{{Short description|American classical pianist (1930–2023)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Russell Sherman | image = Russell Sherman (1b).jpg | alt = Man with greying hair and designer stubble, wearing a hat with a brim | caption = Sherman in the 1970s | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|03|25}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|09|30|1930|03|24}} | death_place = Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S. | occupation = {{ubl| Classical pianist | Academic teacher | Author }} | organizations = New England Conservatory }}
'''Russell Sherman''' (March 25, 1930 – September 30, 2023) was an American classical pianist, educator and author. He performed internationally, known especially for playing the music of Beethoven and Liszt. Driven by a "lifelong battle to reconstitute Liszt as a serious composer", he wrote for a recording of his ''Transcendental Études'': "The poetic idea is central, and the virtuoso elements become so many layers to orchestrate the poetic content".
Sherman was a teacher at the New England Conservatory in Boston for more than half a century, influencing generations of students.<ref name="Smith" />
== Life and career == Russell Sherman was born in Manhattan on March 25, 1930, the youngest son of four. He grew up in the Essex House hotel, where neighbors included Rudolf Bing, Lily Pons, Lauritz Melchior and Clifford Curzon.<ref name="Schweitzer" /> His father was a manufacturer of women's raincoats. His mother had tried to encourage all children to learn the piano, but was successful only with him—he began lessons at age six. At age eleven, he was accepted by Eduard Steuermann,<ref name="Smith"/> who had studied and become friends with Arnold Schoenberg and Ferruccio Busoni.<ref name="Moran" /> Steuermann taught him that "music was about joy and play, not just technical mastery".<ref name="Smith" /> Sherman also studied humanities at Columbia University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1949,<ref name="Smith"/> and later studied composition, with Erich Itor Kahn.<ref name="Schweitzer" /><ref name="PCMS" />
=== Pianist === Sherman made his debut as a pianist at the Town Hall in New York City in 1945, at age 15,<ref name="Smith" /> as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.<ref name="Smith" /> In 1959, he went on a hiatus from public performances, moved to the West and focused on teaching.<ref name="Smith" /><ref name="Schweitzer" />
When he resumed playing concerts in the 1970s, he performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, among others.<ref name="Schweitzer" /> He performed in recitals throughout the United States, Europe and South America.<ref name="PCMS"/><!--and the former Soviet Union.-->
=== Teacher === Sherman was a teacher at Pomona College and the University of Arizona.<ref name="Smith" /><ref name="Schweitzer" /> In 1967, he accepted an invitation by Gunther Schuller, then the new director of the New England Conservatory in Boston, to teach there as a Chair of the Piano Department.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Remembering Legendary Pianist Russell Sherman |url=https://necmusic.edu/about/news/remembering-legendary-pianist-russell-sherman/}}</ref> He remained for more than half a century; among his students were Leslie Amper, Marc-André Hamelin, Randall Hodgkinson, Christopher O'Riley and HaeSun Paik, who is now co-chair of piano at the school.<ref name="Smith" /> He was also the teacher of Wha Kyung Byun, who became a well-known piano instructor, and also his wife.<ref name="Dyer" /> She was also on the faculty of the New England Conservatory.<ref name="Smith" /> He also taught Kathy Chi, Soojin Ahn, Ning An, Hung-Kuan Chen, Rina Dokshitsky, Hugh Hinton, Norman Krieger, Livan, Heng-Jin Park, Sergey Schepkin, Minsoo Sohn, Kathleen Supové, Christopher Taylor, Craig Smith, Tian Ying, and Zenan Yu.<ref name="Schweitzer" /><ref name="QEC" /><ref name="Gantz" /><ref name="Eichler" /><ref name="Troyer" /><ref name="Colburn" /><ref name="Schemmer" /> He became a Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at the conservatory, where he also received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree in 2015, and taught as a guest at Harvard University and the Juilliard School in New York City.<ref name="Smith"/>
=== Author === Sherman's book of short essays on piano playing-related concerns, ''Piano Pieces'', was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1996. Among the observations in ''Piano Pieces'' is Sherman's comment, "Music dispels the fear of mortality and the need for rigid and permanent identities. Music rejects the nine-to-five schedule, the hunger for cash, the encroachments and limits of crass appetite."<ref name="Sherman" />
=== Personal life === Sherman was first married to Natasha Koval, a pianist from present-day Ukraine; they had two sons, and were divorced. In 1974, he married Korean-born pianist Wha Kyung Byun.<ref name="Smith" /> They sometimes celebrated their anniversary by performing together. Sherman was a baseball fan and a photographer interested in trees, light and shadow. He read science books, to think about challenging concepts.<ref name="Schweitzer" />
Sherman died at his home in Lexington, Massachusetts, on September 30, 2023, at the age of 93.<ref name="Smith" /><ref name="Schweitzer" /><ref name="Moran" />
