Michael Shapiro has worked in many musical and business pursuits including as a composer, an accompanist to opera and Broadway singers, an administrator of his own artistic productions, and a lecturer and writer on musical and cultural history. In leading an orchestra, he enjoys a composer's knowledge of the score with a zest for creative programming and audience development. Michael Shapiro has utilized these varied talents and experiences in the rebirth of The Chappaqua Orchestra as its current Music Director and Conductor (see www.chappaquaorchestra.org).
Michael Shapiro's background in music has given him unique preparation for a career as a conductor. Trained in conducting by Carl Bamberger at The Mannes School and more recently with Harold Farberman at Bard College, Michael Shapiro also studied solfege and score reading at The Juilliard School with Renee Longy. He was also the winner of various piano competitions during his youth and continues performing as an accompanist to singers and as a chamber music pianist. In a recent celebration of the 75th birthday of WQXR radio personality, Robert Sherman, Michael Shapiro conducted the first performance of a new version of John Corigliano's The Red Violin Suite with narration with the composer in attendance. Michael Shapiro has also collaborated with such artists as Teresa Stratas, Jose Ferrer, Janos Starker, Sergiu Comissiona, Eugene Drucker, Kim Cattrall, Timothy Fain, Edward Arron, Jerome Rose, Leena Chopra, Clamma Dale, Anita Darian, Florence Levitt, Ayako Yoshida, Harris Poor, Kathryn Amyotte, Emily Wong, the Hawthorne String Quartet, Locrian Chamber Ensemble, and Artemis.
Michael Shapiro has performed internationally as a conductor including appearances in Berlin, Siena, Victoria, New York, Boston, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C. His repertoire as a conductor includes most of the standard symphonic, operatic, and ballet works as well as a keen understanding and appreciation for new music. Michael Shapiro's background as an opera coach and concert pianist enables him to work well with soloists in vocal, operatic, and concerto performances.
Michael Shapiro served for two years as Music Consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. where he produced and performed the music of composers who perished in or fled Europe during the Second World War. He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Conductor's Guild. Michael Shapiro also worked as an assistant conductor at the Zurich Opera Studio and has appeared internationally as the conductor of his own music (including recording the film score for the Israel Broadcasting Authority documentary Distant Relatives). He regularly performs his own music and conducted The Chappaqua Orchestra in the world premiere of his score for the classic film Frankenstein directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Jacob Burns Film Center and later at the Paramount Theater, the Coolidge Corner Theater in Boston (and featured on the cover of the Boston Globe), the Berkshire Museum, and historic Memorial Hall in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.
