Justin Krawitz

Professional/Academic Experience

South African-born pianist Justin Krawitz is an Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of Northern Colorado. Previously he has served on the faculties of the University of Cape Town, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Luther College. Following his performance of Karel Husa’s First Piano Sonata, the Pulitzer prize-winning composer wrote, “the level of his artistry and commitment is extraordinary.” Krawitz’s diverse performance experience has included recitals at venues such as the UNESCO heritage site Chateau Kroměříž, a world premiere inside Cape Town Central Train Station, participation in outreach concerts at a Wisconsin prison, and work as a recording artist for Czech Radio and Colorado Public Radio.

Krawitz has a particular interest in the intersections of music performance and social justice. A collaboration with New York composer Bruce Adolphe led to performances with a focus on music and human rights for the Colorado festival Off the Hook Arts in 2017. Partners on other initiatives that involve social justice advocacy have included Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Brett Dean.

Krawitz receives regular invitations to give master classes and pedagogical workshops at music schools from Raleigh to Reykjavik. Recent keynote lectures have taken him to Portugal and Slovenia, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. Krawitz has been published in the EPTA Piano Journal,the Czech musicological journal Opus Musicum,the EPTA Netherlands Piano Bulletin, the Slovenian piano pedagogy publication Virkla, and the ISSTIP journal Tension in Performance. He has served on the editorial board of the latter, is a contributing editor of the Martinů Revue, and collaborates with Bärenreiter as a free-lance editor and translator.

Dr. Krawitz served as Interim Associate Dean of UNC’s College of Performing and Visual Arts in 2020-21 and is currently a Vice-President of the Colorado State Music Teachers Association. He was a Paul Collins Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 2006-2009, a Donald Gordon Creative Arts Fellow at the University of Cape Town in 2011, and a Sponsored Research Fellow at the University of Northern Colorado in 2016.