The CMR Spotlight
Dr. Ron Lubetsky
Dr. Ron Lubetsky was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he had his first formal music lessons at age 7. Among his earliest musical influences, he still remembers attending the recitals of several famous concert pianists, including Artur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Van Cliburn. "I decided at that point that I wanted to become a concert pianist, and I began practicing the piano seriously, often up to 6 hours each day." With the help of his primary piano teacher, Ferguson Webster, Lubetsky widely expanded his repertoire to include several famous concerti, many of the major works of Chopin, Brahms and Schumann, and all of the Beethoven piano sonatas.
By age 14 he also became interested in composition and wrote his first original works: a string quartet and some piano preludes. Ultimately, performance took a back seat to composing. By age 17, he had joined the Pittsburgh Alliance of Composers, and was studying composition formally with Leonardo Balada at Carnegie-Mellon University. "Prior to college I had been imitating the old masters of the late nineteenth century. Balada introduced me to new forms and new combinations of sounds. I also had the invaluable opportunity of working directly with expert musicians, hearing my latest works, and fine-tuning my craft. It was a time of great discovery."
Eventually, Lubetsky graduated from college with a liberal arts education, and then pursued graduate study in music composition, at both University of Michigan and Harvard University, where he studied with Donald Martino. Among his most ambitious original works are Monumentum, a work for very large orchestra commemorating the 100th anniverary of Igor Stravinsky's birth, and two song cycles for voice and chamber ensemble, both of which received B.M.I Awards.
In spite of his success as a composer, Lubetsky never abandoned the piano. "Harvard did not offer as many performance opportunities of my compositions as did Carnegie-Mellon or Michigan, so I began once again to focus on piano performance." He studied piano in Boston with Anthony di Bonaventura. By 1982 he had mastered a demanding repertoire of works by Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin and Barber, and began concertizing throughout the eastern U.S. "Notwithstanding the uncertainty of a future career in music, I was happy at that time. Still, I couldn't help from feeling that my calling in life was elsewhere." After a year of searching, Lubetsky decided on a career in medicine. He matriculated at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and following graduation in 1991, he trained in both pathology and ophthalmology. "These specialties were specifically chosen because I wanted a lifestyle which would allow me to continue to pursue my musical interests." Currently, he works in a busy ophthalmology practice in southwest Florida. His medical interests include refractive laser surgery and ophthalmic pathology.
While he has not had much time recently to devote to composition, he has continued to practice the piano in his free time. He has also discovered for the first time the possibilities of using MIDI as a medium for live performance. "Back in college I had experimented frequently with the electronic medium in my compositions, but I never imagined that I'd someday combine this knowlege with my skill as a pianist." When he first discovered classical MIDI on the Internet in 1996, his interest was solely as a collector. After downloading some 500 sequences from the Internet, and organizing them catagorically by style period, he decided to create The Classical MIDI Resource in October 1996. "Back then it was called 'Ron's Complete MIDI Archive.' Unlike the other large classical MIDI websites, I wanted this site to be limited to only high-quality sequences. Also, I wanted to make downloading much simpler for collectors of MIDI by packing clusters of sequences together in convenient zip packs." While the site has grown to ten times its original size, it continues to feature only high-quality sequences.
"I'm happy to say that the creation of this site has spurred greater interest in professional-quality sequences on the Internet." Not least among those stimulated by this site has been Lubetsky himself, who since December 1996 has sequenced nearly 100 works. Recently, his sequence of Liszt's La Leggierezza" was awarded first prize in the Internet Well-Tempered Disklavier Piano Competition.
Lubetsky describes his sequencing techniques as rudimentary, by most standards. "I use very simple equipment, limited to a Yamaha PSR-85 keyboard, a computer with Windows 95, and Passport MIDI Worksop V. 1.01. I practice the music ahead of time on an acoustic piano. Next, I record all of my sequences live at the synthesizer keyboard, and afterwards edit the results. Regardless of the equipment used, there is no substitute for good editing skills, a keen sense of timing and rhythm, an ability to listen critically to your work, and of course, familiarity with the music." Perhaps his most ambitious MIDI project to date is the complete cycle of 51 mazurkas by Frederic Chopin. "I've always felt an affinity for Chopin's music, and for me, these works in particular sum up the essence of this great composer."
Dr. Lubetsky's future sequencing projects will include recitals of piano works by Brahms, Schumann, and 20th century composers. Currently he is working on a recital of virtuoso piano music by Schubert, Liszt, Saint-Saens, Ravel, Dohnanyi and Rachmaninov. All of his piano sequences are available online at http://members.aol.com/acuity2020/private/sequence.html.