A warm welcome to our new SCSO Accompanist
John Hillebrandt enjoys a distinguished career as a pianist, composer, and educator.
Each season, John presents acclaimed solo recitals, chamber performances, concertos, and original works. After a 15-year tenure at California State University, Stanislaus, where he gave more than 500 performances as staff accompanist and lecturer, he retired in 2011.
Since 1996, Hillebrandt has served as Principal Pianist and Keyboardist for the Modesto Symphony Orchestra.
Much in demand as a master piano teacher, he has taught many award-winning students, and is a regular adjudicator for the United States Open Music Competition, the Music Teachers’ Association of California, and others. He is also currently teaching a course in Music Appreciation for which he wrote his own curriculum at Modesto Junior College, and performs regularly on faculty artist concerts.
The Modesto Symphony Orchestra featured the world premier of the newly revised Hillebrandt Piano Concerto in November, 2013. The MSO has featured other of Hillebrandt’s creative work in past seasons, including “Fantasy on French Carols” for chorus and orchestra, two new compositions for chamber orchestra, and Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” featuring original realizations on the harpsichord.
Over the years, pianist and composer John Hillebrandt has been featured in regional and national arts coverage for both his performances and his original compositions. Capital Public Radio described his work, Transcendental Hymn-Fantasies, as the culmination of years reimagining a number of the well-known church hymns he grew up with “a new, concert-etude form blending virtuosity with reflection.” (Insight Music, Sept 19 2019). The Modesto Symphony Orchestra also featured John in a 2017 article in their “Meet the Musician” series.
A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Central Florida, he earned both his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance from the University of Michigan. During his doctoral studies, he received a dissertation grant for composing and performing microtonal piano music and won the university’s prestigious concerto competition with his original Hillebrandt Piano Concerto.
Dr. Hillebrandt and his wife Ramona are avid skiers and mountaineers. Climbs include the Grand Teton, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Whitney; and Hillebrandt has hiked to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite more than 50 times.