== Recordings == Schuller, who had invited Sherman to teach in Boston, also made Sherman record for GM records, which Schuller founded. Sherman became the first American pianist to record all Beethoven's piano sonatas and piano concertos.<ref name="Schweitzer" /> He recorded an album entitled ''Russell Sherman: Premieres and Commissions'', music composed for him in the 1990s, by Schuller, Robert Helps, George Perle, and Ralph Shapey. He also recorded Bach's English Suites, all Mozart's piano sonatas, Chopin's mazurkas, and music by Claude Debussy and Arnold Schoenberg.<ref name="Schweitzer" />
He recorded many works by Franz Liszt, driven by a "lifelong battle to reconstitute Liszt as a serious composer". He recorded the ''Transcendental Études'' in 1974, and again in 1990, explaining in the liner notes: "The poetic idea is central, and the virtuoso elements become so many layers to orchestrate the poetic content".<ref name="Schweitzer" />
==References== <references>
<ref name="Dyer">{{cite news | last = Dyer | first = Richard | url = http://archive.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2004/05/02/recital_is_a_chance_to_listen_to_the_teacher/ | title = Recital is a chance to listen to the teacher: Piano instructor Wha Kyung Byun gives rare concert | date = May 2, 2004 | newspaper = The Boston Globe | access-date = July 31, 2009 }}</ref>
<ref name="Eichler">{{cite news | last = Eichler | first = Jeremy | title = Russell Sherman, luminous pianist and longtime New England Conservatory teacher, dies at 93 | url = https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/01/metro/russell-sherman-luminous-pianist-longtime-new-england-conservatory-teacher-dies-93/ | access-date = October 6, 2023 | work = The Boston Globe | date = October 1, 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Gantz">{{cite news | last = Gantz | first = Jeffrey | title = Supové's not-so-everyday piano performance | url = https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2014/02/10/kathleen-supove-not-everyday-everyday-things/xh4U2UvcP8WkqZ8MpdjLHM/story.html | access-date = October 6, 2023 | work = The Boston Globe | date = February 10, 2014 }}</ref>
<ref name="Moran">{{cite web | last = Moran | first = David | date = October 1, 2023 | url = https://www.classical-scene.com/2023/10/01/sherman-obit-1/ | title = Russell Sherman: 1930–2023 | website = The Boston Musical Intelligencer | language = en-US | access-date = October 2, 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Schemmer">{{cite news | last = Schemmer | first = Tony | title = Virtuosity from Wunderkinder | url = https://www.classical-scene.com/2011/07/24/virtuosity-from-wunderkinder/ | access-date = October 6, 2023 | work = The Boston Music Intelligencer | date = July 24, 2011}}</ref>
<ref name="Schweitzer">{{cite news | last = Schweitzer | first = Vivian | title = Russell Sherman, Poetic Interpreter at the Piano, Is Dead at 93 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/05/arts/music/russell-sherman-dead.html | access-date = October 6, 2023 | newspaper = The New York Times | date = October 5, 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Sherman">{{cite book | last = Sherman | first = Russell | title = Piano Pieces | publisher = Northpoint Press; Farrar, Straus and Giroux | date = 1996 | location = New York, New York | url = https://archive.org/details/pianopieces00sher | isbn = 0-374-23206-7 | url-access = registration }}</ref>
<ref name="Smith">{{cite news | last = Smith | first = Harrison | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/10/03/russell-sherman-pianist-dead/ | title = Russell Sherman, boldly expressive pianist, dies at 93 | date = May 7, 2004 | newspaper = The Washington Post | access-date = October 3, 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Troyer">{{cite news | last = Troyer | first = Kit | title = A Long Way From Louisiana | url = https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1989/3/3/a-long-way-from-louisiana-phugh/ | access-date = October 6, 2023 | work = The Harvard Crimson | date = March 3, 1989 }}</ref>
<ref name="Colburn">{{cite web | title = Rina Dokshitsky | url = https://www.colburnschool.edu/faculty-listing/rina-dokshitsky/ | publisher = Colburn School | access-date = October 6, 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="QEC">{{cite web | title = Semi-final 1999: Ning An : semi-finalist | url = https://queenelisabethcompetition.be/en/laureates/ning-an/2922/ | publisher = Queen Elizabeth Competition | access-date = October 6, 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="PCMS">{{cite web | title = Russell Sherman, piano – Philadelphia Chamber Music Artists | url = https://www.pcmsconcerts.org/artist/russell-sherman-piano/ | website = pcmsconcerts.org | access-date = October 5, 2023 }}</ref>
</references>
== External links == * [https://necmusic.edu/faculty/russell-sherman Russell Sherman's New England Conservatory faculty page] * {{discogs artist|Russell Sherman}} * [https://www.muziekweb.nl/en/Link/M00000272612/CLASSICAL/Russell-Sherman Recordings with Russell Sherman] Muziekweb * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WXGRRyw5rc David Dubal interview with Russell Sherman], WNCN-FM, November 11, 1984
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherman, Russell}} Category:1930 births Category:2023 deaths Category:20th-century American male musicians Category:20th-century American classical pianists Category:21st-century American classical pianists Category:American male classical pianists Category:American music educators Category:Jewish classical pianists Category:New England Conservatory faculty Category:Pupils of Eduard Steuermann Category:21st-century American male pianists