The Whitcomb-de Vries Duo
Benjamin Whitcomb (cello) and Vincent de Vries (piano) have been playing together since 2002. Both artists have active solo and chamber music careers, and although they live 1000 miles apart, they are always looking for opportunities to come together to play great chamber music. Both players have amazing technique, and their ensemble playing is as tight and precise as you will hear anywhere. Their main priority as a duo, however, is to play the music as expressively as possible, and thereby to give their audiences a truly moving experience at every concert. These musicians are passionate about music—they love to play together, and it shows. The duo has been touring major universities throughout the country giving chamber music concerts and master classes. Both musicians have released professional CDs of their recordings, and they are currently working on their first CD release as a duo.
Vincent de Vries, Piano
Vincent de Vries is an active performer, presenting recitals as a collaborative artist, soloist, duo pianist, and organist. Prior to his appointment at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, he was serving as an Assistant Professor of Piano and Director of Collaborative Piano at Baylor University in Waco, TX. He also served as an Assistant Instructor at The University of Texas at Austin-teaching instrumental accompanying to undergraduate and graduate students.
Dr. de Vries received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin. He also holds a Performer’s Diploma from The Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands and a Master’s degree from Bowling Green State University. His principal teachers have included Nancy Garrett, Edward Auer, Jerome Rose, and Theo Bruins. He has performed in the master classes of such pianists as Earl Wild, Vladimir Tropp, Lev Vlasenko, Arnaldo Cohen, Claude Frank, and Jerome Rose.
He is the recipient of many scholarships and has won awards in several competitions, among them first prize in the National Young Artist Competition in The Netherlands and first prize in the Sydney Wright Accompanying Competition at The University of Texas at Austin. In addition to his piano performances, Dr. de Vries is a highly regarded concert organist, with over three hundred solo recitals and eight organ solo CD releases to his credit. In 2003 he received the silver medal from the “Arts, Sciences, et Lettres” in Paris for his contributions to the French organ literature. His recent CD releases include “Into the 21st Century: music for horn and piano” and “In a Lyrical Way” with Jeffrey Powers and a recital featuring the works of Brahms, Poulenc, Rachmaninoff, and Milhaud with duo pianist Dr. Bradley Bolen. All recordings were released on the MSR Classics label.
Benjamin Whitcomb, Cello
Benjamin Whitcomb, cellist and music theorist, has earned a national reputation as a performer and teacher of music. An active recitalist and chamber musician, he performs more than twenty concerts a year. He appears regularly on the "Sunday Afternoon Live from the Chazen" concert series broadcast live on Wisconsin Public Radio. He collaborates with pianist Vincent de Vries in frequent recitals around the country and overseas, and he is a member of the Ancora String Quartet and the UW-Whitewater Piano Trio. He performs concertos with local orchestras, and he has also been a member of several orchestras in Texas and Wisconsin, including serving as Associate Principal Cello of the Madison Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. He has produced several CDs of his recordings, including his 2007 release of solo cello works by Bach and Gabrielli on the MSR Classics label.
Dr. Whitcomb is a frequent guest clinician and performer at high schools and summer camps, including the National String Workshop, and universities throughout the country. His book, The Advancing Cellist’s Handbook, is now available for purchase through various on-line bookstores. He is a contributing author to Sharpen Your String Technique and to the third volume of Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra. He has presented papers on cello and on music theory at numerous national conferences, including those of the American String Teachers' Association and the Society for Music Theory. He is also an articles reviewer for the American String Teacher journal. He is past president of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American String Teachers’ Association, and currently serves as Secretary for the organization as a whole. Dr. Whitcomb served as chair of the instrumental faculty at the La Musica Lirica music festival in Nova Feltria, Italy, from 2004 to 2006.
Dr. Whitcomb is Associate Professor of Cello and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater, where he initiated and continues to coordinate the Theory/History Colloquium speaker series, the Musical Mosaics Faculty Concert Series, and the Summer String Camp. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Oklahoma State University, and he has studied with Phyllis Young, George Neikrug, and Evan Tonsing.