The Silver Duo

Noreen Silver, Cello, Phillip Silver, Piano

Noreen and Phillip Silver bring a wealth of performing experience to their highly regarded partnership. They have an enviable international reputation for chamber music playing of the highest caliber. The Duo, founded when Noreen and Phillip were students at the New England Conservatory of Music, has received accolades and acclaim from appreciative audiences and critics throughout Europe, Israel, the United States, Scandinavia, and the Czech Republic.

Their imaginative programming, in which lesser-known masterpieces are given exposure alongside established repertoire favorites, has proven very popular and made them much in demand.

Noreen Silver was born and grew up in Glasgow, Scotland. As a teenager she was a member of the prestigious National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Cello studies include degree programs at London’s Royal College of Music and, with the support of a Rotary International Fellowship, advanced degree studies with Laurence Lesser at Boston’s New England Conservatory. Supplementary studies were also undertaken with world renowned cellists Pierre Fournier, Jacqueline du Pré, and William Pleeth.

Noreen’s professional experience includes several years in Seattle’s Northwest Chamber Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Opera, Boston Opera, London’s BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She is now principal cellist of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra (USA), and has appeared as soloist with the orchestra on several occasions.

Much of Noreen’s career has been centered around the Silver Duo with pianist husband Phillip Silver. Together they have performed in Israel, Germany, Czech Republic, USA and UK, and have broadcast on national radio stations in many European countries. Noreen has been described as “an extraordinarily soulful player” who “demonstrates an uncommon depth of feeling and imagination.” (The Glasgow Herald).

Noreen is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maine teaching cello and coaching chamber music. In a recent project she performed the six Suites for Solo Cello by JS Bach, at the School of Performing Arts. Noreen is a dedicated teacher and an avid chamber music player who is featured as soloist in CDs of Chamber Music by Leone Sinigaglia and Bernhard Sekles on the Toccata Classics label in London.

Phillip Silver is an internationally acclaimed solo and collaborative artist. The Frankfurter Rundschau described his playing as “virtuosic,” Haaretz commented upon his “…superb technical ability that enthralled the audience with melody, lyricism and poetry,” while the Boston Globe called him “an international collaborative pianist of the first rank,” and theJerusalem Post described him as “a superb accompanist whose work is marked by sensitivity, felicity of style and an inborn musicianship which unerringly directs him to the most appropriate musical gesture.”

Phillip has performed in many of the world’s leading concert halls including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls in London, the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, Scotland, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Germany, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Israel Museum and Henry Crown Theater in Jerusalem.

Over the course of his career he has performed with many distinguished artists including Denes Zsigmondy, Jian Wang, Elmar Oliveira, Albert Markov and Alexander Markov. Phillip has also been a member of the Van Leer Chamber Players in Jerusalem, the Rachmaninov Trio in the UK, and the Silver Duo, a long established ensemble with his wife, cellist Noreen Silver.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Phillip studied with Katja Andy and Leonard Shure at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he earned the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Music cum laude. He also earned the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Washington for his research into the music of Ignaz Moscheles.

Along with a significant number of performances, recordings and broadcasts in the United States, Britain, Israel, Europe and Scandinavia, Phillip has recorded several Compact Discs for the German Koch/Schwann label. These include a recital of German Romantic Lieder with the Israeli soprano Cilla Grossmeyer, and a recording of 20th century Russian piano trios as a member of the UK based Rachmaninov Trio.

For close to two decades Phillip Silver has carried out research on music and musicians caught up in the Holocaust. He has presented his research in the form of commercial recordings, lectures and recitals on the national and international stage including venues in Israel, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. Several of Phillip’s recordings have been released on the Toccata Classics label in London. These include a world premiere recording of music by an Italian-Jewish victim of the Nazis, Leone Sinigaglia and a recording of music by the German- Jewish composer Bernhard Sekles. Performing with Phillip were cellist Noreen Silver, and violinist Solomia Soroka. Maria Nockin reviewing this recording in Fanfare magazine commented upon the “brilliantly played fireworks from the pianist” while Steve Arloff writing in

MusicWeb International described it as “a really valuable discovery” marked by “flawless playing.”… “thoroughly deserving to be heard by every chamber music lover.”

Phillip also works closely with a number of Israeli composers and is active in bringing their music to a wider international public.

Phillip Silver has been on the faculties of Glasgow University, Strathclyde University, and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland. He is currently a Professor of Music at the School of Performing Arts at the University of Maine in Orono.

“The Silvers are a superb Duo.”

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“…one of our truly fine chamber music teams”

The Jerusalem Post

“…you can depend on them for first-rate music making.” The Herald (Glasgow)

“…what a splendid performance it was too – elegant, lively, rhythmic throughout.” The Daily Telegraph (London)