Pianist Biography
Lauded for his “considerable keyboard skills” (newmusicbuff.com) and his “really awesome” playing (WRSU New Brunswick), Keane Southard (b. 1987) is dedicated to the performance of unknown/under-performed piano works that deserve to be more well known, and past recitals have included works of Ives, Finzi, Rzewski, Pann, Guarnieri, and Foulds. Also a composer, he has premiered several of his own works as well as those of his colleagues. Keane's recitals are organized into intriguing programs each tied together by a theme. By combining the performance of little-known musical gems with insights, personal connections, and stories about the music and their composers, he creates an informal concert experience where everyone is invited to explore music they've never heard before. As both a composer and pianist, he brings a unique perspective to both the act of creating and performing a musical work.
He has given solo performances at Bennington College, Peru State College, the Boston Public Library, the Bowdoin Music Festival, the Aspen Composers Conference, the TUTTI New Music Festival at Denison University, the Exchange of Midwestern Collegiate Composers at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Society of Composers Region V Conference at Augustana College, the College Music Society Rocky Mountain Chapter Conference, and the Pendulum New Music Series at the University of Colorado-Boulder. In November 2015, he performed as soloist in his own Concertino for Piano and Wind Ensemble which was commissioned by the Northeastern State University Wind Ensemble, and in November 2012, he performed as soloist in his own “Classical” Concerto which was commissioned by the Sounds of Stow Chorus and Orchestra. Keane has served as the keyboardist for OSSIA New Music, Eastman Graduate Composers’ Sinfonietta, the University of Colorado Orchestra, the University of Colorado Wind Symphony, the Colorado Wind Ensemble, the Baldwin-Wallace College Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the l(a Contemporary Ensemble. His piano teachers include Barbara Jones and Robert Mayerovitch. In 2013, Keane spent the year in Brazil as a Fulbright scholar doing research on music education.
Photo by Gerry Szymanski