FRED MOYER, PIANIST

January 27 and 28, 2025

Frederick Moyer has established a vital musical career that has taken him to forty-four countries and to such distant venues as Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Sydney Opera House, Windsor Castle, Carnegie Recital Hall, Tanglewood, and the Kennedy Center. He has appeared as piano soloist with world renowned orchestras including the Cleveland, Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, the St. Louis, Dallas, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Houston, Boston, Singapore, Netherlands Radio, Latvian, Iceland and London Symphony Orchestras, the Buffalo, Hong Kong and Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestras, the National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, and the major orchestras of Australia. His many recordings on the Biddulph, GM and JRI labels reflect an affinity for a wide variety of styles. In recital, his delightful commentary from the stage brings the audience into the heart of the musical experience. Moyer’s wide-ranging interests have led him to undertake many unique and ground-breaking projects, often involving software that he writes himself.

Fred began studies at age seven with his mother Betsy Moyer, a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory. In junior high school, he began studies with Theodore Lettvin, and in high school entered Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Eleanor Sokoloff. Later, at Indiana University, he studied with Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio. Throughout, he coached with his grandfather David Moyer, a student of Ferruccio Busoni and Ernst von Dohnanyi.

An avid computer programmer and inventor with multiple patents, Fred has created innovative concerts that redefine the piano recital. His MoyerCam gives the audience a view of the hands and keyboard from virtually any seat. His USolo software allows him to play piano concertos in recital with orchestral accompaniment synchronized to his interpretations. He performs, along with bass and drums, note-for-note transcriptions of great jazz pianists such as Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Erroll Garner and Ahmad Jamal, introducing the greatest creations of this art form to classical music audiences. In 2009 and 2010, he and Dr. Paul Green presented to the world several unknown piano works by Robert Schumann – a musical find that was widely reported in the news media.

His many recordings comprise works by over thirty composers and reflect an affinity for a wide variety of styles. His CD of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor was the first commercial recording of a large-scale Romantic work using an orchestra created from sampled sounds. His Mussorgsky/Mendelssohn CD was the first using the Bosendorfer 290 SE Recording Piano. Other recordings include David Ott’s Second Piano Concerto with the London Symphony which was written for Moyer. Many other composers have written for Moyer including Pulitzer Prize winners George Walker and Ned Rorem, and Donal Fox whose Etudes of 2002-2006 were commissioned by the Guggenheim Foundation.