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RANDALL BENWAY is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, where at the age of 10 he was accepted as the youngest piano student of Theodore Lettvin and later as a student of Arthur Loesser and Eunice Podis. While in Cleveland Mr. Benway also studied composition with Starling Cumberworth. At 16 Mr. Benway collaborated in piano concerto performances with conductors James Levine and Robert Shaw. While an undergraduate student at Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut, Mr. Benway was the four-year recipient of the Alfred C. Fuller Scholarship. Mr. Benway received a Master of Music (Piano) degree from the University of Michigan where he studied piano with Gyorgy Sandor and Louis Nagel and composition with William Bolcom. Mr. Benway spent considerable time in Europe, including living in London, England, while studying piano with Balint Vazsonyi, and living in Fontainebleau, France, while studying composition with Nadia Boulanger. As a student, Mr. Benway attended and performed in master classes of some of the great European artists, including Balint Vazsonyi, Clifford Curzon, John Ogden, Jean-Marie Darré, Nikita Magaloff, and Soulima Stravinsky. In addition Mr. Benway was the winner of two piano competitions, one in the United States and one in Switzerland. Mr. Benway has performed in the United States and Europe as soloist, soloist with orchestra, and chamber musician, including live radio broadcasts on National Public Radio. He is a founding member of The Redwood Trio and a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Open Music Competition (www.usomc.org). Recent performances include Dvorak's Dumky Trio; Mendelssohn Piano Trio in D Minor; Brahms G Minor Piano Quartet; Schumann Piano Quintet; Brahms Lieder; Beethoven Triple Concerto; Grieg Piano Concerto; Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Brahms Piano Concerto No 1, as well as solo literature. In Summer 2009, Mr. Benway was invited to give master classes and judge a piano competition in Yentai, China. In Summer 2010, Mr. Benway returned to Kunming, China, to give a full recital, in addition to judging a piano competition. In the fall of 2010, Mr. Benway will perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in Oakland, California. Mr. Benway is the Assistant Director of the Blackhawk Chorus in Danville, California, a group which tours overseas and performed at Lincoln Center in New Yok City in winter, 2010, and Music Director at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Berkeley, California. Mr. Benway is a sought-after accompanist and coach for pianists, opera singers, and instrumentalists, and a frequent judge in international piano competitions. |