Byron Schenkman

Schenkman, Byron
Birth name Byron Schenkman
Born 1966
Origin Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Genres Classical
Baroque
Occupation(s) Harpsichordist
Instruments Harpsichord
Piano
Fortepiano
Years active 1981-present
Labels Centaur Records, Wildboar Records, Loft Recordings, Dorian Recordings, Focus, Virgin Classics, Naxos Records, Boxwood Media, Matthews & Schenkman, CD Baby
Associated acts Ingrid Matthews
Website byronschenkman.com

Byron Schenkman (born 1966)[1] is an American harpsichordist, pianist, music director, and educator. Schenkman has recorded over 30 CDs and has won several awards and accolades.[2][3] He co-founded the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and was its artistic director.[4][5] Schenkman currently directs a baroque and classical chamber music concert series, Byron Schenkman & Friends,[6][7] and performs as a recitalist and concert soloist.[8][9] He also performs with chamber music ensembles, and is a teacher and lecturer.[3][6]

Early years

Schenkman grew up in a musical family[5] on a farm in Lafayette, Indiana. He graduated from the New England Conservatory, where he was a student of John Gibbons.[10] He studied with Elisabeth Wright and Edward Auer at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and earned a Master of Music degree with Honors in Performance.[10] In 1990 he earned a Performer’s Certificate in Harpsichord from Indiana University School of Music. In 1991 Schenkman was a finalist in the Cambridge Society for Early Music's International Mozart Competition.[2]

Career

At first Schenkman played harpsichord and fortepiano.[8][11] He has recorded dozens of albums, and has made solo and concerto appearances in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.[2][12] In 1999 he won the Cambridge Society for Early Music's Erwin Bodky Award, given "for outstanding achievement in the field of early music".[3][10] In 2004 Schenkman was awarded a Partners of the Americas travel grant which enabled him to perform and teach in Chile.[13] In 2006 Schenkman was voted "Best Classical Instrumentalist" by the readers of the Seattle Weekly newspaper.[14][15]

Schenkman has worked with baroque violinist Ingrid Matthews.[16][17] In 1994 they co-founded Seattle Baroque Orchestra, where Schenkman was artistic director from 1994 through 2004, and co-director from 2010 to 2013.[5] In 2014 Schenkman and Matthews received the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Entrepreneur of the Month award.[18] He also performs with various chamber ensembles and tours internationally with his contemporaries.[5][19] He performs as a guest artist with chamber music ensembles in North America.[2][20] His live performances at the Boston Early Music Festival have been compared with those of Vladimir Horowitz and Jimi Hendrix.[7][10] He was reviewed in The Boston Globe as "a superb and imaginative instrumentalist".[10][15][21]

Schenkman gave his first recital on modern piano at Town Hall, Seattle, in 2001, and has since been active performing and recording on modern piano and harpsichord.[22][23] His New York recital debut playing modern piano was in 2009.[24][25][26] Schenkman's playing has been described as "dazzling" in American Record Guide,[27] and listed in the Chicago Tribune as a favorite recording of 2000, for "stylish, invigorating performances".[28]

Schenkman performs with the Gut Reaction ensemble, which plays Baroque music on period instruments with gut strings.[3][29]

Schenkman teaches music history at Seattle University, where he is a member of the Fine Arts Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences.[30] He is also a member of the Early Music Faculty at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where he started teaching in 2005; he now teaches harpsichord, piano, and music history.[31] In 2012 Schenkman was visiting instructor of fortepiano and harpsichord at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Schenkman gives master classes on 18th-century performance, informal lecture-recitals, and pre-concert talks.[32] He also teaches harpsichord master classes, serves artistic residencies, and teaches music history at music festivals and universities.[18]

His principal harpsichord was built by Craig Tomlinson in 2013.[33][34]

Discography

Solo recordings

Collaborative recordings

Albums available as MP3 download only

References

  1. Alexander, Morin (July 1, 2001). Classical Music: Third Ear: The Essential Listening Companion. Backbeat Books. p. 1122. ISBN 978-0879306380. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Byron Schenkman". Naxos. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Duo plans eclectic performance for Tuesday concert in Port Angeles". Peninsula Daily News. Port Angeles, WA. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  4. von Rhein, John (16 April 2000). "Handel: Italian cantatas". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Interview: Byron Schenkman & Ingrid Matthews". The Fridge (Blog). Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  6. 1 2 Borchert, Gavin (1 Oct 2013). "Ear Supply: Sounds Like Teen Spirit". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Preview: Byron Schenkman and Friends". KING FM 98.1. Archived from the original on 21 June 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  8. 1 2 Bargreen, Melinda (7 October 2013). "'Byron Schenkman & Friends' Off to a Spirited Start". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  9. Schuth, Brian (12 June 2015). "Contrasts at the Goethe for BEMF". The Boston Musical Intelligencer. Lee Eiseman. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Teddy, Kaufman; Aryeh, Oren. "Byron Schenkman (Harpsichord, Piano)". Bach Cantatas Website. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  11. Barndt, Michael (5 September 2013). "Early Music Now offers an instrumental clarinet history lesson". Urban Milwaukee Dial. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  12. Campbell, R.M. (25 August 2005). "Harpsichordist finds an 'enormous' new world as a pianist". Seattle PI. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  13. "Amigos Americanos" (PDF). WA/Chile Partners of the Americas. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  14. "The Winners". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  15. 1 2 "Japanese, South American, and world-class piano music to ring through City Hall". City of Seattle. 17 August 2006. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  16. Bargreen, Melinda (22 September 2014). "Byron Schenkman & Friends display dashing musicianship". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  17. Jacobi, Peter (18 January 2015). "Baroque violinist Matthews and harpsichordist Schenkman are genuinely gifted in performance". Herald-Times (Bloomington, IN). Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Entrepreneur of the Month". Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  19. Walker, Willian Thomas (4 August 2004). "Scintillating Music in Kuhn Gallery: The 8th Foothills Chamber Music Festival". Classical Voice of North Carolina. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  20. Ponnekanti, Rosemary (29 October 2014). "Baroque concert at UPS a benefit to help end poverty". The News Tribune. Tacoma, WA. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  21. Bargreen, Melinda (14 April 2006). "2 siblings, 4 strings and 1 Seattle pianist". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  22. Campbell, R. (April 10, 2008). "Musician trades his harpsichord for a piano on his return visit to Seattle". Seattle PI. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  23. Bargreen, Melinda (20 April 2006). "Daedalus Quartet: dynamic, exuberant, insightful". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  24. "Music at the Frick Collection: Byron Schenkman". The New Yorker. 5 April 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  25. Schweitzer, Vivien (April 7, 2009). "Mendelssohn's Classic Roots". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  26. Davis, Helga (1 August 2009). "Concerts from the Frick Collection with Helga Davis: Byron Schenkman". WNYC 93.9 FM. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  27. Haskins (1 July 2000). "Handel: Variations". American Record Guide. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  28. von Rhein, John (3 December 2000). "Classical Music Finds Hope In Independent Labels". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  29. "Gut Reaction". Gut Reaction. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  30. "Faculty and Staff Directory". Seattle University. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  31. "Faculty & Staff". Cornish College of the Arts. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  32. Aldridge, Tom (25 June 2012). "Matthews and Schenkman make dazzling duo". NUVO. Indianapolis, IN. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  33. Kiraly, Philippa. "A Too-Rarely Heard Composer". The SunBreak (Blog). Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  34. Komavitch-Tomlinson, Olga. "Instrument Builder Craig Tomlinson". Craig C. Tomlinson. Retrieved 25 February 2015.

External links

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