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“Winning the hearts of their audiences
wherever they play…”
— Isaac Van Grove, Los Angeles
Duo - Pianists
A native Texan, Julie Rivers, made her solo debut with the Dallas Symphony under a
Rockefeller Foundation grant while a student at UNT. She won every award in the school of music. At age two, she began to play familiar melodies by ear. Her training began at age five at
Texas Wesleyan University and continued at the Fort Worth Conservatory of Music. Since 1996, Julie Rivers has pursued writing her own compositions,
receiving ASCAP awards every year from 1998 through 2007 and recording four original albums for EarthStar Recordings. She is one of seventeen pianists nationwide on a Spring Hill label recording
benefiting families of the 9/11 tragedies. Julie Rivers was designated 2007 Commissioned Composer for Kansas by the Kansas Music Teachers Association and Honored Composer of Kansas in 2003 by the
Kansas Federated Music Clubs. She is a four-time first place national winner in the National League of American Pen Women composition contest and was recognized by the Kansas Arts Commission with
a Fellowship Award for composition.
James Rivers
is artist-in-residence at Washburn University. Since his acclaimed debut in New York’s Town Hall at age 25, he has performed internationally as soloist with major orchestras, in solo recitals
in major North American and European cities, and in chamber music concerts with some of the world’s finest artists. He is a featured artist at many music festivals, including Spoleto, Crested Butte,
Buzzards Bay and the Sunflower Festival. He is widely known through network radio and television appearances in this country and abroad. He has recorded seven solo albums, is a published composer
(ASCAP) and a graduate of Juilliard. In over 500 appearances, his Young Peoples Concerts have warmed the hearts of more than one million children nationwide. A noted teacher, his students have
won major prizes in competitions including the Van Cliburn International. Also a popular speaker, he delights audiences with true tales of his life as a concert artist in his hilarious presentation, My Piano
Gets Twenty Miles Per Gallon.
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