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Pleased to announce Michael Arnowitt recently organized a highly successful pilot demonstration of Sense and Sound, the brand-new performance concept he’s developing to present a multi-sensory concert. In Sense and Sound, as Michael Arnowitt performs various pieces of classical music at the piano, the audience will be simultaneously experiencing sensations in touch, taste, and smell – fabrics of different textures, scents being specially created by a scent artist, plants and other objects from nature, food tastes, and wood sculpture. The core idea is that these added sensory experiences curated by Michael’s artist collaborators are being timed to match changes in the unfolding music as a piece’s character and texture change from section to section. The pilot demonstration mini-concert consisted of five excerpts from the full program, featuring music of Mozart, Prokofiev, and Debussy, and took place recently for a test audience of arts professionals in Toronto at the music venue Hugh’s Room Live, with financial support of the Ontario Arts Council. The performance was filmed and we hope to edit together soon some moments from the pilot demonstration event, including interviews of the artist collaborators and those in the audience.
Great news! Michael Arnowitt is writing a book of essays about music, to be published by Fomite Press. In these essays Michael will be offering insights about moments in his favorite pieces of piano and orchestral music along with anecdotes from his travels as a touring concert pianist. We now have a book title: What Makes Great Music Great. Stay tuned for updates on the progress of this exciting once-in-a-lifetime project.
Over the course of his life, Michael Arnowitt gradually learned and performed J.S. Bach’s six keyboard partitas, extraordinary pieces of pure, spiritual, joyful, and lively music. The partitas are particularly cherished by pianists as topline pieces universally regarded as among Bach’s very best compositions for keyboard alongside the Goldberg Variations and the prelude and fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier. Michael Arnowitt is currently re-learning all six partitas to perform them as a complete set on a single day. Please let us know if you have any ideas of places that might be willing to host his performing the partitas live in concert. Bach said on the title page of his publication of the six partitas, “composed for music-lovers, to refresh their spirits.” More than ever, our world needs a spirit-refresher of Bach’s music.
Michael Arnowitt was commissioned by the Toronto Chamber Choir to compose a piece for chorus and piano, “Liffey Dreams.” The TCC is a highly respected ensemble founded in 1968 and currently directed by the wonderful lutenist Lucas Harris. Text for Michael’s new composition was creatively drawn from the final pages of James Joyce’s novel Finnegans Wake and Liffey Dreams was premiered by the Toronto Chamber Choir with Michael Arnowitt at the piano at the Calvin Presbyterian Church in Toronto.
Documentary film “Beyond 88 Keys” about the life and music of Michael Arnowitt now available online on Vimeo for the first time
New YouTube channel launched! Please help support Michael’s first-ever venture into the music streaming world by going to Michael Arnowitt Music, click on Subscribe, and like the music selections posted there. Over time, the channel will feature livestream concerts, selections from Michael’s recordings and past live performances, interviews, and video explainers at the piano of moments in some of his favorite pieces. Through your chat, comments, and questions this will be a great place to interact with Michael’s musical activities.
This is the official web-site for news and information about my music performance activities as a classical and jazz pianist. I began this site in 1997, and you’ll find here excerpts from my piano recordings, various writings about music I’ve done over the years, and naturally all the latest details about my upcoming performances and creative projects. Thanks for visiting my web-site – I appreciate your interest in my music.
Select a category from the four lines of links in the header at the top of any page. Probably the most common links are: to hear some of my piano playing, click on sound samples; to contact me or my representatives Glenda Fordham or Chara Tan, click on contact; to know where I will be performing, click on calendar; to learn generally about my life as a musician, click on biography; and to read about my most current concert program offerings, click on performance programs. If you can’t find what you’re looking for directly from the banner, give us a phone call or send an e-mail, and we’ll be happy to help.
Greetings (recommended for first-time visitors to this site)
Social media links (Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, YouTube, Patreon) and joining my mailing list
New web-pages and updates
Testimonial of Louis Moyse
The Latest – What’s New (news about my musical activities)
Recordings and other merchandise
Would you like to help?
