Gena Raps

Gena Raps studied with Artur Balsam, who considered her, Emanuel Ax and Murray Perahia his three star students. Performing internationally and across the United States, Ms. Raps’ playing combines classical lyric playing with a rich keyboard sound.  The New York Times wrote that her playing had “quiet majesty’; her performances have been described as “effortless and filled with passion”.  Ms. Raps has collaborated in chamber music concerts internationally with artists such as Claude Monteux, Carol Wincenc, Charles Neidich, Artur Balsam, Kenneth Cooper among others.

Raps recorded the complete Dvorak Slavonic Dances and complete Mozart 4-hand repertoire with Balsam.  Other recordings include Dvorak’s solo Waltzes,  Louise Farrenc’s Piano Trio, Op. 34, No. 2 and selected Etudes  and two CD’s for children: “Play Bach!” called “Season’s Best” (Sesame Street Parenting Magazine) and “Mother Goose and More” for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), narrated by Julie Andrews and Peter Schickele.  She has also dedicated her musical talents to educate children, and to bring awareness to social and human rights issues.   She has taught at the Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music and has received numerous prizes and honors and has been on the jury for competitions at the Juilliard School and the Fulbright Fellowship.  In 2015 the Gena Raps Chamber Music Competition was established as a yearly competition at The Juilliard School in composition.