ROBERT SILVERMAN

Artist’s website

For over six decades, Robert Silverman has performed in concert halls throughout North America, Europe, the Far East and Australia. Under the batons of renowned conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, John Eliot Gardiner, and the late Kiril Kondrashin, he has appeared with orchestras worldwide, including the Chicago Symphony, the Sydney Symphony, the BBC (London) Symphony, the St. Petersburg (Russia) Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as every major orchestra in Canada. Robert Silverman’s comprehensive discography ranks among the largest of any Canadian in history. His album of late Chopin works (on Isomike) was named the Best Recording of the Month by Stereophile Magazine. His recording of Liszt’s piano music received a Grand Prix du Disque from the Liszt Society of Budapest, while his widely-acclaimed 10-CD recording of the thirty-two Beethoven sonatas was short-listed for a Juno Award. Isomike has also released his integral recording of the Mozart sonatas. His extensive discography also includes recordings of works by Michael Conway Baker, Brahms, Copland, Jean Coulthard, César Franck, Rachmaninoff, and Harry Somers, among many others.

During the Covid pandemic, he devoted himself almost exclusively to a study of the entire first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier of Johann Sebastian Bach. Since then he has performed all 48 Preludes and Fugues numerous times across Canada, and has recorded it on the Steinway label. His first book — Bach’s Sonic Tapestry: The 1722 Well-Tempered Clavier — has been published by Friesen Press and is available worldwide from the usual online booksellers. His extensive writings include book reviews and program notes for many of his other recordings.

In 2013 he was appointed to the Order of Canada, a high civilian honour accorded to about 150 Canadians annually. Earlier, Robert Silverman was the first winner of the Ontario Arts Council Award for Keyboard Artistry.

Robert Silverman was a faculty member at the University of British Columbia for thirty years. Following a 5-year term as Director of the School of Music, UBC awarded him an honorary Doctor of Letters. A long-standing Steinway artist, he is frequently heard on the CBC and has recorded for EMI, Stereophile, Marquis Classics, OrpheumMasters, and Isomike.

For his first appearance under the auspices of The Vancouver Chopin Society, he will present a lecture recital on Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Op. 16. A deep musical thinker, Robert Silverman will no doubt shed new light as well as share many new musical insights into one of the 19th century’s most astoundingly original piano works.