Orrett Rhoden has been ‘in love’ with the piano from the age of four, when he was enchanted by his
mother’s playing. He studied with Mrs. Rita Coore, a distinguished Jamaican teacher, who encouraged him by her unconventional
methods to develop the free and spontaneous style which has characterised him ever since. By age eight he was performing locally
on television, and at thirteen he took first place in nine out of eleven classes in a major music competition in Toronto,
Canada. He received his academic secondary education at Calabar College in Kingston, where he played the piano for morning
chapel and accompanied the choir for school occasions such as prize-givings and graduations.
After graduation from Calabar he went in 1977 to live in the United States with Dr. Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse,
noted composer and conductor of the New England Youth Ensemble, and developed his talents while touring worldwide with the
group. In 1979 he gave several recitals in England.
In 1983 he returned to
Jamaica to perform during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II. The producer of a documentary which was made of the visit was so
impressed with Rhoden’s playing that she helped him to get an audition with the London Symphony Orchestra. In the same year he was invited to participate in the prestigious Caribbean and Latin American Festival
of the Arts where he performed excerpts from Liszt's Transcendental Etudes at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Then in November
1984, he made his orchestral debut at the Barbican Centre, London, playing Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 1 with the London Symphony
Orchestra under the baton of Andre Bernard.
One of the high points of Rhoden's career was his meeting with Artur Rubenstein. He played Chopin
for the great master who declared unreservedly, 'You have a rare talent'. Rubenstein, thoroughly impressed by his performance
further proclaimed, 'Some pianists are not musicians, and some musicians are not pianists, but you, young man are both'. He
subsequently received a coveted invitation to perform at an all Chopin recital in the composer's birthplace in Zelazowa Wola,
Poland in 1985.
Rhoden performed in two recitals at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, in March 1985, to further
international acclaim. In October of the same year he made his American debut at Carnegie Hall, New York, performing Scarletti's
Two Sonatas in A, Bach's Concerto in the Italian Style, Schubert's Fantasy Sentimentales and Chopin's Andante Spianato and
Grande Polonaise Brilliante. This was a most significant milestone for the young artiste.
In the following years,
he gave numerous performances in Spain, France, Poland, Italy, Mexico, Canada and Russia. He has performed as a soloist, with
several of the world's leading orchestras and conductors, including Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra. He has
also given a number of recitals for BBC Radio and Television. About five years ago, he staged a classical concert in Jamaica
to raise money for Calabar, organised by the Calabar Old Boys Association. The CD was to be launched in Jamaica, in September
2002.
Rhoden's repertoire is wide and includes
music from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionistic and Contemporary periods. But he is known to be a die-hard
Romantic, and is naturally at his best with Romantic composers.
Rhoden's first CD album, 'Orrett Rhoden plays Brahms and Chopin', was released by ASV in 1986,
and a Schumann CD album will be released soon by LRP Recordings, New York.
Kitty Bocking, a music critic from London, summed up thus Rhoden’s affinity with Romantic
composers, after hearing a pre-release of the soon-to-be released CD album, Robert Schumann: Kinderscenen Op. 15; Kreisleriana
Op. 16:
'To listen
to Orrett Rhoden play the piano is to hear something new. Perhaps surprising at first, his unique and intensely felt approach
to music is arresting, almost overwhelming, always leaving the listener wanting more. At his best with the Romantics, Rhoden's
already high personal standards give renewed intensity to these beautiful works. While unafraid to plumb the depths of emotion
that Romantic composers demand, but often do not get, Rhoden often brings a seldom heard playfulness and wit as part of his
extraordinarily wide-ranging approach. In this wonderful new recording, Schumann has surely found a haven in the hands of
Orrett Rhoden'. 
