David Witten
Taubman and PianoBiographical Info
Pianist DAVID WITTEN has been described as a pianist “with that rare, elusive quality that charms and fascinates the listener.” (Redondel, Milan, Italy) Witten’s international career has included numerous concert tours in Ireland, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Mexico, South America, China, and Taiwan. As the recipient of two Fulbright Scholar awards, Witten spent time teaching and concertizing throughout Brazil, and he is frequently invited back to give concerts and masterclasses.
Closer to home, Witten’s performances have included solo appearances with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and various chamber music collaborations with the Shanghai String Quartet, and also with members of the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Witten has also been active in contemporary music. He has recorded Piano Music of Nicholas Van Slyck for Titanic Records, and has commissioned over a dozen new works for Soli Espri, a chamber trio he founded in Boston with clarinetist Chester Brezniak and mezzo-soprano D’Anna Fortunato. With flutist Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin, Witten formed Dúo Clásico; their recording, Flute and Piano Music of Latin America, was issued on the Musical Heritage Society label. Marco Polo Records released Witten’s solo recording, Piano Music of Manuel M. Ponce. His later recordings, Piano Music of Nikolai Tcherepnin, and Songs of Nikolai Tcherepnin with soprano Elena Mindlina, were issued on the Toccata Classics label. Witten subsequently recorded The Eclectic Piano Music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco for Albany Records. His latest recording, issued in 2022 on Toccata Next, was Three Generations: Chamber Music of Ivan, Alexander, and Nikolai Tcherepnin.
Witten’s involvement in music has not been limited to performance. He was the editor of Nineteenth-Century Piano Music: Essays in Performance and Analysis (Garland Publishing, 1997), which includes his landmark analytical study of the Chopin Ballades.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Witten received his early training at the Peabody Conservatory, and at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. His undergraduate studies at the Johns Hopkins University led to a degree in Psychology. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree in piano performance from SUNY at Buffalo. Later graduating with high honors from Boston University, he earned the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance. His most influential teachers have been Tinka Knopf, Benjamin Oren, Reynaldo Reyes, Walter Hautzig, Leo Smit, Anthony di Bonaventura, and Dorothy Taubman. After twenty years as an active recitalist, chamber music pianist, and teacher in the Boston area, Witten accepted a position at the Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, New Jersey, where he is currently Coordinator of Keyboard Studies. Together with Professor Sondra Tammam, Witten is Co-Director of the Dorothy Taubman Piano Festival, held every June at Montclair State University.
As an enthusiastic photographer, Professor Witten has won top prizes in several international photography competitions. He has had solo photography exhibitions in Budapest and Milan, and his photographs can be seen through http://www.davidwitten.com.