From Classical Music to Popular Song

Bruce Abbott: Saxophone

James Rosenblum: Piano

James Rosenblum is a classical pianist with a wide repertoire, including the music of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Grieg, Schubert, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel.  He has appeared as a soloist at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall playing Chopin, and had his debut as an orchestra soloist in 2010 under the baton of Charles Neidich, with whom he performed Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto.  In 2016, Mr. Rosenblum established himself as one of the top amateur pianists in the country by placing as a finalist in the WQXR Classical Moonlighters Competition, hosted by the largest classical radio station in the country, and later that year, as a finalist in the three-round Chicago Amateur Piano Competition, one of the premier amateur competitions in the country.

He has studied piano with Julian Martin of the Juilliard School, Arkady Aronov of the Manhattan School of Music, Melvin Chen of Bard College, Sara Laimon of Yale, Evelyne Crochet, Jean-David Coen, Jose Ribera, Tomer Lev of the Buchmann-Mehta School in Israel, James Giles, Phil Hosford, and Myrna Lyons.  He has studied and performed at summer festivals, including multiple years at the Aspen Music Festival and the Tel-Hai International Piano Master Classes in Israel.  In 2013, 2017, and 2019, he toured the republic of Georgia, where he performed, gave master classes, and founded and judged a youth piano competition with his wife, pianist Ana Gligvashvili.

In 2019, Mr. Rosenblum began a series of online videos and expanded his online page at www.fb.me/JRPianist, where you can see his upcoming schedule and videos, which are also available on YouTube.  He also completed his first compact disc, Chopin Waltzes and Nocturnes.  Since 2016, he has resided on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and has appeared as a featured soloist and chamber musician at multiple Cape Cod venues, including the Cape Cod Cultural Center, the Cape Cod Museum of Art; he was also multiple times the featured performer at Cape Cod Classical Open Mic, and will be performing as a duo with his wife for the second time at First Night Chatham on New Year’s Eve 2020.   Prior to that, he appeared as a soloist in multiple New York venues, including Weill Hall at Carnegie, the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the Nicholas Roerich Museum, Saint Joseph’s Church, and Church of the Ascension.  He performs challenging and interesting programs, including Bach’s Goldberg Variations, complete sets of Rachmaninoff preludes, Beethoven Sonatas, Chopin Etudes and other works.     James Rosenblum has degrees from Yale University and Columbia Law School in Political Science and Law (J.D.).  He is also a practicing attorney licensed in New York and Massachusetts, specializing in land use law and litigation.   He lives in Harwich, Massachusetts, with his wife, son, and dog.

Bruce Abbott has served on the faculties of Nauset Regional High School, Salve Regina University and the University of Rhode Island, where he earned a Masters Degree in Music Performance.  He has performed at events and in concerts and clubs throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Highlights of his performing career include a concert tour of South Korea with the Rhode Island Saxophone Quartet and a concert performance in Americus, Georgia with the North Star Jazz Ensemble as part of the festivities for former President Jimmy Carter’s 75th birthday celebration. He has performed at the Newport Jazz Festival and has toured with the Artie Shaw Orchestra. Currently Bruce performs with Trio Vivo, North Star Jazz, Cape Cod Jazz Quintet, Fred Fried and many others. As a recording artist he has performed on over a dozen CDs with North Star Jazz and CommonGround as well as many other artists.