Jackson Berkey
| Jackson Berkey | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 24, 1942 Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Genres | Classical, synthetic pop |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, pianist, singer |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1969-present |
| Labels | American Gramophone, SDG Press |
| Associated acts | Mannheim Steamroller |
| Website | www |
Jackson Berkey is an American composer, pianist and singer, best known for his work with Mannheim Steamroller, which he co-founded with Chip Davis in 1974.
Jackson Berkey was born May 24, 1942 in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He began playing the piano at age 5. His mother learned to play the piano by ear, but insisted that Jackson receive the training she had not. As a result, he was quite an accomplished pianist by the time he entered high school. He received a scholarship from the Huntingdon Music Club to attend the Chautauqua Music Festival in western New York state where he displayed his very serious demeanor as a musician. While his fellow students were enjoying the great outdoors that the area provided, Berkey was daily attending orchestra rehearsals of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.
After graduating from high school in 1960, Berkey briefly attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Unfortunately, because scholarships did not adequately cover all expenses, he dropped out of school and got a job as a programming director and announcer at the classical music station, WBBF-FM in Rochester. He kept up with his piano skills by keeping a keyboard in the announcer's booth with him while working at the radio station. Weekly calls to schedule somewhat irregular sessions with his teacher at Eastman, Orazio Frugoni, allowed the continuation of Berkey's piano study and development as a musician.
Berkey eventually returned to college studies, but this time at Wilkes College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania where he earned a bachelor's degree in piano performance. At the urging of a friend, he auditioned for the Juilliard School of Music, and was accepted into their graduate program. He received a master's degree in piano performance from Juilliard in 1968 after several years of study with the accomplished Russian pianist and American pedagogue, Josef Raieff. Berkey's studies were greatly enriched during this time of study with Raieff, who himself studied with Leshetitsky (a pupil of Franz Liszt) and Artur Schnabel (whose lineage can be traced back to Beethoven).
Berkey was able to pull together enough money to make his professional debut at the Town Hall in New York City in 1969, about which Allen Hughes of the New York Times had this to say: “Mr. Berkey is an accomplished performer and more often than not a persuasive one. His interpretation of the Beethoven Sonata in D major, Op. 10, No. 3 was expertly and sensitively shaped.”
...
Wikipedia