Performances + Events
NEC warmly invites you to a celebration of Russell Sherman’s life and legacy in Jordan Hall, followed by a reception in Brown Hall. A legendary artist, teacher, and humanitarian, Russell passed away at age 93 on September 30, 2023.
Please RSVP by Friday, September 20.
To reserve your seat, please click the "Get Tickets" link above.
Read more about his transcendent artistry and distinguished legacy here, and in his biography below.
Russell Sherman ’15 hon. DM
March 25, 1930 – September 30, 2023
An eloquent communicator both on and off the concert stage, one of Boston’s musical treasures, legendary pianist Russell Sherman garnered accolades from critics and audiences alike for his grace, imagination, and poetry. The New York Times called him “one of the best pianists in this or any other country.” As the author of the highly acclaimed book Piano Pieces (a rhapsodic compilation of vignettes and personal anecdotes from Sherman’s life experiences as a pianist and teacher), Russell Sherman was praised not only as an ingenious virtuoso but also as an insightful master.
Sherman performed with such major orchestras as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s (with whom he performed the five Beethoven concertos), Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony. Abroad, Sherman played in the major cities of Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Russia, Korea, China, and South America.
In recital, Russell Sherman appeared on Carnegie Hall’s Keyboard Virtuoso Series, California’s Ambassador Foundation Series, the Distinguished Artists Series at New York’s Tisch Center for the Arts at the 92nd Street Y, and the Bank of Boston Celebrity Series. He performed at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Sarasota’s Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Jordan Hall, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. Additionally, he appeared at the Ravinia Festival, the Hollywood Bowl, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and the Wolf Trap Festival, as well as recitals at Spain’s Santander Festival and Germany’s Ruhr Triennale Festival. In 2010, he collaborated with Mark Morris Dance Group alongside Minsoo Sohn and the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music in the Boston premiere of Mozart Dances, presented by Celebrity Series of Boston.
Sherman was a prolific recording artist. He recorded the five Beethoven concertos with the Czech Philharmonic and the Monadnock Festival Orchestra, and the complete Beethoven sonatas, recorded as five dual-CD sets (each having been released individually and as a complete set). The entire Beethoven sonatas project was called “a set for the ages” by Bernard Jacobson in Fanfare. This made Sherman the first American pianist to have recorded all of the sonatas and concertos of Beethoven. His earlier recording of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes was critically acclaimed: Anthony Tommasini in a 1999 New York Times piece said, “Several impressive recordings of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes prove that these audaciously difficult works are actually playable and triumphantly pianistic. But none make Liszt’s visionary understanding of what the piano could do more palpable and exciting than Russell Sherman’s extraordinary 1990 recording.”
Sherman also recorded Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35 and Fantasies, Op. 116, Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 28, Schubert’s Sonata in D major, D. 850 and Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960, both Grieg and Schumann concertos, and works by Liszt, including the B minor Sonata, Don Juan Fantasy, and transcriptions. He also recorded Mozart’s two concertos in minor keys plus solo fantasies with the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music under Craig Smith. Additional recordings include a GM Recording CD, Premieres & Commissions, in which he performed contemporary repertoire by Schoenberg, Schuller, Helps, Perle, and Shapey. Except for Schoenberg’s Six Piano Pieces, he personally premiered and commissioned all of these works. Sherman’s releases on Avie Records include a CD of Debussy’s Estampes, Images Book II and Préludes Book II, a DVD of his live performance of the Liszt Etudes d’exécution transcendante, and most recently, the complete Chopin Mazurkas. Sherman also performed and recorded the complete sonatas of Mozart, the Bach English Suites, and the complete piano works of Schoenberg.
Russell Sherman was born in 1930 and educated in New York, beginning piano studies at age six. By age eleven, Sherman was studying with Eduard Steuermann, a pupil and friend of Ferruccio Busoni and Arnold Schoenberg. Sherman graduated from Columbia University at age nineteen with a degree in the humanities. He was a Visiting Professor at Harvard University and served as a Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at New England Conservatory. Sherman continued to explore and merited the title “a thinking man’s virtuoso.”
