Stewart Goodyear (born February 1978) is a Canadian concert pianist and composer. He is best known for performing all 32

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

sonatas Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''canta ...

in a single day, a feat he has done at

Koerner Hall The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher (musician), Edward ...

(Toronto),

McCarter Theatre McCarter Theatre Center is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. The institution is currently led by Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg. ...

(Princeton), the

Mondavi Center The Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts venue located on the UC Davis campus in unincorporated Yolo County, California. It is named for arts patron and vineyard operator Robert Mondavi, who donated US$10 ...

(Davis, California), the

AT&T Performing Arts Center The AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, Texas, preliminarily referred to as the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, is a $354-million multi-venue center in the Dallas Arts District for performances of opera, musical theater, classic and exp ...

(Dallas), and

Memorial Hall A memorial hall is a hall built to commemorate an individual or group; most commonly those who have died in war. Most are intended for public use and are sometimes described as ''utilitarian memorials''. History of the Memorial Hall In the aft ...

(Cincinnati).

Early life and education

Goodyear was born and raised in Toronto to a Trinidadian mother and British father. He never knew his father, who died from cancer a month before Stewart was born. But Goodyear grew up with his father's LPs, which included

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

, and

and

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

symphonies. He has said that hearing Beethoven is what compelled him to be a classical artist. Goodyear was aware of the piano at age three and by four was playing by ear on a toy piano. After his family bought a full-size instrument, he took lessons and learned general music as a student at an all-boy Toronto choir school. Goodyear graduated from the Glenn Gould School at the

Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher (musician), Edward ...

in Toronto at age 15. There he studied with James Anagnoson, who later became dean of the school. Goodyear attended the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship. Hi ...

in Philadelphia where he studied with

Leon Fleisher Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...

Gary Graffman Gary Graffman (born October 14, 1928) is an American classical pianist, teacher and administrator. Early life Graffman was born in New York City to Russian-Jewish parents. Having started piano at age 3, Graffman entered the Curtis Institute of M ...

, and

Claude Frank Claude Frank (born Claus Johannes Frank; December 24, 1925 – December 27, 2014) was a German-born American pianist. Biography Of Jewish ancestry, Frank was born in Nuremberg, Germany. His father emigrated to Brussels after the advent of the ...

. He attended the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

in New York, where he studied with

Oxana Yablonskaya Oxana Yablonskaya (russian: Оксана Михайловна Яблонская; born December 6, 1938, Moscow) is a Russian pianist who has had an active international performance career since the early 1960s. She began her career in the USSR ...

and earned a master's in piano performance.

Career

Goodyear has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Bournemouth Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestra. He is a contemporary classical musician who improvises cadenzas when performing Classical concertos. Goodyear typically meditates for half an hour before performing. Other preconcert rituals include reading a pocket-sized biography of Beethoven and reviewing the cover of the Beatles’ album ''

With the Beatles ''With the Beatles'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the band's debut ''Please Please Me''. Produced by George Martin ...

'' before performing Gershwin. Goodyear has cited

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

as a particular influence, saying, "Bernstein is the classical musician of the 20th century I admire the most. He was inspired by all styles of music, and, just like Beethoven, he defied convention, created his own music, and communicated to audiences of all demographics." In 2020, Goodyear performed on the PBS television program ''Now Hear This'', where

Scott Yoo Scott Yoo (born April 25, 1971) is an American conducting, conductor and violinist. He was appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra in 2016. He hosts the PBS TV series ''Now Hear This''. Early li ...

hosted a one-hour segment on Mozart.

Compositions

*Solo (A Suite for Solo Violin) * Baby Shark Fugue * Callaloo Suite (for piano and orchestra) * Cello Concerto * Count Up (fanfare) * Dogged by Hell Hounds * Go Down Death * Piano Quartet * Sonata for Piano * Variations on Eleanor Rigby

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodyear, Stewart Canadian classical pianists Canadian composers 1978 births Living people