Russell Sherman

Russell Sherman earned recognition as a pianist deeply engaged with Beethoven, Liszt, and a range of modern composers, while also establishing himself as a significant teacher, writer, and photographer. Born March 24, 1930, in New York, he grew up in a household supported by his father’s successful raincoat manufacturing business; the family resided in a hotel frequented by opera singers Lily Pons and Lauritz Melchior along with pianist Clifford Curzon. He began piano instruction at age six and commenced lessons with Edward Steuermann five years later. At fifteen he made his first public appearance at Town Hall, performing with the New York Philharmonic led by Leonard Bernstein. Sherman completed a humanities degree at Columbia University in 1949.

From 1959 onward he withdrew from concert appearances for more than ten years yet maintained an active teaching career, holding positions at Pomona College from 1959 to 1962, at the University of Arizona from 1962 to 1967, and thereafter at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he remained on the faculty for over five decades. Among his students were Marc-André Hamelin, Randall Hodgkinson, and Wha Kyung Byun, who later became his second wife; he also served on visiting faculties at Harvard University and the Juilliard School. Sherman resumed recital work in the 1970s and issued a recording of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes in 1974. His first digital release appeared on the Pro Arte label in 1984 and featured Beethoven sonatas; he was widely regarded as the first American pianist to commit the entire cycle of those sonatas to disc, an undertaking issued by GM Recordings, the label operated by his New England Conservatory colleague Gunther Schuller.

Throughout his career Sherman advocated for Liszt’s music and regularly programmed contemporary scores by Schuller, George Perle, and Ralph Shapey, as well as works by Debussy and Schoenberg. He appeared in solo recitals across the United States, Europe, and South America and performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, among numerous other ensembles. In addition, he authored the essay collection Piano Pieces concerning keyboard interpretation and pursued interests in photography, scientific writing, and baseball. Remaining professionally active well into his later years, Sherman released an album of Chopin Mazurkas in 2012. He died in Lexington, Massachusetts, on September 30, 2023.