Susan Merdinger, Piano

Biography

".....Interpretation that showed intelligence and originality...freshness and spontaneity that enchanted the listener....An afternoon of brilliant piano playing.”     World Art and Craft Magazine

Susan Merdinger has been internationally acclaimed in prestigious newspapers and journals for her stunning performances. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung described her recital as a “daring, enormously joyous presentation which captured and transfixed the audience”. Fanfare Magazine ( March/April 2014) declared that her “Carnival” CD was “exquisitely detailed and full of life”, likening her playing to that of legendary pianists Leonard Bernstein, Annie Fischer and Nadia Reisenberg. Among her many honors, Merdinger is a First Prize Winner of the 2012 Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, and the 2013 International Music Competition of France, and is a Winner of the Dewar’s Young Artists Award in Music, the Artists International Young Musicians Competition, the Artists International Alumni Winners Prize, the IBLA Grand Prize Competition “Special Liszt Award”, and the Masterplayers International Music Competition.

Merdinger performs as a soloist, duo pianist, and as a chamber musician with principal members of the New York Philharmonic, the New Jersey Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and many other renowned musicians, including her own family, “The Five Greenes". In June 2013, Merdinger made a triumphant Chicago Orchestral Debut at Harris Theater with The Chicago Philharmonic under the direction of Sony Classical Artist Mattia Rondelli and will open the 2014-2015 Concert Season performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Highland Park Strings. 

Susan has been a frequent performer on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music Series with CSO Principal Violist/Violinist Charlie Pikler and the Tononi Ensemble and was a featured solo recitalist for the Chicago Latino Music Festival. Performing her sold-out solo recital debut in Carnegie Recital Hall at age twenty-five, Merdinger has continued to grace the stages of some of the world’s best concert halls including Merkin Concert Hall, Diligentia Hall in the Hague, Henry Wood Concert Hall in Scotland’s National Orchestra Center, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall, the Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago, and The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hall. Merdinger’s live performances and recordings have been broadcast on WQXR, WFMT, WDAV, CKWR (Canada), BRT-3 (Belgian National Radio), and BBC Television (United Kingdom). 

A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Merdinger has championed works by composers such as Morton Gould, Augusta Read Thomas, Ilya Levinson, Elbio Barilari, Aaron Copland, Leroy Anderson, and Aaron Jay Kernis. She has soloed under many distinguished conductors including Glenn Cortese, Sandra Dackow, Ari Rudiakov, Marvin von Deck, Francis Akos, Ron Arden and Barry Hoffman, with the Chicago Philharmonic, the Rockland Symphony, Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, Lake Forest Civic Orchestra, the Yonkers Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Orchestra of New Jersey, the Westchester Chamber Orchestra, the Northwest Chicago Symphony Orchestra and many others.Merdinger completed her formal education at Yale University, the Yale School of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, the Westchester Conservatory of Music, the Ecole Normale de Musique in Fontainebleau, France, and the Chautauqua and Norfolk Music Festivals. Merdinger inherited the great European traditions from her teachers who included such luminaries as Constance Keene, Claude Frank, Ward Davenny, Ozan Marsh, Seymour Lipkin, Elizabeth Parisot, and Gaby Casadesus. A highly regarded music educator, Ms. Merdinger is currently on the faculties of the Summit Music Festival in New York, Burgos International Music Festival in Spain, and the Fine Arts Music Society Festival in Indiana, and is the Artistic Director and Founder of Sheridan Music Studio.

April 2014

www.susanmerdinger.com   www.youtube.com/user/susanmerdinger www.pianista.org