Joseph Rackers is Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music, where he teaches an international class of pianists. His students have earned awards in dozens of national and international piano competitions,including the Bonn Beethoven International Piano Competition (First Prize, Audience Prize, Contemporary Music Prize, Chamber Music Prize and Bärenreiter-Urtext Prize), Leipzig Bach International Piano Competition, Concours International de Piano d’Orléans, National Winner of the MTNA National Competition, Minnesota International, Seattle International, Yamaha Young Performing Artists, National Society of Arts and Letters, Steinway, Shenzhen, YoungArts, Eastman Concerto Competition, Blount-Slawson, Liszt-Garrison, Dubois, and numerous others.  His students have performed for venues including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Minnesota Orchestra, Aspen and Cliburn music festivals, From the Top on NPR and Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater.  Rackers is Co-Founder of the Southeastern Piano Festival and Artistic Director of the Vivace International Piano Festival.