BA, Columbia College (NY). Piano with Edward Steuermann; composition with Erich Itor Kahn. hon. DM, New England Conservatory 2015.
Please RSVP by Friday, September 20.
To reserve your seat, please click the "Get Tickets" link above.
Read more about his transcendent artistry and distinguished legacy here, and in his biography below.
Russell Sherman ’15 hon. DM
March 25, 1930 – September 30, 2023
An eloquent communicator both on and off the concert stage, one of Boston’s musical treasures, legendary pianist Russell Sherman garnered accolades from critics and audiences alike for his grace, imagination, and poetry. The New York Times called him “one of the best pianists in this or any other country.” As the author of the highly acclaimed book Piano Pieces (a rhapsodic compilation of vignettes and personal anecdotes from Sherman’s life experiences as a pianist and teacher), Russell Sherman was praised not only as an ingenious virtuoso but also as an insightful master.
Sherman performed with such major orchestras as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s (with whom he performed the five Beethoven concertos), Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony. Abroad, Sherman played in the major cities of Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Russia, Korea, China, and South America.
In recital, Russell Sherman appeared on Carnegie Hall’s Keyboard Virtuoso Series, California’s Ambassador Foundation Series, the Distinguished Artists Series at New York’s Tisch Center for the Arts at the 92nd Street Y, and the Bank of Boston Celebrity Series. He performed at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Sarasota’s Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Jordan Hall, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. Additionally, he appeared at the Ravinia Festival, the Hollywood Bowl, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and the Wolf Trap Festival, as well as recitals at Spain’s Santander Festival and Germany’s Ruhr Triennale Festival. In 2010, he collaborated with Mark Morris Dance Group alongside Minsoo Sohn and the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music in the Boston premiere of Mozart Dances, presented by Celebrity Series of Boston.
Sherman was a prolific recording artist. He recorded the five Beethoven concertos with the Czech Philharmonic and the Monadnock Festival Orchestra, and the complete Beethoven sonatas, recorded as five dual-CD sets (each having been released individually and as a complete set). The entire Beethoven sonatas project was called “a set for the ages” by Bernard Jacobson in Fanfare. This made Sherman the first American pianist to have recorded all of the sonatas and concertos of Beethoven. His earlier recording of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes was critically acclaimed: Anthony Tommasini in a 1999 New York Times piece said, “Several impressive recordings of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes prove that these audaciously difficult works are actually playable and triumphantly pianistic. But none make Liszt’s visionary understanding of what the piano could do more palpable and exciting than Russell Sherman’s extraordinary 1990 recording.”
Sherman also recorded Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35 and Fantasies, Op. 116, Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 28, Schubert’s Sonata in D major, D. 850 and Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960, both Grieg and Schumann concertos, and works by Liszt, including the B minor Sonata, Don Juan Fantasy, and transcriptions. He also recorded Mozart’s two concertos in minor keys plus solo fantasies with the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music under Craig Smith. Additional recordings include a GM Recording CD, Premieres & Commissions, in which he performed contemporary repertoire by Schoenberg, Schuller, Helps, Perle, and Shapey. Except for Schoenberg’s Six Piano Pieces, he personally premiered and commissioned all of these works. Sherman’s releases on Avie Records include a CD of Debussy’s Estampes, Images Book II and Préludes Book II, a DVD of his live performance of the Liszt Etudes d’exécution transcendante, and most recently, the complete Chopin Mazurkas. Sherman also performed and recorded the complete sonatas of Mozart, the Bach English Suites, and the complete piano works of Schoenberg.
Russell Sherman was born in 1930 and educated in New York, beginning piano studies at age six. By age eleven, Sherman was studying with Eduard Steuermann, a pupil and friend of Ferruccio Busoni and Arnold Schoenberg. Sherman graduated from Columbia University at age nineteen with a degree in the humanities. He was a Visiting Professor at Harvard University and served as a Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at New England Conservatory. Sherman continued to explore and merited the title “a thinking man’s virtuoso.”
BA, Columbia College (NY). Piano with Edward Steuermann; composition with Erich Itor Kahn. hon. DM, New England Conservatory 2015.
