Sean Rogers has won praise and acclaim nationally and internationally for his artistic mastery at the keyboard. Sean tours extensively as a collaborative pianist with vocalists and instrumentalists throughout the United States. As a concert artist, his solo career has taken him throughout most of the United States as well as concert engagements in eight other countries on the piano and organ. In Concert, Sean demonstrates his master skill of improvisation on the piano in a fusion of Jazz, Classical, and Latin idioms bringing a style which has given him an opportunity to perform in venues in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London and Frankfurt, Germany . He has 4 arrangements published through SONOLOGY Music. Sean is a concert artist who is just as comfortable in classical as he is with jazz. He tours nationally in his own shows and productions showcasing music from the "Great American SongBook" and improvising music for silent movies on both piano and organ. Sean received the prestigious Mayor's "Excellence in the Performing Arts Award for 2016" in Nampa, Idaho.
Sean’s experience in productions has led him to direct over 90 Opera and Musical Theatre productions. As a classical and jazz organist, Rogers has performed a good deal of the symphonic repertoire for organ and is sought out as an organist for silent movies. His arrangements of Big-Band Standards have garnered wide acclaim and he is regularly called upon to arrange pieces for other people’s concerts and recitals. Sean is equally comfortable as a jazz pianist and performs with his jazz trio. As a jazz pianist, Sean infuses a rich harmonic backdrop and rhythmic vitality to the melodies that he improvises to. Sean has been personal pianist to many jazz musicians including members of the “Lawrence Welk Show” along with many artists from prestigious companies including the Metropolitan Opera New York, The Chicago Lyric Opera, The Hamburg State Opera and The Vienna State Opera. As a pianist, Sean is just as comfortable playing Rachmaninoff or Bach as a solo artist or acting as a collaborative pianist. Sean has performed all of the Song-Cycles of Schubert and Schumann and has performed over 60 complete SongCycles for voice as well as over 500 lieder and songs. Sean’s instrumental accompanying has included hundreds of sonatas and other chamber works for piano or organ. One of his last performances of the Shostakovitch G minor Piano Quintet coupled with the Dvorak A major Piano Quintet was hailed by a music critic as “deeply beautiful and expressive”. As a concert artist, Sean has performed piano and organ concertos with numerous orchestras in the Pacific Northwest. This Ontario, Oregon native is renowned for the tremendous emotional power, depth and sensitivity of his playing. Rogers probes the inner reaches of the works he performs, infusing every measure with the utmost expressivity. His musicianship combines boldness of the mind with depth of the heart.
His Discography includes three recordings of his arrangements and improvisations. The latest disc is called “Spirit”. It has many arrangements and improvisations of spiritual songs with themes of nature and creation. Included on this disc are selections from his very own “Teton Suite”. Other recordings include “Moonlight Serenade” which include his arrangements of Standards of the 1920′s up through the Big Band era.
I Will Be With Thee is his first solo disc and features his own compositions. I Will Be With Thee is on its 3rd reissue and has sold almost 3,000 copies.
Along with the Solo Cd's, Sean's discography includes a DVD of him in Concert along with six CD’s with other artists.
In January of 2012, Sean and Phyllis Tincher, Handbells, had their arrangement of “Silent Night” for solo handbells and piano published by SONOLOGY music. Kevin McChesney, an award winning composer and arranger who has composed more than 400 arrangements and original works for handbells and is in constant demand as conductor and clinician world-wide, said this about the arrangement.
“One of the finest writing duos in the business brings us a fresh, beautiful take on a traditional favorite. If you don’t think anything new or more lovely could be said about the much-arranged Silent Night, treat yourself to this wonderful setting – it’ll change your mind.” Sean and Phyllis have had 4 arrangements published and available for use through Sonology Music.
Mr. Rogers holds four Bachelor Degrees from The College of Idaho in Organ Performance, Piano Performance, Religion, and Sacred Music. His teachers follow a continuous musical lineage from diverse greats Ludwig van Beethoven and Henry Mancini. Sean has attended master classes under Seymour Bernstein, Leonard Pennario, Peter Planyavski, David Higgs, Nelita True, Marvin Blickenstaff, and Timothy Lindberg. His past teachers are Wanda Lehmkuhl, Anne Council, Dr. Fern Nolte Davidson, Debbie Culbertson-Skinner, Phillip Keveren, Sylvia Hunt, Dr. Arthur Houle, Ruth Cook, and Leonard Richter.
Reviews.....
"Sean Rogers is a virtuosic performer who makes music come alive for audiences young and old.
He is a master of both classical and popular music styles. Audience members can expect to be inspired and entertained.
Off the stage, Sean is a talented teacher who enriches the lives of young people through arts education.”
Bill Stephan Executive Director Lied Center for Performing Arts, Lincoln, Nebraska
“Stunningly beautiful piano playing mixed with an amazing ability to compose right on the spot,
impeccable sound, control and a sort of caring about every note that one rarely encounters.
This is completely honest and committed music-making at its best.”
Patricia Walker White Arts, Executive Director, PanIda Theatre, Sandpoint, Id.