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, living in Fontainebleau, France, while studying composition with Nadia Boulanger, and living in the Alps in
Crans-Montana, Switzerland. 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 President of
the United States Open Music Competition (www.usomc.org), the largest piano competition in the world.
Recent performances include works such as 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, Beethoven Concerto #1, Beethoven
Concerto #4, as well as solo literature.
In Summer 2009, Mr. Benway was invited to give master classes and judge a piano competition in Yantai, China. In
Summer 2010, Mr. Benway returned to Kunming, China, to give a full recital, in addition to teaching and judging. He
returned again to Dalian, China in 2011 to perform, give lessons, and act as head judge.
Mr. Benway is the Assistant Director of the Blackhawk Chorus in Danville, California, a group of more than 140 talented
singers which tours overseas, performed at Lincoln Center in New York City in winter, 2010, and will be touring England
and Ireland in 2012, 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 both domestic and international piano competitions.