Matthew Bengtson

Critically acclaimed as a "musician's pianist," Matthew Bengtson has a unique combination of musical talents ranging from extraordinary pianist, to composer, analyst, and scholar of performance practice, and thus is in demand as both soloist and collaborator. An advocate of both contemporary and rarely performed music, he offers an unusually diverse repertoire, ranging from Byrd to Ligeti and numerous contemporary composers.

Bengtson is among the leading interpreters of the music of Alexander Scriabin, both as a pianist and as a co-author of The Alexander Scriabin Companion. On his recordings of the complete Piano Sonatas, the American Record Guide writes: "Big-boned pianism, rich tonal colors, and dazzling technique are on display here. Has Scriabin ever been played better?" Fanfare magazine calls him "a Scriabinist for the 21st century... upon whom future generations can rely for definitive interpretations." He marked the 100th anniversary of the composer's death with numerous all-Scriabin recitals, including performances of the complete sonatas in Philadelphia and Chicago, a live radio broadcast on Pittsburgh Foundation Performance in Pittsburgh, and a multi-sensory festival "Scriabin in the Himalayas" in Ladakh, India intended as a source for a documentary film.

Also known as a thoughtful writer on music, he was awarded a Stefan and Wanda Wilk Prize for Research in Polish Music for his paper "'The "Szymanowski Clash': Methods of Harmonic Analysis in the Szymanowski Mazurkas."