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The American pianist Spencer Myer reemerged in 2017 with a fine, sympathetic release on the Steinway & Sons label of piano rags by William Bolcom, and his association with the venerable piano maker seemed to promise exciting new developments in his career. Myer was born in Cleveland and grew up in the suburb of North Ridgeville, Ohio. He attended the nearby Oberlin Conservatory, studying with Peter Takács and graduating in 2000. He went on to earn a master’s degree at the Juilliard School in New York and a doctorate at the State University of Stony Brook in June of 2005. By that time he was already making a mark in national and international competitions, the first of which was the UNISA International Piano Competition in South Africa in 2004; there he won first prize. The following year he placed fourth in the Cleveland International Piano Competition, an important event where performances come with heavy exposure to influential critics and conductors. Among Myer’s other prizes is a gold medal at the New Orleans International Piano Competition in 2008. He has also been active as an accompanist and earned an honor in that field as early as 2000 with a win at the Marilyn Horne Foundation International Competition. Myer has toured nationally in the U.S. and internationally, including concerto and recital tours in South Africa in 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2015. He released a single album, Preludes and Variations, on Harmonia Mundi in 2007. Several more online releases followed. His association with the Steinway orbit began in 2012 with an acclaimed recital at San Jose, California’s Trianon Theatre, presented by the Steinway Society of the Bay Area. Myer has been unusually versatile; his program at that recital consisted of top-flight virtuoso repertory by Liszt and Albéniz, but his Bolcom recording for Steinway was in an entirely different vein. Myer has been noted for breaking down the wall between performer and audience by announcing and discussing his program from the stage. He is a member of the piano faculty at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. ~ James Manheim