Academic Background

BMus (WLU), MMus, DMA (SUNY Stony Brook): Harpsichord

Biography

Cynthia Hiebert has performed both traditional and contemporary harpsichord works in Canada, the United States and England. She studied with Colin Tilney and Arthur Haas, and as a recipient of the Gelber Fellowship, completed a doctorate in harpsichord performance at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In addition to work as a soloist, she has collaborated with numerous ensembles including New York Baroque, North Shore Pro Musica, I Furiosi, Spiritus, Numus, the York Symphony Orchestra, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and the Nota Bene Period Orchestra. Recent solo projects include a performance of Gyorgy Ligeti’s Hungarian Rock for the David Earle Dance Company and Numus, and a recording of Peter Hatch’s ‘In a Vernacular Way' ,released in 2003 on the Artifact label and voted best Contemporary/Experimental Classical CD release performance on CBC Radio’s Discdrive for that year. This past year also marked her performance of Bach’s Concerto in D minor for harpsichord (BWV 1052) with the Nota Bene Period Orchestra. In July 2004 she performed (with pianist Boyd McDonald and singer Theodore Baerg) for the Ontario Registered Music Teacher’s Association and at the same convention gave a well-received lecture recital entitled The French Connection: Unmeasured Preludes and their influence on keyboard. Now teaching harpsichord at her alma mater, Wilfrid Laurier University, and piano at the Beckett School of the Arts, she resides in Waterloo and enjoys giving masterclasses which introduce pianists to their ancestral keyboard. She also performs regularly as a soloist and with the Nota Bene Period Orchestra in Waterloo and the New York ensemble North Shore Pro Musica.