Spencer Myer, piano
Rapidly establishing himself as one of the most outstanding young pianists of his generation, Spencer Myer recently captured First Prize in the 2004 UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa, in addition to special prizes for the Best Performances of Bach, the Commissioned Work, the Semifinal Round recital, a classical concerto in the finals, and a romantic concerto in the finals. He has also garnered First Prizes in the 2002 Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition and the 2003 Five Towns Music & Art Foundation Competition, in addition to being a prizewinner in the 2003 New Orleans and 2004 Montréal International Piano Competitions. A recent graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied with Julian Martin, the Ohio native’s other accolades include First Prizes in the 2000 Grace Welsh International Competition, the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition and the 1997 Kosciuszko Foundation Chicago Chopin Competition. During the course of his undergraduate studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he was the recipient of numerous Conservatory awards, in addition to being a finalist for the American Pianists Association Classical Fellowships in Indianapolis and winning a four-year Jacob K. Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education.
Mr. Myer’s performances have taken him to five continents and have been broadcast on WQXR in New York, WCLV in Cleveland and WFMT in Chicago. He has performed with such ensembles as the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Louisiana Philharmonic and the Blair String Quartet, in venues such as New York’s Steinway Hall, 92nd Street Y, Alice Tully Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and London’s Wigmore Hall. In October 2003, he made his New York recital debut in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and recently made his Asian debut in Beijing with the China National Symphony Orchestra.
As an advocate of contemporary music and inter-arts collaboration, in addition to his work with ICE, he has teamed up with Dance Kaleidoscope of Indianapolis, the Ohio Dance Theater, and New York’s New Triad Foundation, in addition to performing on Juilliard’s Composers and Choreographers series. In demand as a collaborator, his work with singers has led to partnerships with such artists as Erin Wall, Jill Grove, Steven Stolen, Anton Belov and Meagan Miller, through organizations such as the Marilyn Horne Foundation, Indianapolis’ Meridian Song Project, Ohio’s Vocal Arts Resource Network, and New York’s Piatigorsky Foundation. During the summer of 1998 he studied at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West with Jerome Lowenthal, and studied Vocal Accompanying there during the summer of 2000 with the renowned accompanist Warren Jones and mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne. His past teachers have included Peter Takács and Joseph Schwartz, and he is currently a Doctoral candidate at Stony Brook University, where he studies with Christina Dahl.
Mr. Myer’s engagements for the 2004-05 season include appearances with the Symphonies of Haddonfield (New Jersey), Southeast Iowa, Oak Park/River Forest (Illinois), Eastern Connecticut, and Bangor (Maine), in addition to a tour of solo and orchestra appearances throughout South Africa in May 2005 which will include a performance of the five Beethoven Concerti with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. He is now included on the prestigious roster of Philadelphia’s Astral Artistic Services, as winner of their 2003 National Auditions. He can be heard on the Dimension Records label performing music of Cleveland composer Frederick Koch.
