Rocky T Fretz
My name is Rocky T. Fretz. I am a composer/concert pianist and performaholic.
I have recently resigned my position of seventeen years as featured pianist in one of the premier, family, music, variety shows in the United States, "The Carolina Opry" in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA to strike out on my own.
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
When thinking of my original music think of George Winston meets Yanni with a lot of energy :) (I was honored to recently play at a venue where Mr. Winston and Emile Pandolfi were scheduled to perform later that month)
This past November and December I was fortunate to play some really great coffee houses and art galleries (Collector's Cafe and The Living Room in Myrtle Beach, SC) where I introduced a new mixed media event (hybrid art) in which the art of abstract painting joins instantaneous composition in a musical performance.
Voila' ...abstract painting enters the performance arena. "......I played what she painted as she painted what she heard!" This Hybrid Art is called 'Music Canvas'. ' For more please visit here. (www.MusicCanvas.com)
I also took another of my Hybrid Art Troupe Productions called 'A Christmas Journey' on tour to some of the most renown Opera Houses, theaters and auditoriums in the SouthEast USA this past Christmas. (The Newberry Opera House, Sumter Opera House, Carolina Civic Center and CoMMA) 'A Christmas Journey' combines a concert piano performance with dramatic portrayals of the characters in Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol.' I will be touring this show again in 2004 and 2005.
I have a large sacred music concert that is being very well accepted and helping to fill my date calendar as well. I have the honor of performing it this Summer in a 2000 seat church to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the homeless shelter/rescue mission I founded in 1993.
For a printable copy of the concert information please visit www.RockyTFretz.com/shcedule.html
Have you performed live in front of an audience? Any special memories?
Yes...I do play live. I was featured in more than four thousand performances for more than four million people in the past 17 years. Before that I toured the Med for the Department of Defense and gigged as a solo artist and in lots of bands.
My performance schedule is available at www.rockytfretz.com/schedule.html. It includes a concert in a 1900 seat music and arts center and 3 shows at Center Theater in HartsvilleSC USA
Your musical influences
George Winston, Beethoven, Emerson, Steve Walsh, Ben Folds Five,Harry Connick Jr., Coltrane,Benson,Monk
What equipment do you use?
The best grand piano I can get in the room. The band: bass, drums, lead guitar, guitar synth, sax, keyboards, Heather Whitley singing and me.
Anything else?
I have 5 CDs
