Winifred Byrd

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Winifred Byrd (b. May 24, 1884, Salem, Oregon - d. April 3, 1970, Los Angeles, California) [1] was a concert pianist and educator.

Contents

[edit] Education

Byrd attended Willamette University and graduated from New England Conservatory (NEC) in 1905. While studying at NEC she won the Spaulding scholarship.[2] Byrd taught for a time at NEC shortly after her graduation.[3]

Byrd studied in Boston with "Madame Hopekirk," Carl Baermann, and Theresa Carreño and eventually taught music at Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan.[4]

[edit] Performances

Winifred Byrd made her New York debut on February 27, 1918 and went on to perform in Chicago, Boston, Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco.[5] Impresario Aaron Richmond presented Byrd in Boston in 1925, billing her as "America's Pianist."

James Gibbons Huneker, reviewing a Byrd recital for the New York Times on November 4, 1918 wrote, "She blazes with temperament. She has the energy of a demon..." Hunecker also noted Byrd's, "Buster Brown coiffure ..."[6]

[edit] Recordings

Byrd made at least two Duo-Art reproducing piano rolls, Franz Liszt's Dance of the Gnomes, from Concert Etudes No. 2, and Chopin's Preludes, Opus 28, No. 1 in C Major and No. 23 in F major, for the Aeolian American Corporation.[7]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Salem Pioneer Cemetery web site [1], sources: Oregon Health Division Vital Records and Oregon State Archives
  2. ^ The History of Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity (1885-1916), by Mabel Harriet Siller, Florence Arzelia, George Banta Publishing, 1917
  3. ^ The History of Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity (1885-1916), by Mabel Harriet Siller, Florence Arzelia, George Banta Publishing, 1911
  4. ^ The History of Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity (1885-1916), by Mabel Harriet Siller, Florence Arzelia, George Banta Publishing, 1917
  5. ^ Al Jones, "Winifred Byrd: America's Wonder Pianist," Historic Marion, Volume XV
  6. ^ The New York Times, review "Recitals of a Day," by James Gibbons Huneker, November 5]], 1918
  7. ^ Catalog of Music-rolls for the Duo-Art Reproducing Piano, By Aeolian American Corporation, 1924

[edit] Further Reading

Stateman Journal, Salem, Oregon, "Your Salem Family Album," October 26, 1990