Dr. Farouk Joins the Piano Faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in New York

Starting in the Fall of 2022, Dr. Farouk will join the college piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.

An alumnus of the Manhattan School of Music, Dr. Farouk earned the Professional Studies degree there in 2006-2007 on a full scholarship. While there, he won the conservatory’s Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition, which resulted in a performance of Rachmaninoff’s 3rd piano concerto with the legendary French pianist Philippe Entremont at the podium and with the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra.

Reviewing the performance for the New York Concert Review, pianist and critic Harris Goldsmith wrote: “Wael Farouk is, without a doubt, a formidable and magnificent pianist. … Mr. Farouk daringly showed his mastery and discipline over all sorts of technical hurdles and was even more impressive in making a breathtakingly poetic, singing tone (his way with the first movement’s principal theme was affectingly direct). I have, of course, been accustomed to numerous thunderous interpretations [of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto] but Mr. Farouk’s way provided to be of the most interesting and individualistic I have heard in a long time.”

Later on, Dr. Farouk was selected as one of the Manhattan School of Music’s Notable Alumni.

Wael Farouk

Wael Farouk is, without a doubt, a formidable and magnificent pianist . . . Of the most interesting and individualistic I have heard in a long time. – New York Concert Review

Mr. Farouk simply lived and breathed the music with the poetry of a born artist. – New York Concert Review

Mr. Farouk daringly showed his mastery and discipline over all sorts of technical hurdles and was even more impressive in making a breathtakingly poetic, singing tone. – New York Concert Review

An audacious and inventive pianist. – La Tribune Le Progrès

The way Mr. Farouk sailed through the piece, as if daydreaming out loud, made masses of notes seem merely incidental. That is how it should be, but only when one hears it does one realize how rare it is. – New York Concert Review

Breathtakingly poetic – New York Concert Review

One of the best renditions of the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto I’d ever heard. – New York Concert Review

With his history-making concert, pianist Wael Farouk speaks to social inequities and is ready to reach higher. – Chicago Tribune

Here is piano playing that brings chills to the flesh, performed with a rare virtuoso technique. – David Dubal

A very special musical genius. – Al Ahram Weekly

Pianist Wael Farouk is a ‘super-virtuoso.’ – New Jersey Star-Ledger

Tremendous music making, the kind that defies and transcends any and all challenges. – New York Concert Review

Absolute virtuosic mastery. – Westfalen-Blatt Bielefelder Zeitung

Here was . . . absolutely masterful playing. – New York Concert Review

Absolute pianistic brilliance. Technically, one can hardly imagine more pearly runs and differentiated articulation and arpeggios. – Westfalen-Blatt Bielefelder Zeitung

Wael Farouk is a completionist… a marathon man in music world -Chicago Tribune

Completely the virtuoso. – Wilhemshavener Zeitung

Wael Farouk played the highly virtuoso, technically challenging solo part with absolute mastery. – Nordwest Zeitung

Wael Farouk imposed from the first chords of Bach’s Partita in C Minor a gravity of tone, a height of view that belongs only to the greatest. – La Tribune Le Progrès

A virtuosity and an expression without equal. – La Tribune Le Progrès