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. 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. 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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