Michael Boyd & Greg Kostraba
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Michael Boyd
October 4, 2002
Scarlatti & Soler Sonatas
Hallfter Dances
Falla El Amor Brujo
Pianist Michael Boyd is active as a soloist, collaborative artist, lecturer, and teacher. After receiving his high school diploma from the North Carolina School of the Arts as a student of Bela Nagy, he earned an undergraduate degree from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Mr. Boyd’s studies continued at the Banff Centre School of Fine Arts in Canada as an invited student-performer. While at the Banff Centre he was asked to participate in chamber music performances with visiting international artists. Mr. Boyd’s studies culminated in a Masters and Doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music. At Eastman, he was teaching assistant to Rebecca Penneys and served as studio pianist for soprano Jan DeGaetani and violinist Donald Weilerstein. He won first prize as pianist in the the Kneisel Lieder Competition and played a radio broadcast recital from Carnegie Hall with Naumburg prize winning violinist Ian Swensen while still a student. Mr. Boyd graduated from Eastman with that institution’s highest honor, the Performer’s Certificate.
As a concerto soloist, Mr. Boyd has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Milwaukee Symphony,the Dearborn Symphony, and the Eastman Chamber Orchestra. Solo recitals have taken him across the country, performing frequently in California, New York, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio. Mr. Boyd’s interest in the lecture recital format as an educational venue for general audiences as well as professional musicians has proven very successful and have served as a vehicle for his extensive knowledge of the keyboard literature. His diverse programs have included "Applying Baroque Performance Practices on the Piano", "The Use of Spanish Folk Music Idioms in Keyboard Literature", and "The Lost Art of the Piano Transcription". Mr. Boyd’s sensitivity and skill as a collaborative artist, in addition to his wide knowledge of vocal and instrumental repertoire, have kept him in demand as a recital partner . He has collaborated with cellist Marc Moskovitz for a duo recording on the VAI label which received high praise from the American Record Guide and the Classical Disc Digest.
Mr. Boyd is Professor of Piano at the University of Toledo where he is the pianist for the Toledo Trio. His ability to verbalize and demonstrate how to efficiently use the body at the piano thereby freeing the performer to concentrate on musical expression has attracted students from all over the country. He was also a visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music. During the summer, he has been on the faculty of the Indiana University’s Summer Piano Academy and is currently on the piano faculty at the Chautauqua Summer Institution. At Chautauqua, Mr. Boyd teaches an international class of piano students, performs lecture recitals, teaches master classes on keyboard performance practices, and conducts a class devoted to great historical pianists.