(click here) to read an interview with Spencer

Biography

Garnering stellar audience and critical acclaim from around the globe, SPENCER MYER is rapidly establishing himself as one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation.

Highlights of Spencer Myer’s current season include debuts with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and New Haven , Santa Fe and Phoenix symphony orchestras, a return to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and recitals throughout the United States . His debut solo CD - comprising music of Busoni, Copland, Debussy and Ellis Kohs - was released in the fall of 2007 on the Harmonia Mundi USA label.

Spencer Myer’s orchestral, recital and chamber music performances have been heard throughout North America, Europe, Africa and Asia . He has been soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Beijing ’s China National Symphony Orchestra, and has collaborated with, among others, conductors Nicholas Cleobury, Jacques Lacombe, Jahja Ling, Maurice Peress, Klauspeter Seibel, Arjan Tien and Victor Yampolsky. In May 2005, his recital/orchestral tour of South Africa included a performance of the five piano concerti of Beethoven with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. Mr. Myer made his debut at the famed festival of the Blossom Music Center during the summer of 2007.

Spencer Myer’s recital appearances have been presented in New York City’s Weill Recital Hall, 92nd Street Y and Steinway Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as in Chicago, Cincinnati, Fort Worth, Knoxville, Logan and China, while many of his performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York City), WHYY (Philadelphia), WCLV (Cleveland) and WFMT (Chicago). An avid chamber musician, he has also performed with the Blair and Pacifica String Quartets. In January 2007, Mr. Myer performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at the Inaugural Festivities of Ohio’s Governor Ted Strickland and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher.

In 2004, Spencer Myer captured First Prize in the 10th UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria , South Africa , as well as special prizes for the best performances of Bach, the commissioned work, the semifinal round recital and both concerto prizes in the final round. He is also a laureate in the 2007 William Kapell, 2005 Cleveland, 2005 Busoni (where he was also awarded the Audience Prize), 2004 Montréal and 2003 New Orleans International Piano Competitions. Winner of the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianists Association, Mr. Myer also received both of the competition’s special prizes in Chamber Music and Lieder Accompanying. He is also the winner of the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, and subsequently enjoys a growing reputation as a vocal collaborator. Mr. Myer has been a member of Astral Artistic Services’ performance roster since winning that organization’s 2003 national auditions.

An enthusiastic supporter of the education of young musicians, Spencer Myer has been a frequent guest artist at workshops for students and teachers, including Indiana ’s Goshen College Piano Workshop and the Texas Conservatory for Young Artists in Dallas , and has served on the faculty of the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music. He is also an advocate of contemporary music and inter-arts collaboration, and has worked with the Chicago- and New York-based ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), Indianapolis ’ Dance Kaleidoscope, Ohio Dance Theatre and New York City ’s New Triad for Collaborative Arts and The Juilliard School’s “Composers and Choreographers” series.

Spencer Myer is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with Julian Martin. Other teachers include Peter Takács, Joseph Schwartz and Christina Dahl. He spent two summers at the Music Academy of the West, studying with Jerome Lowenthal and, later, Vocal Accompanying with Warren Jones and Marilyn Horne. During the course of his undergraduate studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he was the recipient of numerous awards from that institution, while, in 2000, he was named a recipient of a four-year Jacob K. Javits Memorial Fellowship from the United States Department of Education. His Doctor of Musical Arts degree was conferred by Stony Brook University in 2005.

Spencer Myer can be heard on the Dimension Records label, performing music of the late Cleveland composer Frederick Koch, and on the Naxos label performing the Chamber Concerti of Huang Ruo as part of the International Contemporary Ensemble.




© 2006 - 2007 Spencer Myer   |   All Rights Reserved   |   No reproduction without permission