Sylvia Berry

fortepiano, harpsichord

Book Sylvia Berry for a groupmuse
Boston, MA
5 Played at 5 groupmuses!

Sylvia Berry

fortepiano, harpsichord

About

Greetings! I am by definition, primarily a fortepianist. I also call myself a "historical keyboard specialist." What does that mean? It means that I on instruments from the time the music was written, such as the fortepiano, harpsichord, virginal, organ, and clavichord. You may not know this, but some of your favorite composers (Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, etc.) never saw the instrument we call a "piano." The piano as we know it didn't really come on the scene until the 1870's. By the way, this also technically means that I'm in the "early music" field. Some think this term only refers to music from J.S. Bach and earlier, but this isn't true.

I've been doing this for nearly twenty years, and in addition to practicing and trying to learn how people actually played the music back then, I also have to bring my instruments to my concerts. This is somewhat crazy, but this just shows you how much I love it and believe in it! (A minivan would never have been my car of choice, but you need one if you're going to bring a 7 foot instrument to a gig.) I do this because for me, the music of these composers comes alive on the instruments for which they were written. Things that were puzzling or frustrating on the "modern" piano suddenly make sense when transferred to the "old" instruments. While most of my instruments are replicas, my husband Dale Munschy owns a terrific antique - a Broadwood and Son grand built in London in 1806 - and we bring this to concerts as well. Soon after he restored it I recorded my first CD on it, a disc of Haydn's "London" sonatas. Haydn actually knew Broadwood, so I love that connection.

About my background: I started the piano late, at the age of thirteen. I'm from Philadelphia and luckily there were tons of ways to get a good musical education there, as well as see many great concerts. I attended NEC for two years, then transferred to Oberlin. It was there that I got interested in early music. After getting my Bachelor's in modern piano I got a Master's in historical keyboard instruments, with fortepiano as my primary instrument ,and organ and harpsichord as my secondary instruments. I then went to Holland for six years and studied fortepiano in The Hague. Being in Holland was amazing. For one thing, there are tons of antique pianos there, and I got to practice on a Viennese piano from the 1820's every day. EVERY DAY. I miss those days.

These days I don't have access to 19th century Viennese pianos, but I have an interesting collection of instruments. I have
1) A replica of a French double manual harpsichord by Henri Hemsch (the original is at the MFA) built by Earl Russell
2) An Italian virginal, based on a 17th century model
3) A replica of a 5-octave Viennese fortepiano by Anton Walter built by Chris Maene
4) The Broadwood and Son grand (#3448) built in London in 1806 and restored by Dale Munschy in 2011
5) An English square from the 1790's by Charles May
6) *For the future - A 6.5 octave Viennese piano! I need this for late Beethoven, Schubert, and others

I perform on all of these instruments, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. I like to bring music to life for people, and enjoy telling my audiences about the composers, the instruments, and the performers some of these pieces were written for. In many cases, they were written for women, something most of us don't know.

I love the idea of Groupmuse because these are essentially "salon concerts," which were very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. I would love to play in your home and introduce you to the magical world of these instruments! By the way - cccasionally I will play the "modern" piano too if I don't have access to one of my "early" instruments. I can still do it if I need to!

My website is www.sylviaberry.org
If you're interested in my husband's work, please visit www.historicfortepianos.blogspot.com

Thank you for your time!

Music

Solo keyboard music of:

Sweelinck, Louis Couperin, Froberger, Kerll, Gibbons, Picchi, Frescobaldi, J.S. Bach, J.C. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Soler, Clementi, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert

Chamber music (including works for piano duet) and art songs by:

J.S. Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, J.C. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Schobert, Boccherini, Clementi, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann

Videos

Past groupmuses (5)