Byron Schenkman (born 1966)^[1] is an American harpsichordist, pianist, music director, and educator. Schenkman has recorded over 40 CDs and has won several awards and accolades.^[2][3] He co-founded the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and was its artistic director.^[4][5] Schenkman currently directs a baroque and classical chamber music concert series, Sound Salon,^[6] formerly Byron Schenkman & Friends,^[7][8] and performs as a recitalist and concert soloist.^[9][10] He also performs with chamber music ensembles, and is a teacher and lecturer.^[3][7]

Schenkman grew up in a musical family^[5] on a farm in Lafayette, Indiana. He graduated from the New England Conservatory, where he was a student of John Gibbons.^[11] He studied with Elisabeth Wright and Edward Auer at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and earned a Master of Music degree with Honors in Performance.^[11] In 1990 he earned a Performer's Certificate in Harpsichord from Indiana University School of Music. In 1991 Schenkman was a finalist in the Cambridge Society for Early Music's International Mozart Competition.^[2]

At first Schenkman played harpsichord and fortepiano.^[9][12] He has recorded dozens of albums, and has made solo and concerto appearances in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.^[2][13][14] In 1999 he won the Cambridge Society for Early Music's Erwin Bodky Award, given "for outstanding achievement in the field of early music".^[3][11] In 2003 Schenkman's recording with Musica Pacifica, Telemann: Chamber Cantatas & Trio Sonatas, won the Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award.^[15][16] In 2004 Schenkman was awarded a Partners of the Americas travel grant which enabled him to perform and teach in Chile.^[17] In 2006 Schenkman was voted "Best Classical Instrumentalist" by the readers of the Seattle Weekly newspaper.^[18][19] In 2007 he was featured in the Seattle Magazine Music Portfolio of Seattle's Defining Musicians as a Key Player saying that "He makes 300-year-old music sound fresh."^[20]

Schenkman has worked with baroque violinist Ingrid Matthews.^[21][22] In 1994 they co-founded Seattle Baroque Orchestra, where Schenkman was artistic director from 1994 through 2004, and co-director from 2010 to 2013.^[5] In 2014 Schenkman and Matthews received the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Entrepreneur of the Month award.^[23] He also performs with various chamber ensembles and tours internationally with his contemporaries.^[5][24] He performs as a guest artist with chamber music ensembles in North America.^[3][25] His live performances at the Boston Early Music Festival have been compared with those of Vladimir Horowitz and Jimi Hendrix.^[8][11] He was reviewed in The Boston Globe as "a superb and imaginative instrumentalist".^[11][19][26]

Schenkman gave his first recital on modern piano at Town Hall, Seattle, in 2001, and has since been active performing and recording on modern piano and harpsichord.^[27][28] His New York recital debut playing modern piano was in 2009.^[29][30][31] Schenkman's playing has been described as "dazzling" in American Record Guide,^[32] and listed in the Chicago Tribune as a favorite recording of 2000, for "stylish, invigorating performances".^[33] He released The Art of the Harpsichord in 2017 to critical acclaim, featuring eight different historical harpsichords from the National Music Museum.^[34][35]

In 2013, Schenkman formed Byron Schenkman & Friends.

In 2017 Schenkman created a new recording label named Byron Schenkman & Friends. In 2018 the recording label name was changed to BS&F Recordings.^[36]

On March 26, 2023, Schenkman performed the world premiere of a concerto for harpsichord and strings composed by Caroline Shaw on a commission to mark the 10th season of Byron Schenkman & Friends.^[37]

In 2023 Byron Schenkman & Friends was rebranded as Sound Salon.^[38]

Schenkman teaches music history at Seattle University, where he is a member of the Fine Arts Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences.^[39] He was a member of the Early Music Faculty at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where he taught harpsichord, piano, and music history from 2005 to 2017.^[40] In 2012 Schenkman was visiting instructor of fortepiano and harpsichord at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Schenkman gives master classes on 18th-century performance, informal lecture-recitals, and pre-concert talks.^[41] He also teaches harpsichord master classes, serves artistic residencies, and teaches music history at music festivals and universities.^[23] Schenkman is a frequent guest on radio station 98.1, Classical KING-FM.^[42]

His principal harpsichord was built by Craig Tomlinson in 2013.^[43][44]