Biography
Stephen Eckert is a pianist and new music advocate (and occasional composer/sound artist) from Newfoundland, Canada, now based in Bowling Green, Ohio. As a soloist and chamber musician, their programming engages aesthetic and aural lineages between the canon and 21st century works to incite public music appreciation. Dedicated to new music and experimental sound, Stephen has premiered dozens of new and original works in VERSFest, the Newfound Music Festival, the Orford Contemporary Workshop, soundSCAPE Festival, and with Ensemble Allure, a contemporary music ensemble they co-founded with composer H.P. McGowan in 2020, which recently released its debut album, Dual.
Appearing at venues such as the Ottawa Art Gallery for Pique: Winter Edition 2021, National Arts Centre of Canada’s 4th Stage, NUNC!5, the MACCM New Music Festival, Sound Symposium, CMS Great-Lakes Conference, the Wintertide Festival, the Gros Morne Summer Music Festival, and the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival, Mx. Eckert has established themselves as an emerging voice in the North American contemporary art music community. Other performance honours include first prizes in the Nicole Senécal Emerging Artist Prize, the BGSU Concerto Competition, the Douglas Wayland Chamber Music competition, and the Marjorie Conrad Art Song competition. Stephen graduated summa cum laude, receiving Memorial University’s Medal for Academic Excellence in Music and was named on CBC’s “Hot 30-under-30 classical musicians” in 2022. Mx. Eckert made their concerto debut in 2023, performing Witold Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto with the BGSU Philharmonia, conducted by Dr. Emily Brown.
Stephen holds a Graduate Diploma and MMus in Piano Performance from the University of Ottawa where they studied with David Jalbert and Leopoldo Erice, and a BMus (Hons) in Piano Performance and Composition from Memorial University of Newfoundland where they studied with Dr. Kristina Szutor and Dr. Andrew Staniland. Currently, they are pursuing a DMA in Contemporary Music Performance at Bowling Green State University under the mentorship of Dr. Solungga Liu.
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