Christopher Oldfather, piano

Christopher Oldfather has devoted himself to the performance of contemporary music for over twenty years. He has participated in innumerable world premiere performances, featuring every possible combination of instruments, in cities all over America. He has been a member of Collage New Music since 1979 and New York City’s Parnassus since 1997.

He appears regularly in Chicago and has joined singers and instrumentalists of all kinds in recitals throughout the United States. In 1986 he presented his recital debut in Carnegie Recital Hall, which then closed immediately for renovations. Since then he has pursued a career as a freelance musician, which has taken him as far afield as Moscow and Tokyo and has seen him play virtually every sort of keyboard ever made, including the Chromelodeon.

He is widely known for his expertise on the harpsichord and is one of the leading interpreters of contemporary works for that instrument. As a soloist Mr. Oldfather has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the New World Symphony, and Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Germany. He has collaborated with the conductor Robert Craft and can be heard on several of his recordings. His recording of Elliott Carter’s violin-piano Duo with Robert Mann was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1990.