Sean Botkin

Botkin grew up in Federal Way, Washington,{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-25-ca-11929-story.html|title=2 Contestants Split Fisch Piano Award|first=Kenneth|last=Herman|date=25 February 1986|work=Los Angeles Times}} where he took his first piano lessons at age 5. Four years later, he made his first orchestral appearance with the Honolulu Symphony under Ernest Chang's guidance.

He attended the University of Washington, where he took piano lessons from Neal O’Doan. Under his guidance he played for both the Seattle Symphony and Spokane Symphony and participated with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1987 to 1988, he studied at the Aspen Music Festival and Aspen Music School where his teachers were Aube Tzerko and John Perry.{{cite web|url= http://www.alohapianofestival.com/Sean_Botkin.html|title=Sean Botkin|publisher=Aloha International Piano Festival|accessdate=January 18, 2014}} From 1985 to 1986, he was a Tape Audition Winner.{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oDvlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PT482 |title=Music Programs, 1985-86|journal=School of Music, Theatre & Dance (University of Michigan) Publications|year=1880|publisher=University of Michigan|place=Ann Arbor|id=Bentley Historical Library barcode 39015071889385}}

From 1989 to 1995, Botkin studied with Martin Canin at the Bowdoin College. In 1996, he enrolled at the University of Washington, where he was taught by Craig Sheppard. He then moved on to Stanford University, where he studied under Adolph Baller and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Prior to graduating, Botkin performed with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and Palo Alto Philharmonic Orchestra, where he made a recording of the Johann Sebastian Bach's D minor concerto.

He also attended and then graduated from Juilliard School{{cite web|url=http://www.toradzepianostudio.org/eng/membri/scheda.asp?idSchede=3|title=Sean Botkin|accessdate=January 19, 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202160938/http://www.toradzepianostudio.org/eng/membri/scheda.asp?idSchede=3|archivedate=February 2, 2014|url-status=dead}} with a master of music degree, where he studied again under Martin Canin and joined the Professional Studies program. While a student at Juilliard, he received a Gina Bachauer Scholarship and was a performer of the Piano Concerto No. 2 at Alice Tully Hall under a conduction of Carl St. Clair. He also earned an Artist Diploma from the South Bend Indiana University, and then began teaching at the Alexander Toradze's Piano Studio.

Botkin is co-founder with Dmitri Vorobiev of the Midwest International Piano Competition held at the University of Northern Iowa's Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where the two founders are UNI piano professors.

In 2012, Botkin was the featured pianist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.{{cite web|url=https://patch.com/illinois/highlandpark/ev--nicole-cabell-and-sean-botkin-with-chicago-symphoa7686e7de2|title=Nicole Cabell and Sean Botkin with Chicago Symphony Orchestra|author=|date=6 June 2012|publisher=Highland Park Patch}}

About his 2016 concert at Carnegie Hall, New York Concert Review wrote that during the "First Sonata" by Rachmaninoff, Botkin's "mastery is evident in every passage."{{cite web|url=http://nyconcertreview.com/reviews/legato-arts-presents-sean-botkin-in-review/|title=Legato Arts presents Sean Botkin in Review|author=Daykin, Frank

|date=March 1, 2016|publisher=New York Concert Review}}

He played himself in the 2011 documentary film Kicking the Notes the Toradze Way, about the life of piano virtuoso Alexander Toradze.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wnit.org/toradze/|title = Kicking the Notes the Toradze Way}}

Botkin received one of his first awards at age 16 when he was named runner up in the 1986 Joseph Fisch Piano Competition.

In 1997, he won the fourth prize in the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Italy.{{cite web|url=https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2018/09/30/Sean-Botkin-Piano-0200PM|title=Sean Botkin, Piano - 9/30/2018 2 PM|author=|date=|website=www.carnegiehall.org}}{{cite web|url=https://news.stanford.edu/pr/97/971105baller.html|title=Piano recital by Adolph Baller students scheduled for Nov. 12 (11/97)|author=|date=|website=news.stanford.edu}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.concorsobusoni.it/en/hall-of-fame?y=1997&ya=1990|title=Hall of Fame Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition|website=Concorso Busoni|language=en-US|access-date=2018-11-17}}

In 1998, he was a finalist in the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition.{{cite web|url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/638056/6-Bachauer-finalists-named.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930233407/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/638056/6-Bachauer-finalists-named.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 30, 2018|title=6 Bachauer finalists named|author= Baker, Celia |date=26 June 1998|publisher=Deseret News}}

He was also a prizewinner in the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Dong-A International Music Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, Washington International Competition, World Piano Competition, and International Music Competition.

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|4603549}}
• [https://music.uni.edu/sean-botkin University of Northern Iowa bio]

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Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American male musicians

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Category:Aspen Music Festival and School alumni

Category:Indiana University South Bend alumni

Category:Juilliard School alumni

Category:Musicians from Washington (state)

Category:Stanford University alumni