2020
Cynthia Shaw
The free-spirited piano teacher who always drinks a glass of red wine with a straw
Actor|Singer|Pianist
Musical Theatre & Classical Soprano
Harold Arlen - "Sleepin' Bee" with David Shenton on piano
Maury Yeltsen - "I Don't Wanna Rock and Roll" with David Shenton on piano
Henry Purcell - "If Music Be the Food of Love" with David Shenton on Piano
CPE Bach - "Aria" with the Microtonal Orchestra, Johnny Reinhard, conductor
Classical Pianist
I have played the piano and sung all of my life starting in the Cherub Choir at my Colorado Methodist church. The highlight of those early years was singing a duet with my sister of Septimus Winner's 1848 hymn, "Whispering Hope," which my grandmother had taught us. In high school I sang with and accompanied on piano both the concert choir as well as the touring madrigal group. We went to England after my senior year. I contined accompanying singers and choirs in undergraduate school and played the cello in orchestra. From grade school through college I accompanied my flute-playing sister on the piano, and at one time we had performed all of the classical flute repertoire. I have a Master's degree in piano performance from The Manhattan School of Music (M.M.) and a Bachelor's degree in piano performance from The University of Denver (B.M.) where I was on full scholarship.
Playing Bach & Brahms
Music Director
I've music directed over 30 musicals off-Broadway and regional theatres in New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Indiana and Pennsylvania.
New York Christmas Revels
As the musical director of the fully-staged New York Christmas Revels for fifteen years, I performed on stage as well as led the adults' and children's choruses and oversaw guest instrumentalists and singers. Each year we highlighted a particular culture and so I taught songs in different languages from Norwegian to Irish to Russian and other Slavic languages. Our performances were at New York City's Symphony Space and one Christmas we had the honor of being invited to sing Victorian songs and accompany The Greenwhich Morris Men on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion at Town Hall and on National Public Radio.
English and Contra Dance Pianist
I am a regular English Country Dance and contra dance pianist at Country Dance*New York, Long Island Traditional and Music and Dance Association and Princeton Country Dancers. I've been on staff as pianist, singer and theatre writer/director at Country Dance and Song Society's Pinewoods Early Music and American Dance Weeks. This photo is from an English dance weekend in Malle, Belgium, where I was hired as the featured dance pianist.
Wa is Me, What Mun I Do? - English Country Dance Tune with Gene Murrow and Naomi Morse
Hole in the Wall - English Country Dance Tune with Gene Murrow and Naomi Morse
Jewish Music Pianist
I have played for synagogue high holidays and regular services, choir rehearsals and concerts at New York's Temple Israel, Temple Emanuel, Park Avenue Synagogue and The Town and Village Synagogue. I was the accompanist for The New Jersey Cantors' Ensemble for over 15 years and toured extensively with that choir and individual cantors.
Professional Choral Singer
I have had the pleasure of singing with Sir Paul McCartney at Carnegie Hall when he premiered his choral work, Standing Stone, and with Björk when she debuted new material at private concerts at The Riverside Church. The highlight of my singing was years with New York Choral Artists when they sang with The New York Philharmonic under conductors such as Kurt Masur and Loren Maazel and with Leon Botstein of the American Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of those concerts include John Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls, which won three 2005 Grammy Awards in Classical Music. I was also an octet soloist with The New York Philharmonic in Kaija Saariaho's Château de l'âme and sang with The Douglas Frank Choral whose only recording was of the classic madrigal songbook, The A Cappella Singer. That recording was named "Best Classical Album of 2001" and a song from it was featured in the Irish film, A Long Way from Home. As a church choral singer I sang with Owen Burdick at Trinity Church-Wall Street and with Dr. David Hurd at both All Saints' Church, The Church of the Holy Apostles and St. Mary the Virgin.