George Lopez, the Robert Beckwith Artist-in-Residence at Bowdoin College, has been a dynamic performer and educator for over 25 years. He is known on several continents for his thoughtful and deeply expressive performances of the standard repertoire as well as being a champion of newly-written works. He recently premiered a piano concerto composed especially for him and is comfortable in styles of music ranging from jazz and ragtime to more contemporary improvisational styles.
Lopez has given recitals and performed in chamber ensembles and with orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Australia. His interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam received critical acclaim, and a Los Angeles Times critic hailed the pianist for his “…musical perspective, continuity, and kaleidoscopic colors.”
Born in Brooklyn to Mayan parents, George Lopez spent his childhood in Belize, before his family moved to Texas, where he began to play the piano at the rather late age of 11. He quickly discovered that he had a knack performing at the keyboard and, by age 14, he had won his first concerto competition; only two years later, he received a full scholarship to the Hartt School of Music. A Franco-American study grant permitted graduate work in Paris, and he completed his Master’s Degree cum laude at the Sweelinck Conservatory, Amsterdam.
This year, he has toured Philadelphia, New York City, the Bay Area, Seattle, Mexico and New England, as well as making his first visit to Cuba recently to give masterclasses and concerts with the Aries Trio. His "Music in the Museum" series at Bowdoin College has consistently sold out to audiences who enjoy his creative and engaging lecture-recitals on the relationship of music to art and ideas. He has also taken up the baton as conductor of the Bowdoin College Symphony Orchestra