Award-winning performer and artistic director Byron Schenkman unites audiences of all kinds through their ensembles. Schenkman both revives centuries-old instruments with authentic repertoire and highlights today's composers and performers from diverse backgrounds.

Schenkman has experience performing on the piano, fortepiano, harpsichord, and other traditional keyboard instruments. They are the artistic director, pianist, and harpsichordist for ensemble Byron Schenkman & Friends. Schenkman also served as a founding member and codirector of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra. They have taught courses and given lectures on their instruments and musical specialties and have been recorded on more than 40 CDs. Schenkman lives and works in Seattle. They took the time to open up about their personal background, proud career moments, and upcoming performances, which I am lucky to share here.

Background with music

Schenkman grew up with classical music, studying to be a pianist from a young age. When they were 6 years old living in Chile, they watched a ballet performance of Copelia in an ornate 19th century opera house. They say, "I think my first love was ballet," but their parents did not allow them to learn it at the time because of a negative belief that it would make them a homosexual. However, Schenkman was encouraged to play chamber music and at 11 years old in a summer camp they knew it would be their life. They say, "I was so happy, just with my people, and I'm always happy when I'm playing music with small groups of people."

Classical music today

Today, Schenkman works as the artistic director and a performer with Byron Schenkman & Friends. They say "the whole idea of it is inclusivity and about bringing people together" through classical music.

Schenkman's work as a musician is centered around gender justice and anti-racism efforts in how they plan performances. They say it is "redefining what classical music is, what chamber music is and who it's for, and who gets to do it." They recall that the first time they played music composed by a woman was not until graduate school, then performing a cantata by Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre. Schenkman notices that successful woman composers are "just left out of the history books and anthologies and concert programming," which they aim to change by including women's compositions in nearly every performance they can.

When planning repertoire, Schenkman juxtaposes traditional classical music with lesser-known pieces, sometimes commissioned from contemporary composers. They "think of it like doing a puzzle" to put together an entertaining and theatrical performance. Listeners often expect traditional classical music, which they get, but Schenkman gives it "a smaller place in our concept of what music is" as they work to uplift more diverse composers as well.

Notable moments

Traditional Baroque and Classical music is Schenkman's forte. They "still feel like there's something worthwhile and special about it" as an artist. Their face lit up at the opportunity to recollect highlights from playing antique keyboard instruments.

One of these notable career moments was recording with the National Music Museum on nine antique instruments. On "The Art of the Harpsichord," they played period pieces on nine harpsichords created between early 16th and late 18th century. On another recording, they played compositions by Domenico Scarlatti on four keyboard instruments from the 18th century. They also say "playing music by Henry Purcell from London in the late 17th century on an instrument that was made in London in the late 17th century and knowing that Pursell himself could have sat at that instrument and played the those pieces... felt really special to me."

Identities

More personally, Schenkman's identity is built on being Queer, Jewish, and a musician.

As a Queer person, they say, "I started coming out as gay when I wan 16, and ... coming out is a lifelong process. I don't think we're ever completely out — we can become more and more out." In the last ten years, as it has been more common to publicly identify pronouns and gender, Schenkman has come to feel most comfortable using they/them pronouns and living as non-binary. They say, "if I had grown up in a non-patriarchal society, I don't know how I would have identified or if I would have had to identify at all," but that today, Queer and non-binary fit them well.

They also say "faith is a really big part of my life." Schenkman's strongest guiding principle is that God gave people a broken world, so "we're expected to work on it [and] we're expected to do our part to repair the world." As a performer, "music can be a force for healing and can be a powerful force for working to repair the world." Schenkman intends to serve others in every concert and recording. As a Jewish musician, they say "it's to make some kind of difference, to make somebody feel something that they might not have been quite in touch with, to make people connect in ways that they haven't been able to connect, [and] to empower people." As a chamber musician especially, there are no soloists or conductors, and performance is built on connections between musicians.

Current projects

They continue to direct and play with Byron Schenkman & Friends, and their next season opens on October 17th, viewable for free online. It features Schenkman playing 17th century European music with violinist Ingrid Matthews juxtaposed with Coast Salish flutist and storyteller Paul Che oke' ten Wagner. Together they work to change the myth that European colonists brought music to the region or that all Indigenous cultures are lost by highlighting the living Coast Salish culture. They say "there were all kinds of cultures going on here and some of them are actually still alive, and there are people still telling the stories and playing the music."

Schenkman will be playing a program called "Bach, Bayreuth, and Buh-roke" with the Portland Baroque Orchestra. It will feature concertos by J.S. Bach and Wilhelmine von Bayreauth and premier a composition by Jamien Geter. Schenkman chuckles, saying "people might just come for the Bach concertos, but stay for the piece by the 18th century woman and the piece by the 21st century Black American," bringing lesser-known music to the classical audience.

Follow Byron Schenkman's work at byronschenkman.com or byronandfriends.org and see their future and previous performances on the Byron Schenkman & Friends YouTube channel.

Photos courtesy of Byron Schenkman and photographer Gary Payne.