photo by Rob Davidson
“Robert Fleitz lists in his biography the usual awards and prizes...there seems very little, though, that is usual about this eclectic pianist... I would hear a Robert Fleitz concert again in a heartbeat and look forward to following his career.” — Rorianne Schrade, New York Concert Review
Through “mesmerizing” and “commanding” performances (The New York Times), pianist and composer Robert Fleitz curates artistic experiences that surprise as often as dazzle. He made his “auspicious debut” (New York Concert Review) in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in October 2021. Known as an “innovative musical thinker” with a reputation for dynamic performances of both canonic and new repertoire, he has made appearances in 25 US states and 17 countries worldwide, including the Kyoto Music Festival; BAM’s Next Wave Festival; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Latvian National Library; Commute Festival (Tallinn); the Irish National Concert Hall; Copenhagen's Koncertkirken; Festival SANSUSĪ; Helsinki Music Center; the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts; the Chelsea Music Festival; Le Poisson Rouge; the Aspen Art Museum; and a small cardboard house in a Lower East Side art gallery, among many others.
Recent honors include the First Prize in the 2022 John Cage Award in Halberstadt, Premio “Rosalía de Castro” in the 2022 International Piano Competition of Vigo, 2021 Pro Musicis International Award, the André Boucourechliev Prize in the 2020 International Piano Competition of Orléans, a 2021 Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation Musicians Grant, and winning the 2022 Festival Sansusī Musician Battle, a unique four-week event in which performers went head to head in humor, wit and musical virtuosity.
First taught piano at age 4 by his father, Patrick Fleitz, Robert received degrees from The Juilliard School (B.M. & M.M.) as a piano student of Hung-Kuan Chen and Julian Martin, and was one of ten graduates to receive the school’s Career Advancement Grant. As a recipient of the 2021 Frank Huntington Beebe Grant and a Latvian State Scholarship, Robert pursued further studies at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in Rīga, Latvia, where he studied with Juris Žvikovs, and where he was awarded the 2022 Young Artist of the Year Award. He is currently pursuing his Doctoral studies at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts in Helsinki, Finland, where he is researching polystylistic piano music and how the concept of metamodernism can inform their interpretation.
Robert and his father co-founded the Swan City Piano Festival, an ongoing multi-genre celebration of pianists and piano repertoire in his hometown of Lakeland, Florida. With Estonian clarinetist Taavi Orro, Duo Orro—Fleitz, which was recently honored with 3rd Prize in the Concorso Marcello Pontillo (Florence). He also forms violin and piano duo escapeVelocity with Giancarlo Latta, with whom he won a Chamber Music America Ensemble Forward Grant. His self-produced album, Leaving a Room, was released in September 2021, and consists of works by young composers recorded in his New York apartment on a 1970’s Kawai. A new album of commissioned works by notable composers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be released on Latvian record label SKANI in 2024.
A passionate interpreter of new music, he has collaborated and premiered works of composers such as Timo Andres, Molly Joyce, Julie Zhu, Tan Dun, Paola Prestini, Jeffrey Mumford, and Liisa Hirsch. Improvisation and transdisciplinary collaboration are an essential part of Robert’s work. Such projects include curating a series of free-improv concerts with acoustic, electronic and experimental musicians and sound artists that respond to art installations at TUR Telpa in Rīga, an immersive concert collaboration with performer and composer Matilda Seppälä, and an ongoing installation-performance with artist and composer Stephen Webb.
Elsewhere, Robert values opportunities to work as an educator. Particularly special highlights include creating curriculum for Juilliard Global Ventures, working with New York City public school students and teachers as a teaching artist with the New York Philharmonic, and mentoring students at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Alaska. He currently works as a content creator and video editor for Tonebase Piano’s YouTube page.
He is grateful for his many notable teachers and mentors, including Hilary Easton, Lydia Artymiw, Pi-hsien Chen, Tema Blackstone, Lucy Shelton, Claire Chase, Jocelyn Lai, and Ching-Wen Hsiao. He has participated in masterclasses with Lief Ove Andsnes, Julia Mustonen-Dalqvist, Jeremy Denk, Nino Jvania and others. Composition mentors have included Eric Wubbels, Jānis Petraškevičs, and Simon Frisch. He also has training in clowning, Butoh, voice, and physical theatre. He speaks English, Latvian, Spanish, and Portuguese, is slowly learning Finnish, and mains Banjo Kazooie in Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Robert Fleitz is a Yamaha Artist and is a member of both ASCAP and the Society of Finnish Composers.