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 Béla Nagy, he earned an undergraduate degree from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Dr. 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 participated in chamber music performances with visiting international artists. Dr. 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. Dr. Boyd graduated from Eastman with that institution’s highest honor, the Performer’s Certificate.
As a concerto soloist, Dr. Boyd has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Toledo 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. He recently gave a series of master classes and recitals in Greece. In March of 2007, he was invited to perform on the opening concert of the American Liszt Society’ Festival at the San Francisco Conservatory performing the rarely heard original 1838 version of Liszt’s Paganini Etudes. Most recently, Dr. Boyd was invited to give two lecture recitals in Spain. The first program focused on Andalusian influences in the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti and Padre Antonio Soler and was given in the city where they both had royal appointments to the Spanish court, San Lorenzo de El Escorial. The second program was in Granada on Manuel de Falla’s Andalusian keyboard compositions. It was presented at the concert hall of the Manuel de Falla Archive.
Dr. 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 has 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”. Dr. 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 and most recently, Fleur De Son Classics released a CD of the two piano versions of the Rite of Spring and Petrouchka with Dr. Boyd and his duo partner, Dr. Joel Schoenhals. American Record Guide said “The results are most impressive and attest to the musicianship and technical skills of these artists”.
Dr. Boyd is Professor of Piano at the University of Toledo. He was also a visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music. 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. During the summer, he has been on the faculty of the Indiana University’s Summer Piano Academy and the Chautauqua Summer Institution.
Michael.Boyd@utoledo.edu
