Byron Schenkman

Last updated
Schenkman, Byron
Birth nameByron Schenkman
Born1966
Origin Lafayette, Indiana, United States
Genres Classical
Baroque
Occupation(s)Harpsichordist
Instrument(s) Harpsichord
Piano
Fortepiano
Years active1981-present
Labels Centaur Records, Wildboar Records, Loft Recordings, Dorian Recordings, Focus, Virgin Classics, Naxos Records, Boxwood Media, Matthews & Schenkman, CD Baby, BS&F Recordings
Website byronschenkman.com

Byron Schenkman (born 1966) [1] is an American harpsichordist, pianist, music director, and educator. Schenkman has recorded over 40 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]

Contents

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] [13] 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 2003 Schenkman's recording with Musica Pacifica, Telemann: Chamber Cantatas & Trio Sonatas, won the Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award. [14] [15] In 2004 Schenkman was awarded a Partners of the Americas travel grant which enabled him to perform and teach in Chile. [16] In 2006 Schenkman was voted "Best Classical Instrumentalist" by the readers of the Seattle Weekly newspaper. [17] [18] In 2007 he was featured in the Seattle Magazine Music Portfolio of Seattle's Defining Musicians as a Key Player saying that "He makes 300-year-old music sound fresh." [19]

Schenkman has worked with baroque violinist Ingrid Matthews. [20] [21] 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. [22] He also performs with various chamber ensembles and tours internationally with his contemporaries. [5] [23] He performs as a guest artist with chamber music ensembles in North America. [3] [24] 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] [18] [25]

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. [26] [27] His New York recital debut playing modern piano was in 2009. [28] [29] [30] Schenkman's playing has been described as "dazzling" in American Record Guide , [31] and listed in the Chicago Tribune as a favorite recording of 2000, for "stylish, invigorating performances". [32] He released The Art of the Harpsichord in 2017 to critical acclaim, featuring eight different historical harpsichords from the National Music Museum. [33] [34]

In 2013, Schenkman formed Byron Schenkman & Friends.

In 2017 Schenkman created a new recording label named Byron Schenkman & Friends. In 2018 the recording label name was changed to BS&F Recordings. [35]

On March 26, 2023 Schenkman performed the world premiere of a concerto for harpsichord and strings composed by Caroline Shaw on a commission to mark the 10th season of Byron Schenkman & Friends. [36]

Schenkman teaches music history at Seattle University, where he is a member of the Fine Arts Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. [37] He was a member of the Early Music Faculty at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where he taught harpsichord, piano, and music history from 2005 to 2017. [38] 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. [39] He also teaches harpsichord master classes, serves artistic residencies, and teaches music history at music festivals and universities. [22] Schenkman is a frequent guest on radio station 98.1, Classical KING-FM. [40]

His principal harpsichord was built by Craig Tomlinson in 2013. [41] [42]

Discography

Solo recordings

Collaborative recordings

Albums available as MP3 download only

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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 "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. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. 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. ↑ May, Thomas (November 1, 2017). "Byron Schenkman & Friends present the poetry of Schumann, played and sung". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  14. ↑ McDowell, Peter. "new Musica Pacifica CD "Dancing in the Isles"". Early MusiChicago. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  15. ↑ MacBlane, Amanda (30 January 2003). "Music and Marketing Hand-in-Hand: Report from the 25th Annual CMA Conference". NewMusicUSA. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  16. ↑ "Amigos Americanos" (PDF). WA/Chile Partners of the Americas. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  17. ↑ "The Winners". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Japanese, South American, and world-class piano music to ring through City Hall". City of Seattle. 17 August 2006. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  19. ↑ "2007 Music Portfolio". Seattle Magazine. July 2007. p. 105.
  20. ↑ Bargreen, Melinda (22 September 2014). "Byron Schenkman & Friends display dashing musicianship". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  21. ↑ Jacobi, Peter (18 January 2015). "Baroque violinist Matthews and harpsichordist Schenkman are genuinely gifted in performance". Herald-Times (Bloomington, IN). Archived from the original on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  22. 1 2 "Entrepreneur of the Month". Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  23. ↑ 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.
  24. ↑ "Gut Reaction". Gut Reaction. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  25. ↑ Bargreen, Melinda (14 April 2006). "2 siblings, 4 strings and 1 Seattle pianist". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  26. ↑ Campbell, R. (April 10, 2008). "Musician trades his harpsichord for a piano on his return visit to Seattle". Seattle PI. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  27. ↑ Bargreen, Melinda (20 April 2006). "Daedalus Quartet: dynamic, exuberant, insightful". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  28. ↑ "Music at the Frick Collection: Byron Schenkman". The New Yorker. 5 April 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  29. ↑ Schweitzer, Vivien (April 7, 2009). "Mendelssohn's Classic Roots". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  30. ↑ Davis, Helga (1 August 2009). "Concerts from the Frick Collection with Helga Davis: Byron Schenkman". WNYC 93.9 FM. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  31. ↑ Haskins (1 July 2000). "Handel: Variations". American Record Guide. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  32. ↑ von Rhein, John (3 December 2000). "Classical Music Finds Hope In Independent Labels". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  33. ↑ Brodersen, Christopher (April 2018). "Meet Harpsichordist Byron Schenkman". No. 41:4. Fanfare Magazine.
  34. ↑ O'Regan, Noel (February 11, 2018). "The Art of the Harpsichord: from Cabazon to Mozart". Early Music Review.
  35. ↑ "BS&F Recordings". Byron Schenkman & Friends. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  36. ↑ May, Thomas (March 24, 2023). "Byron Schenkman & Friends celebrates past and present of classical music". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  37. ↑ "Faculty and Staff Directory". Seattle University. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  38. ↑ "Faculty & Staff". Cornish College of the Arts. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  39. ↑ Aldridge, Tom (25 June 2012). "Matthews and Schenkman make dazzling duo". NUVO. Indianapolis, IN. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  40. ↑ "Search results for Byron Schenkman". KING FM 98.1. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  41. ↑ Kiraly, Philippa. "A Too-Rarely Heard Composer". The SunBreak (Blog). Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  42. ↑ Komavitch-Tomlinson, Olga. "Instrument Builder Craig Tomlinson". Craig C. Tomlinson. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
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