Richard Sladek enjoys bringing audiences a range of music from classical and contemporary masterworks to ragtime, jazz, and favorites from the great American songbook.
He believes in expanding the concept of the classical piano recital to make music more accessible to audiences without sacrificing the integrity and true musical expression of so-called “popular” composers. In doing so, he has defied musical classification: Richard Sladek has been called a jazz pianist by classical artists and a classical pianist by jazz musicians.
Mr. Sladek grew up in a household filled with music; his parents were both amateur pianists. He started piano lessons at age seven, and his older sister & younger brother also took piano lessons. It was an environment where no style of music was frowned upon. He listened to what many young people in his generation had embraced: The Beatles and top 40 pop-rock songs.
His early interests included filmmaking and the technical aspects of theater. His work as a young technician on the original Chicago production of the musical, Do Black Patent Shoes Really Reflect Up? was life-changing, and he decided to follow his heart and switch his direction and ambitions to become a full-time musician. This discovery led to a love of musical theater; He has since accompanied over 70 productions in the Chicago area, notably the American premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night. His interest in jazz, developed during his last year in high school, inspired him to form the R2j Jazz Trio.
Following high school, he felt the need to further his classical education and pursued a bachelor’s degree in Piano from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University. His teachers have included Felix Ganz, Saul Dorfman, Dmitri Paperno, Robert Vanderschaaf, and Lydia Smutny Sterba. He has also coached with concert pianists Donald Walker, Pawel Checincki, and Joseph Cisar. He has studied jazz piano with Skip Green, music theory with Ralph Dodds, and composition with the renowned composer William Russo.
Mr. Sladek has also been the recipient of several awards, including those from the Chicago Musical Arts Club and the Grace Welsh National Piano Competition.
Professionally, Mr. Sladek has had the opportunity of being more than a “weekend musician”, having performed in nearly every kind of venue imaginable. He has served as staff accompanist for Columbia College and the Second City National Touring Company. He has also played for the Southwest Symphony Orchestra, the Salt Creek Ballet, and the Academy of Movement and Music.
He was a featured artist at Nordstrom at Oak Brook Center and also at Von Maur at Yorktown Center for several years, in addition to freelance performing for many corporate events, most notably a private reception for Oprah Winfrey. In 1994, Von Maur commissioned him to record Christmas Favorites to celebrate the first holiday season of the company in the Chicago area. The recording has been featured on National Public Radio.
He has also recorded two other CDs, Piano Celebration and Ragtime Classics.
Mr. Sladek has received a New York Festivals Finalist award for Outstanding Achievement in the International Competition for Television, Film and Video Communication, which he composed for and performed with the nationally acclaimed education theater troupe, Wavelength. As their musical director/composer for 16 years, he performed for over 100,000 educators in North America and abroad.
He presently serves as accompanist for the First Christian Church of Downers Grove, IL, the Sounds Good Choir, and plays keyboard as the fifth member of America’s most well-known Beatles tribute band, American English.
When not performing, he coaches aspiring pianists.