Winifred Byrd was an American concert pianist and educator.

Education

Byrd attended Willamette University

Willamette University

Willamette University is an American private institution of higher learning located in Salem, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest university in the Western United States. Willamette is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges, and is made up of an undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and...

 and graduated from New England Conservatory (NEC) in 1905. While studying at NEC she won the Spaulding scholarship. Byrd taught for a time at NEC shortly after her graduation.

Byrd studied in Boston with "Madame Hopekirk," Carl Baermann, and Theresa Carreño and eventually taught music at Olivet College

Olivet College

Olivet College is a coeducational, liberal arts college located in Olivet, Michigan, United States, south of Lansing and west of Detroit. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and accredited by the North Central...

 in Olivet, Michigan

Olivet, Michigan

Olivet is a city in Eaton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,758 at the 2000 census. Olivet College is located there.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.-Demographics:...

.

Performances

Winifred Byrd made her New York debut on February 27, 1918 and went on to perform in Chicago, Boston, Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco. Impresario

Impresario

An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...

 Aaron Richmond

Aaron Richmond

Aaron Richmond was an American performing arts manager, pianist, impresario, and educator, based in Boston, Massachusetts, who managed the careers of numerous classical musicians and founded Celebrity Series of Boston, a performing arts presenting organization that still operates today.-Early...

 presented Byrd in Boston in 1925, billing her as "America's Pianist."

James Huneker

James Huneker

James Gibbons Huneker was an American music writer and critic.Huneker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied piano in Europe under Leopold Doutreleau and audited the Paris piano class of Frédéric Chopin's pupil Georges Mathias. He came to New York City in 1885 and remained there...

, reviewing a Byrd recital for the New York Times on November 4, 1918 wrote, "She blazes with temperament. She has the energy of a demon..." Hunecker also noted Byrd's, "Buster Brown coiffure ...".

Recordings

Byrd made at least two Duo-Art

Duo-Art

Duo-Art was one of the leading reproducing piano technologies of the early 20th century, the others being American Piano Company , introduced in 1913 too, and Welte-Mignon in 1905. These technologies flourished at that time because of the poor quality of the early Phonograph...

reproducing piano rolls, Franz Liszt's Dance of the Gnomes, from Concert Etudes No. 2, and Chopin's Preludes, Opus 28, No. 1 in C major and No. 23 in F major, for the Aeolian American Corporation.

Further reading

• Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon, "Your Salem Family Album," October 26, 1990