About my personal (non-music) interests
You can browse this particular page by simply scrolling down its contents, or, you can skip down it faster using one of the above quick links. After reading the particular portion you jumped to, you should be able to return to this point on the page by clicking on Back to Quick Links.
Welcome to my web-site! The main portion of this site is devoted to a description of my activities as a pianist. I perform widely as a classical concert pianist, and I also play jazz piano engagements, both in concerts and in informal settings. I live part-time in Vermont in the United States and part-time in Toronto in Canada.
You can also find here various essays and articles I have written over the years on music topics; I hope you will find these pieces thought-provoking. I also post on my Facebook feed essays and other thoughts about the music I’m currently practicing or listening to, so be sure to connect with me there if you’re interested to read what I’m thinking about music in real time.
In these posts, I recount interesting and humorous stories from the concert trail, offer insights on composers and their music, and comment on aspects of piano playing. I hope these writings will give readers an enjoyable behind-the-scenes, “fly on the wall” view of my daily life as a concert pianist. Links to my social media pages are in the next section below.
For those of you connected with music presenters, the site has a nice array of materials about my career, including a biography, reviews and testimonials, photos of myself at the piano, samples of my recordings, and descriptions of my current concert programs.
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Connect with Michael on social media – future plans include using social media for pre- and post-concert chats with the public, interviews, and more online piano concerts broadcast from his home Steinway to follow up on the success of his 2021 YouTube concert.
Facebook page of Michael Arnowitt
Instagram - follow Michael at MichaelArnowitt
YouTube channel Michael Arnowitt Music
My new Mastodon page @classicalmusic.social@MAPiano
Patreon.com page – platform where my music supporters can donate small amounts to me on a regular basis to give my creative projects a general vote of confidence and financial assistance. In exchange, you’ll receive some Patreon-only benefits such as recordings of some of my past live performances and more.
If you would like to stay in touch with me, we encourage you to join our mailing list. Click on the “mailing list sign-up” link in the header of any page, follow the instructions there, and you will receive the occasional flyer or e-mail about live performances near where you live, or new recordings as they are released. Thanks!
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Current biography of Michael Arnowitt (updated August 2026)
Jazz tune list – list of jazz tunes Michael Arnowitt has performed, including his favorite songs (updated August 2026)
Calendar of engagements (updated August 18, 2026)
Brochure of classical piano program offerings, with full piece listings and program descriptions
Review in the Washington Post of Michael’s special concert “1913” at the National Gallery of Art
Recording release Sweet Spontaneous, a 2 CD set of 14 Michael Arnowitt jazz compositions, on Parma Recordings’ Big Round Records label – Sweet Spontaneous album webpage
Michael was recently interviewed on the Jazz.FM 91 radio station in Toronto where he spoke about 7 tracks on the recording.
Description of An Evening of International Poetry and Jazz – innovative program of jazz with poetry in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic with Therisa Rogers, spoken word
Syrian Refugees Benefit Concerts Organized by Michael Arnowitt, a special program of Syrian sacred and secular music, poetry, short stories, and drama, May 21-22, 2016, which raise $12,500 for humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees
Photos from the benefit concerts
Beethoven & Arnowitt VIII program of Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas – program description, Michael’s thoughts, and audience appreciation
Description of lecture-performance Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and the Music of 1911
Description of talk The Music of Poetry
Description of lecture-performance The Life and Music of George Gershwin
Description of lecture-performance From East to West
“If Music Be the Food of Love...” (a multi-sensory event combining music and food)
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(internationally-renowned flutist and composer – this statement written when Moyse was in his 90’s)
“During my long musical career, I have met few really great artists in the various disciplines of the field and I am very pleased to name Michael Arnowitt, pianist and musician as one of them.
“Michael combines all the necessary qualifications and qualities to express his art on the highest level. I have great respect for his technical skill, his interpretation and his way to communicate to any audience his feelings through his love for music.”
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Current “What’s New” to be written soon ... under construction ...
