Stephen Drury (born April 13, 1955) is an American pianist, conductor and electronic musician. He is the music director of the contemporary music ensemble Callithumpian Consort and teaches at the New England Conservatory of Music. Much of Drury's career has been centered in the Boston area. The Boston Globe has referred to him as the "local new-music authority".
Early life Drury was born in Spokane, Washington in 1955. He was a student of Margaret Ott, Patricia Zander, and Claudio Arrau.
He graduated from Harvard University in 1976 and attended Juilliard School for one year where he was taught by William Masselos.
Career Drury served as the music director of the American Repertory Theater in the 1980s. Since 2018, he has been Professor of Piano Contemporary Classical Music at Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
He has performed and recorded a range of compositions by classical and contemporary composers including Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives, John Cage, Frederic Rzewski, Elliott Carter, and John Zorn.
His CD of Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! is considered by critics to be the definitive recording of that work. He performed with Frederic Rzewski at Carnegie Hall in 2008.
His CD of Zorn's Carny" (John Zorn, Angelus Novus, Tzadik 7028) is also considered by critics to be the definitive recording of that work.
Discography Youthful Rapture: Chamber Music of Percy Grainger - 1987 Eliott Carter: Night Fantasies; John Cage: Etudes Australes (Book 1) - 1991 Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated - 1994 John Cage: In a Landscape - 1994 Cage: The Piano Works I - 1995 John Cage: The Piano Concertos - 1997 Cage: The Piano Works, Vol. 3 - 1998 Faith, the Loss of Faith, and the Return of Faith - 1999 John Cage: The Orchestral Works 2 - 2000 Cage: The Works for Violin, Vol. 3 - 2000 John Cage: Atlas Eclipticalis with Winter Music - 2007 John Luther Adams: for Lou Harrison - 2007 Iannis Xenakis: Kraanerg - 2008 John Luther Adams: Four Thousand Holes - 2011 John Luther Adams: Songbirdsongs - 2012 Torrid Nature Scenes - 2013 Keyboards/Winds - Music of Louis Karchin - 2023
References
Further reading https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2013/07/31/pianist-stephen-drury-play-rzewski-people-united-monadnock/xPMKVxrWKO3RtBi9xyJizN/story.html https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/04/19/pianist-stephen-drury-celebrates-the-sonatas-of-charles-ives-in-mesmerizing-recital/ https://web.archive.org/web/20250125165508/https://www.sfcv.org/articles/review/150-years-after-his-birth-charles-ives-still-sounds-contemporary https://www.classical-scene.com/2014/01/18/drury-excursion/
External links
New England Conservatory Faculty Member profile