Carnival of the Animals

Di Wu and Spencer Myer, pianos
Barbara Fant, narrator
David Danzmayr, conductor

Spencer Myer's Bio

spencer-myer1Lauded for “superb playing” and “poised, alert musicianship” by The Boston Globe and labeled “definitely a man to watch” by London’s The Independent, American pianist Spencer Myer is one of the most respected and sought-after artists on today’s concert stages.

Adding to his coast-to-coast credentials, Spencer Myer includes in his current season debuts with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Macon Symphony Orchestra and Ohio’s ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, as well as re-engagements with New York City’s Park Avenue Chamber Symphony and the Bozeman, Springfield (MA and OH), Traverse and Wyoming symphony orchestras. His solo recitals and chamber music collaborations take him throughout the United States, and he continues as half of the Daurov/Myer Duo, having teamed up with the award-winning cellist Adrian Daurov in 2012.

Spencer Myer’s orchestral, recital and chamber music performances have been heard throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has been soloist with, among many others, The Cleveland Orchestra, Boise, Dayton and Louisiana Philharmonic orchestras, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the Altoona, Baton Rouge, Bozeman, Canton, Duluth Superior, Indianapolis, Juneau, Knoxville, Missoula, New Haven, Phoenix, Ridgefield, San Juan, Santa Fe, Springfield (MA, MO, OH), Traverse, Tucson and Wyoming symphony orchestras, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, Mexico’s Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, South Africa’s Cape Town and Johannesburg Philharmonic orchestras and Beijing’s China National Symphony Orchestra. An in-demand chamber musician, he has appeared the past three summers at the Lev Aronson Legacy Festival in Dallas with cellists Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum, Amit Peled and Brian Thornton, and enjoys a recurring partnership with the Miami String Quartet at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival.

Spencer Myer’s career was launched with three important prizes: First Prize in the 2004 UNISA International Piano Competition in South Africa, the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianists Association and the Gold Medal from the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition. Additionally, he is a laureate of the 2007 William Kapell, 2005 Cleveland and 2005 Busoni international piano competitions. He also enjoys an expanding reputation as a vocal collaborator since winning the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. Mr. Myer was a member of Astral Artists’ performance roster from 2003-2010.

An enthusiastic supporter of the education of young musicians, Spencer Myer has been a frequent guest artist at workshops for students and teachers, and has served on the faculties of the Baldwin-Wallace University and Oberlin College conservatories of music. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, The Juilliard School and Stony Brook University. In the fall of 2016, Mr. Myer was appointed Artist-Teacher in Piano and Collaborative Piano at the Longy School of Music of Bard College.

Spencer Myer’s debut CD for harmonia mundi usa – solo music of Busoni, Copland, Debussy and Kohs – was released in the fall of 2007 to critical acclaim by Fanfare and Gramophone magazines. He can also be heard on a composer-conducted Naxos CD in performances of three concerti from Huang Ruo’s Chamber Concerto Cycle and in a performance of Ravel’s Chansons madécasses, included on “Intimate Masterpieces,” a 2013 CD featuring faculty and alumni of the Oberlin Conservatory and issued by Oberlin Music. Mr. Myer’s most recent recording – “Bolcom: Selected Rags” – is scheduled for release in the fall of 2016 on the Steinway & Sons label.

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