Spring 2015
about playing Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas, a bird encounter, a tour of Korea, new jazz tunes, and a musical trip to the West Side
Spring 2012
about playing Mozart’s Concerto no. 25, thinking about the crowd noise music in Stravinsky’s Petrouchka, discovering the early 20th century composer Arthur Lourié, an all-Bach concert, writing some jazz lyrics, and preparing for a big celebration for a round-numbered birthday of mine
Fall 2009
musings on playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 23 in A, K. 488, understanding two pieces by Olivier Messiaen through listening to the song of the wood-thrush here where I live in Vermont and considering how things grow in Nature, the premiere of a new collaboration improvising on the piano simultaneous with the creation live on stage of visual art, and some thoughts about the similarities between painting and music, and why perfect fifths have become my favorite interval these days
2008
a chronicle of a tour I made to Europe with a jazz quartet, a story from a past tour of Russia, a little bit about getting to play with Pete Seeger, and some thoughts on my experience being the subject of a documentary film
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Many of my recordings are available through Ursa Minor Records, P.O. Box 94, Montpelier VT 05601. My CDs can be mail-ordered through Ursa Minor, as well as T-shirts with the cover art of my album Sweet Spontaneous (featuring original art by Maggie Neale), or a DVD of the documentary film about my life and music, Beyond 88 Keys. To keep things simple the charges are $15 plus $3 shipping and handling per item, whether you are ordering a CD, T-shirt, or DVD. The documentary film can alternatively be streamed online as a rental or purchase by clicking here.
My book of essays about music is currently in the process of being written and will be published by Fomite Press, a wonderful independent literary press who has been publishing novels but is introducing a second line of essays books. Connect with me to keep in touch to hear when the book is released and out into the world.
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If you have an idea for where I might be able to perform a classical concert or play a jazz engagement, please let us know. In addition to the obvious places where performances happen, such as concert series, festivals, schools of various sorts, and nightspots, I have also performed in places such as libraries, museums and art galleries, churches and synagogues, theaters, and town halls. Please let us know of any leads for where I might perform, especially if you know anyone connected to the organization and can put in a good word on my behalf to help get the ball rolling.
Also helpful are friends you might have in Canada, Europe, or eastern Asia as I organize tours to those areas from time to time. Even if the person you know there isn’t directly involved with a concert organization, any person who lives in a region I may be touring to could be potentially helpful in providing information or leading us to someone who is more directly involved with the music scene in that locality. Hospitality and logistical help is also always appreciated when touring in a foreign country.
I am occasionally in need of a travel assistant for my tours, so if that would be of interest to you, please contact us and let me know what financial arrangements you would or would not require.
Also, if you have a suggestion as to where the documentary film about me “Beyond 88 Keys” might be shown, we’re trying to get more screenings and broadcasts of the film. There seems to be good interest from arts groups in showing the film, optionally in conjunction with some sort of live piano performance or question and answer period with me after the film is viewed.
The filmmakers have made an attractive brochure oriented towards organizations that might consider showing the film. If you have a connection to an arts organization, theater, school, library, or film festival that you think might be interested in hosting a film screening, let me know and I’ll send you one of these brochures and a DVD copy of the documentary.
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Some of my personal interests:
- international vegetarian food, particularly Asian
- hiking, especially in river and forest areas
- peace and human rights activism
- issues having to do with the blind and visually impaired
- cultural pluralism
- poetry (my favorites are Anna Akhmatova, Rainer Maria Rilke, E.E. Cummings, Adonis, and Shakespeare if I get to count his plays as poetry
- early 20th century history
- once upon a time I played a lot of bridge (the card game)
My favorite quotations
Your feedback about this site is valued. Unlike live performance, the internet is a medium where it can be hard to know how things are going over. So, we welcome your reactions – let us know what you particularly like on this site, or any suggestions you may have for improvements. Go to the “contact” link at the top of any page to find our contact information and phone, regular mail, or e-mail us as you prefer.
Last updated: August 19, 2026 © 1997-2024 by Michael Arnowitt