Valerie Mishek

Valerie Mishek, pianist, has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist in the U.S.A. and Europe.   In October 2009, Ms. Mishek performed a sold out concert featuring a Spanish music program paired with photographs taken by Valerie Mishek and Ferenc Gyulafia in Spain in April and May 2006.  The program entitled “¡España!:  A Glimpse of Spain in Music and Pictures”  featured music of Soler, Albeniz, Granados, de Falla and Scarlatti. 

In June 2008, Valerie was accepted and participated in the Piano Texas International Academy and Festival Teachers program.  While at the Festival at TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, she performed in a solo recital and master class with Jose Feghali and attended many concerts and workshops. 

In January 2005, Ms. Mishek won first prize at the Metro State College 'Piano Celebration' Concerto Competition. On April 1, 2005, Ms. Mishek performed the Piano Concerto #2, Op. 19 by Beethoven with the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, Dr. Horst Buchholz conducting, to a capacity audience at the King Center Concert Hall on the Auraria Campus in Denver.

On April 10, 2005,  Ms. Mishek made her radio broadcast debut on KPOF Denver with this performance with orchestra. 

On October 10, 2004, Valerie Mishek performed a solo recital in Hamilton Hall at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver sponsored by Bösendorfer International and Onofrio Piano Company.

Ms. Mishek has also attended the World Piano Pedagogy Conference and was chosen by audience choice to win the “Piano Idol” award in several groups of variations in her performance of the Beethoven 32 Variations in c minor in Nashville in 2003.  She has also attended many other national conferences in cities in North America, including the MTNA conferences in Nashville, Washington DC, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Toronto, and Denver.  She has also attended three World Piano Pedagogy conferences in Las Vegas and Nashville.

Valerie Mishek was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study piano and German in Vienna, Austria in 1990-91, and attended the world-renowned Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts as a pupil of Professor Carmen Graf-Adnet. Ms. Mishek was invited by the German Fulbright program to perform as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician during the Fulbright “Berlin Week” Concert in the Konzertsaal der Hochschule der Künste in Berlin.  Ms. Mishek was also featured as soloist and accompanist in the Austrian Fulbright sponsored “Kammermusik in Heiligenkreuz” June 1991.  In 1994,  Ms. Mishek returned to Vienna where she  performed the opening recital of the Bösendorfer International Piano Academy in Vienna, Austria.   Ms. Mishek was also a post-graduate pupil of Professor Krassimira Jordan for three years.  During the same trip to Europe, Ms. Mishek was invited by the Austrian Fulbright sponsored Austrian-American educational commission’s “Kammermusik in Heiligenkreuz” where she performed a solo recital in the “Königsaal” of the Stift Heiligenkreuz (Heiligenkreuz Monastery) located in the Vienna Woods.

Ms. Mishek received her Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of Texas at Austin in May 1993.  In February 1993, she performed the Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major with the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra after winning the 1992-93 University Concerto Competition.

Ms. Mishek received her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance with Honors from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1988 where she studied with Professor Larry Graham.   While at CU Boulder, she was the recipient of various awards including Fiske Scholarships and the Outstanding Graduating Student Award. While still an undergraduate, Ms. Mishek studied at the Aspen Music School as a scholarship student of Ann Schein.

Ms. Mishek has performed in masterclasses by Nelita True, Edith Oppens, Anthony De Mare, Krassimira Jordan, Andrew Cooperstock, Angela Chang and Jose Feghali.

Valerie Mishek’s early training came from the skillful teaching of Patricia Parraguez-Chen and Dr. Cornelia Vertenstien.   

Ms. Mishek lives in Littleton, Colorado where she teaches piano students in her own studio.  Over 30 years of teaching, the students of Ms. Mishek have received many honors, including a first prize at the Yamaha Competition in Denver in 2009, and have performed successfully in public.  She is also a frequent clinician for area music teacher’s associations and has served as President of Denver Area Music Teachers Association for three years.

About her teaching:  Two of the judges from the National Guild Auditions said, "This is one of the most artistic auditions I have heard. Such beautiful attention to phrasing and technique. Congratulations--Great Teaching!" and "Your students are the best I heard on this tour. Congratulations!"

Valerie enjoys photography, travel, dog showing, camping and nature.  Ms. Mishek enjoys learning foreign languages and is currently learning Spanish.  She lives with her husband, Bill Klarquist, and their four Italian Greyhounds.

Picture coming soon 

Please contact Valerie Mishek by clicking on contact to link to her email.