Stewart Goodyear

piano

Proclaimed “a phenomenon” by the Los Angeles Times and “one of the best pianists of his generation” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished young pianist, a concerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist and composer. Goodyear has performed with major orchestras of the world, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco Symphonies, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bournemouth Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, MDR Symphony Orchestra (Leipzig),  Montreal, Toronto, Dallas, Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, and Seattle Symphonies, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Goodyear began his training at The Royal Conservatory in Toronto, received his bachelor’s degree from Curtis Institute of Music, and completed his master’s at The Juilliard School. Known as an improviser and composer, he has been commissioned by orchestras and chamber music organizations, and performs his own solo works.  This year, he premièred his suite for piano and orchestra, Callaloo, with Kristjan Jarvi and MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig, and in July of this year, the Clarosa Quartet will première his Piano Quartet commissioned by the Kingston Chamber Music Festival. Goodyear performed all 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas in one day at Koerner Hall, McCarter Theatre, the Mondavi Center, and the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas.

Goodyear’s discography includes Beethoven’s Complete Piano Sonatas (which received a Juno nomination for Best Classical Solo Recording in 2014) and Diabelli Variations for the Marquis Classics label, Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto and Grieg’s Piano Concerto, and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos No. 2 and 3, both recorded with the Czech National Symphony under Stanislav Bogunia and Hans Matthias Forster respectively, and released to critical acclaim on the Steinway and Sons label. His Rachmaninov recording received a Juno nomination for Best Classical Album for Soloist and Large Ensemble Accompaniment. Also for Steinway and Sons is Goodyear’s recording of his own transcription of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (Complete Ballet), which was released in October, 2015, and was chosen by the New York Times as one of the best classical music recordings of 2015.

Goodyear’s recording of Ravel’s piano works was released last summer on the Orchid Classics label. His new recording, For Glenn Gould, will be released this spring on the Sono Luminus label.

​Highlights of the 2017-18 season include return engagements with the Victoria, Phoenix and Omaha Symphonies, his recital debut at the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and his debut with the Helsingborg Symphony.