Offstage On-Air with David Berry
By WTJU
Date: 06/11/2023
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Offstage, On-Air is a weekly show highlighting central Virginia’s vibrant classical music community. Each week you’ll hear conversations with local classical musicians, learn about upcoming concerts, and enjoy artist-curated playlists. Tune in Sunday from noon to 1:00pm here on WTJU (91.1 FM and streaming at wtju.net). This week’s guest is David Berry, Artistic Director of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival (SVBF). The 31st annual Bach Festival will take place June 11-18.
A native of Syracuse, NY, David Berry is an active classical pianist whose performances have been featured in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, Merkin Hall, as well as live broadcasts of WQXR (New York City). As a performer of new music, he has worked with or premiered works by a number of noted composers, including James Lee III, Adolphus Hailstork, and Grammy-award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon. David was a featured soloist in the Juilliard School’s Focus Festival, All About Elliott, celebrating the 100th birthday of Elliott Carter, and also featured in piano series’ hosted by author David Dubal at the Kosciusko Foundation and the Cervantes Institute.
An avid chamber musician, David has collaborated with members of many of the nation’s leading orchestras, including the New Jersey, Houston, St. Louis, Dallas, and Seattle symphonies. He has toured and regularly concertized as a resident member of the Jacksonville, Florida-based Ritz Chamber Players, The Harlem Chamber Players, and the innovative chamber music theater group, the Core Ensemble. As an arts administrator, David serves as Chair of Chamber Music Programs for the Gateways Music Festival at the Eastman School of Music, a biennial festival which celebrates the contributions of musicians of African descent to classical music, and features over 120 players from major American orchestras and university faculties across the United States.
David received his Bachelor of Music with High Distinction from the Eastman School of Music, and Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance from the Juilliard School. David’s piano teachers have included Martin Canin, Douglas Humpherys, and George Skafidas, with collaborative piano coachings under Russell Miller and chamber music studies under Seymour Lipkin, Jacob Lateiner, and Jonathan Feldman.
David is currently Assistant Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Department at Eastern Mennonite University.
