Newman at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in September 2012
Anthony Newman (born May 12, 1941) is an American classical musician. While mostly known as an organist, Newman is also a harpsichordist (including the pedal harpsichord), pianist, composer, conductor, writer, and teacher. He is a specialist in music of the Baroque period, particularly the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, and has collaborated with such noted musicians as Kathleen Battle, Julius Baker, Itzhak Perlman, Eugenia Zukerman, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Leonard Bernstein, Michala Petri, and Wynton Marsalis, for whom he arranged and conducted In Gabriel’s Garden, the most popular classical record of 1996.[1]
Newman was born in Los Angeles, California. His father was a lawyer, and his mother was a professional dancer and an amateur pianist. Early in life he was "delighted, elated and fascinated" with the music of Bach.[2] From the age of ten to seventeen he studied the organ with Richard Keys Biggs.[3]
At age seventeen Newman went to Paris, France, to study at the École Normale de Musique, where he received a diplôme supérieur.
Newman returned to the United States and received a B.S. in 1963 from the Mannes School of Music having studied organ with Edgar Hilliar, piano with Edith Oppens and composition with William Sydemann. He worked as a teaching fellow at Boston University while studying composition with Leon Kirchner at Harvard University. He received his M.A. in composition from Harvard in 1966 and his doctorate in organ from Boston University in 1967 where he studied organ with George Faxon and composition with Gardner Read and Luciano Berio for whom he also served as teaching assistant.[3]
Professional life
Newman taking questions after a performance at UCLA, 1973.
Newman's professional debut, in which he played Bach organ works on the pedal harpsichord, took place at the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York in 1967. Of this performance The New York Times wrote, "His driving rhythms and formidable technical mastery...and intellectually cool understanding of the structures moved his audience to cheers at the endings."[4] Newman also drew young audiences, as noted by Time magazine in a 1971 article in which they dubbed him the "high priest of the harpsichord."[5] Newman has gone on to make solo recordings for a variety of labels including Digitech, Excelsior, Helicon, Infinity Digital/Sony, Moss Music Group/Vox, Newport Classic, Second Hearing, Sheffield, Sine Qua Non, Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, and 903 Records.[3] Newman has recorded most of Bach's keyboard works on organ, harpsichord and piano as well as recording works of Scarlatti, Handel, and Couperin. On the fortepiano he has recorded the works of Beethoven and Mozart. As a conductor Newman has led international orchestras such as the Madeira Festival Orchestra, the Brandenburg Collegium, and the English Chamber Orchestra.[3]
Although initially intensely interested in composition, he became discouraged by the non-tonal music that was the focus of conservatory composition departments in the 1950s and '60s.[2][7] He returned to composition in the 1980s, and has written music for a range of instruments including organ, harpsichord, orchestra, guitar, violin, cello, flute chamber ensemble, piano, choral music and opera.[3] In 2011, Newman released a 20-CD set of his compositions on 903 Records.
Newman is music director of Bach Works and Bedford Chamber Concerts and is on the board of Musical Quarterly magazine. He is also music director at St. Matthews Church, Bedford New York.
Personal life
Newman married fellow conductor and organist Mary Jane Newman in 1968. They have three sons.
Discography
Note: * indicates Newman's composition
903 Records
J.S. Bach: Six Partitas
J.S. Bach: Well Tempered Clavier Book 2, 1742
J.S. Bach: Works for Pedal Harpsichord and Organ, 230
J.S. Bach: Inventions in 2 Parts and Sinfonias in 3 Parts
J.S. Bach: Great Works for Organ, 114
The Music of J.S. Bach, 552
J.S. Bach: French Suites, 30 Variations on Walsingham, 1722
J.S. Bach: Six Partitas, 599
J.S. Bach: English Suites, 1723
My Favorite Bach Recordings, 2013
J.S. Bach: Aria with 30 Variations
Selections from Bach's Brandenburg Concerti
J.S. Bach: Concerto in D Minor, Seven Toccatas for Harpsichord
The Complete Collected Harpsichord Works of J.S. Bach
The Complete Collected Organ Works of J.S. Bach
Ad Nos, Ad Salutaremudam & Fantasia and Fugue on BACH, Music of Franz Liszt
3 Great Piano Duets
Three Symphonies for Organ Solo *, 240
Nicole and the Trial of the Century *, 1994
Complete Works for Cello and Piano *, 121
Complete Works for Violin and Piano *, 253
Te Deum Laudamus *, 2007
Large Chamber Works: Chamber Concerto, String Quartet #2, Piano Quintet *
Complete Works for Organ *, 17501941, 2016
American Classic Symphonies 1 and 2 *, 200
Ittzes Plays Newman: Complete Works for Flute *, 309
12 Preludes and Fugues in Ascending Key Order for Piano Solo *
Complete Music for Violin *, 112
The Complete Original Works of Anthony Newman on 20 CDs *
Concertino for Piano & Orchestra *
On Fallen Heros: Orchestral Works *
6 Concertos *, 1915, 2015
9 Sonatas for Piano Solo *, 1331,
4 Symphonies *, 16851750, 2017
Complete Works for Piano *, 10964, 2015
Complete Chamber Works *, 1516
Angel Oratorio *
Complete Choral Works *, 2017
Three Commissioned Works ^ 3-2015, 2015
Lectures on Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, Books I and II, 1724, 2015
Anthony Newman Plays Vierne, Mozart, Stravinsky, Newman, Bach, and Couperin
Eugenia Zukerman and Anthony Newman play Bach, Haydn, and Hummel, 4143
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