Robert Thies

Robert Edward Thies is an American pianist, composer, recording artist, and producer. In 1995, he won the Gold Medal at the International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2024, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Mythologies II. As a concert pianist, his work encompasses performing solo recitals, chamber music, and concerti with orchestras internationally. He has worked with such film composers as John Williams, James Horner, James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman, and Mychael Danna, and his playing has been featured in films, The Fabelmans, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Concussion, Fracture, Life of Pi, and Fifty Shades Freed, among others.

Early life and education

Thies was born in Neptune, New Jersey. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was three years of age. As a young child, Thies began playing piano by by ear, repeating melodies he heard on television, and started formal piano lessons at the age five. He later studied piano with Robert Turner. In 1987, he was a featured pianist for a Chinese American 10-day music tour in Shanghai, Beijing, and Nanjing, and In 1991 won the grand prize and first prize for "Best Pianist" at the 23rd Young Artist Awards in Southern California. Thies was a student of Daniel Pollack at USC Thornton School of Music where he graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in 1993 and a Master of Music Degree in 1995.

Career

In 1995, Thies won the Gold Medal at the International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia, becoming the first American pianist in 37 years to win first prize in a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn won the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958. He was recognized by the White House, Dianne Feinstein, and Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan. The City of Los Angeles proclaimed February 16, 1996 as "Robert Edward Thies Day." In 1997, Thies premiered the Piano Sonata of Henryk Górecki during the composer’s “Górecki Autumn” residency at USC in Los Angeles. He was a laureate in the 1998 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and competed as a semi-finalist.
Thies' concerts have been broadcast throughout the United States, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Bolivia, Hungary, Mexico, and New Zealand. He has been a featured performer with the Louisville Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, and Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others and has performed at the Philharmonia Grand Hall, St. Petersburg, The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Ambassador Auditorium, and others.
In 2017, Thies was a featured pianist in Philip Glass's score to Jane, a documentary about Jane Goodall, which was played to the film at the Hollywood Bowl
In 2024, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Mythologies II for Best Classical Compendium.

Composer

As a composer, Thies has created five albums with flutist, Damjan Krajacic, for Gentle Rain Music called Blue Landscapes: Music from a Quieter Place. They also partnered with NY Times reporter, Ian Urbina on his book The Outlaw Ocean, and released Blue Landscapes: The Seas. Blue Landscapes III: Frontiers, Blue Landscapes IV: Meditations, and Blue Landscapes V: Forever the Sea all won Global Music Awards.

Discography

Source:

2025 – Thies, Damjan Krajacic – Blue Landscapes V: Forever the Sea – Piano, Composer
2025 – Thies, Damjan Krajacic, Chris Wabich – Northern Winds – Piano, Composer
2024 – Danaë Xanthe Vlasse – Mythologies II – Primary Artist, Producer, Piano
2024 – Thies, Damjan Krajacic – Blue Landscapes IV: Meditations – Piano, Composer
2021 – Thies, Damjan Krajacic, Ian Urbina – Blue Landscapes: The Seas – Piano, Composer
2021 – Danaë Xanthe Vlasse – Mythologies – Piano
2020 – Danaë Xanthe Vlasse – Poème – Primary Artist, Piano
2020 – Thies, David Sapadin – Brahms: Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano
2020 – Thies, Damjan Krajacic – Blue Landscapes III: Frontiers – Piano, Composer
2020 – Bruce Broughton's Sonata for Cello and Piano – A Changed Embrace – Piano
2019 – Gernot Wolfgang – Vienna and the West – Piano
2019 – Chad Cannon – The Dreams of a Sleeping World – Piano
2016 – Elia Cmiral – The Chamber Works – Piano
2016 – Thies, Damjan Krajacic – Blue Landscapes II: Discoveries – Piano, Composer
2016 – Shie Rozow – Musical Fantasy: Works by Shie Rozow – Thies, Primary Artist, Arranger, Piano
2016 – Gernot Wolfgang – Passing Through – Groove-Oriented Chamber – Piano
2015 – Linda Wang – The French Collection: Fauré, Ravel, Messiaen, Saint-Saëns – Piano
2015 – Bruce Babcock – Time, Still – Chamber, Vocal, and Choral Music – Piano
2015 – Dan Redfeld – A Hopeful Place – Piano
2013 – The Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s – Music from the Left Coast – Piano
2013 – Caroline Campbell – From Hollywood with Love – Piano
2012 – Thies, Damjan Krajacic – Blue Landscapes – Piano, Composer
2011 – Kevin Kaska – The Chamber Works – Piano
2010 – Josh Groban – Illuminations – Harpsichord, Piano
2006 – Danny Elfman – Serenada Schizophrana – Keyboards, Piano
2006 – Robert Thies – Live in Recital – Primary Artist, Piano
2006 – Gernot Wolfgang – Common Ground – Piano
2005 – Gary Gray, New Hollywood String Quartet, Robert Thies, Richard Todd – Brahms: Clarinet Quintet; Dohnányi: Sextet in C major – Piano, Producer
2005 – Thies with flutist, Boglarka Kiss – Air – Piano
Selected filmography