grand Canyon Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Strings in the Mountains (Colorado), Sitka Music Festival (Alaska), St. Bart’s Music Festival, Music at Blair Atholl (Scotland), Cape May Music Festival, and at many other festivals. Mr. Bush has also made guest appearances with the Kronos, Miami, Parker, Jupiter, Lutoslawski, and Carpe Diem string quartets, and has performed with members of the Emerson, Guarneri, Tokyo, Orion and St. Lawrence quartets.
A devoted advocate for contemporary music, Phillip Bush performed worldwide for 20 years with both the Philip Glass Ensemble and Steve Reich and Musicians, in venues ranging from the Sydney Opera House to the Acropolis in Athens. Mr. Bush is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Leon Fleisher. From 2000 to 2004, Mr. Bush taught piano and chamber music at the University of Michigan, and he has also served as Visiting Faculty at the University of North Carolina. Since 2012 Phillip Bush has been a member of the piano and chamber music faculty at the University of South Carolina School of Music.
Vocal coach and collaborative pianist Lynn Kompass is an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina, where she works as the primary opera coach and teaches courses in song literature and French, German, Italian, and Russian diction for singers. As a collaborative pianist and chamber musician, Ms. Kompass has performed in Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Brazil, China, South Korea, and Thailand. She has also appeared in venues across the United States including Weill Recital Hall and the Nicholas Roerich Museum (NYC), the Strings in the Mountain Festival (Colorado), Harold Washington Library (Chicago), North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh), as well as numerous colleges and conservatories nationwide. For five summers she was engaged as a pianist for the prestigious Steans Vocal Institute in residence at the Ravinia Music Festival. While in residence, she played in numerous voice recitals and for master classes led by Christoph Eschenbach, Christa Ludwig, Thomas Hampson, Thomas Allen, Barbara Bonney, among others.
As a coach/repetiteur, Ms. Kompass has worked at the Festival de Musique de St-Barthelemy in the French West Indies, as well as Chicago Opera Theater, Aspen Opera Theater, Charleston Chamber Opera, Greenville Light Opera Works (GLOW), and Opera Brasil in São Luis, Brazil. She has also given master classes and clinics at SUNY Potsdam, Florida State University, Charleston Southern University, Western Michigan University, Winthrop University, and Emory University. Ms. Kompass holds graduate degrees from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Martin Katz. In addition, she has worked with Martin Isepp at the Banff Centre for Fine Arts, as well as Margo Garrett, Roger Vignoles, and Warren Jones at the Steans Institute.