Kerrilyn Renshaw

Pre-College
  • Chamber Music
kerrilyn-renshaw-headshot

Contact

Departments

Pre-College

Education

Bachelor of Music, major in Piano Performance: University of Redlands

Master of Music, major in Piano Performance: San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Ensembles

San Francisco Symphony (1979 to 2010)

Holland Renshaw Piano Duo (1982 to 1992)

Awards

Prizewinner Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition; First Prize Santa Barbara Symphony Concerto Competition; Member of the acclaimed Holland Renshaw Piano Duo for 10 seasons

Q&A

What is your hometown?

Santa Maria, California

What is your favorite recording?

Pianist Alicia de Larrocha playing Ravel Piano Concerto in G major. Reason: my favorite pianist (a lifelong of inspiration from this Great Lady of keyboard) and my favorite piano concerto - the one that made me fall in love with Ravel's music AND my first concerto performed with orchestra.

What are you passionate about outside of music?

Hanging out with family, hiking, gardening, reading, cooking, traveling

Who were your major teachers? (List three or fewer.)

Mack McCray, Aube Tzerko, Louanne Long

What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue music as a career?

In the same month I won my first Statewide competition and received a full scholarship to the college of my choice as a piano major

What was a turning point in your career?

Studying and performing under composer/conductor John Adams, and playing in the San Francisco Symphony

If you weren't a musician or teacher, what do you think you would be doing now?

A psychologist or a linguist - I have really enjoyed the study of languages relating to my work as an opera and vocal coach.

If you could play only three composers for the rest of your life, who would they be?

Bach, Beethoven (or Mozart) and Ravel, (or Brahms).

From a music history perspective, what year and city are most important to you?

1) My OWN Music History: San Francisco 1978. It's the year my husband and I moved to San Francisco - the city where I have continued to live, perform, develop an an artist, and teach throughout my life.

2) Music History in a bigger sense: Salzburg, Austria, 2023. I visited this magical and breathtakingly beautiful city this summer for the first time. SO inspiring to be in the birthplace and early childhood home of Mozart. even the airport is named after Mozart!

What do you think makes a concert experience unique?

Multi Arts presentations. There is a great deal of creative collaborative art presentation today in the world - music with fantastic videography indoors and outdoors; exhibitions at museums combining dance, music, sculpture and visualization; staged and light interactive music shows including opera and symphonic story based works

Please list your most important collaborations. (Three only.)

Performing in the San Francisco Symphony; accompanying singers in masterclasses given by the world's great vocal artists including Luciano Pavarotti; performing in the West Coast Premiere of Steve Reich's stunning "Octet"conducted by composer John Adams

What recordings can we hear you on? (Please list five or fewer and specify record label.)

1) Reverie: CD of solo piano works performed Kerrilyn Renshaw, St. Emydius Productions

2) A Day at the Beach: CD of solo piano classics, Sugo Records

3) Single piano selections Debussy's "Clair de lune" and Satie's "Gymnopedie 1 & 3" sponsored by Sugo Music Group on Spotify, Itunes, Pandora, Amazon Music Unlimited, and YouTube

Biography

Pianist Kerrilyn Renshaw has been on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as collegiate vocal coach for 8 years, with Summer Music West for 20 years as musicianship instructor, chamber music coach and Piano Ensembles Coordinator, and currently as Pre College Division chamber music coach.



Ms. Renshaw has been a member of the Francisco Symphony as Orchestra Pianist including as soloist in Stravinsky’s “Petrouchka”. She also served as SF Symphony Chorus Accompanist and San Francisco Opera staff pianist. Kerrilyn performed in recital at Carnegie Hall as a collaborative pianist; she has performed with San Francisco Symphony members, San Francisco Opera soloists and with Menuhin International Violin Competition First Prize winner Kenneth Renshaw. Ms. Renshaw concertized extensively with the Holland Renshaw Piano Duo and was a featured soloist in recitals with World Explorer Cruises. Bay Area recital appearances include Old First Concerts, Performances at Six (San Francisco Performances) and SFCM Faculty recitals.



As concerto soloist Ms. Renshaw performed with the Santa Barbara Symphony, the Redlands Symphony, the Prometheus Orchestra and the Palo Alto Symphony. Her recording with Sugo Records has been released on CD, ITunes and Spotify.



Ms. Renshaw was a music faculty member and director of Piano Partners summer program at The Crowden School. Ms. Renshaw teaches piano, voice and music theory at her studio in San Francisco.