Boston-based pianist Ben Schwendener represents a unique voice in contemporary creative music and natural pedagogy, and is a leading authority on George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization. Editorial assistant to the late George Russell and a certified teacher (and while Russell was alive, of teachers) of the Lydian Chromatic Concept, Schwendener has been a principal lecturer at national and international seminars, including recently at Lincoln Center. As a critically acclaimed pianist/composer, he has created music for dance companies, film, commercials, art installations, volumes of children’s piano music, and has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan with his ensembles and on solo piano. His music can be heard on Label Bleu, Gravity and Alabaster. Schwendener is also the founder and director of Gravity Arts, Inc., a nonprofit organization providing customized educational services and products for individuals, groups and corporations. A former student of jazz legends George Russell, Ran Blake, Jimmy Guiffre, Miroslav Vitous, Andrew Hill and Joe Maneri, Schwendener is on the faculties of the New England Conservatory, the Longy School of Music and the Rivers School Conservatory in Weston, MA.
