Assumption College

Program

Cited by the Huffington Post for his “inner sense of creative flow, fueled by an abundance of musical imagination and desire,” harpsichordist Paul Cienniwa has a burgeoning career as a soloist, recording artist, and ensemble player. He strives to bring the harpsichord to new audiences by creating a spiritual communion through focused interpretations intensified by memorized repertoire. His first solo recording, “Harpsichord Music for a Thin Place” (Whaling City Sound) exemplifies his artistic goals as a “transport to the threshold between the ordinary and the spiritual...to the point where the ordinary becomes spiritual and the spiritual becomes ordinary."

His playing of Francis Poulenc’s Concert Champêtre was heralded by the New Bedford Standard-Times as “exquisite—no drama, no posturing—just consummate artistry and a superb performance of a marvelous concerto,” and The Boston Musical Intelligencer called his performance of the Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in A Major “a joyous romp.” EDGE Boston found his playing “expert,” while The Listening Room said that his performance was “charming, polished, musically profound, and technically brilliant.”

For his CD of the Bach Viola da Gamba Sonatas with cellist Audrey Sabattier-Cienniwa (Whaling City Sound), KBAQ radio (Phoenix, AZ) called his ability to accompany "spot-on...perfect". His recording with Grammy Award-winning uilleann piper Jerry O'Sullivan was called "drop-dead gorgeous" and named one of the top ten Irish traditional albums of 2010 by The Irish Echo. An advocate of new music, he is featured on a two-CD set of music by composer Larry Thomas Bell titled “In a Garden of Dreamers” (Albany Records).

A frequent chamber music collaborator, he played the complete Bach Violin Sonatas on Chicago’s WFMT radio with baroque violinist Rachel Barton Pine. He performs regularly with Boston-based recorder player Héloïse Degrugillier and other area baroque music specialists. As an orchestral continuo player, he plays with the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Providence Singers and Mastersingers by the Sea. In recent years, he has appeared at the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, the White Mountain Bach Festival, VentiCordi, and, with uilleann piper Jerry O’Sullivan, the Catskills Irish Arts Week.

A resident of Fall River, Massachusetts, Paul Cienniwa leads an active musical life in southeastern Massachusetts and the Boston/Providence regions. He is Chorus Master for the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, leads Sine Nomine choral ensemble (Fall River, MA), and directs the chorus at Framingham State University. As organist and conductor, he is music director at First Church in Boston, where he leads the fully professional First Church Choir and can be heard weekly on WERS (88.9 FM) Boston.

Originally from Niles, IL, Paul Cienniwa began his keyboard studies at age six. In his teen years, he played thrash guitar with the Evanston, IL punk band Malicious Intent, followed by seven years as keyboardist with the innovative Chicago-based Irish group Baal Tinne. From 2003-2010, he led Newport Baroque in works from Arne to Zelenka, including performances of Bach cantatas and Purcell's Dido & Aeneas, and in 2009, he was music director for Boston Opera Collaborative's acclaimed production of Handel's Alcina.

He been awarded Belgian American Educational Foundation and Fulbright grants, and his musicological articles and reviews have appeared in American and European journals, including Early Music, Ad Parnassum and Early Music America. As an educator, he has taught at the Yale University School of Music, Salve Regina University, and Mount Ida College. He continues to teach at UMass-Dartmouth and Framingham State University.

Paul Cienniwa started his undergraduate studies as a pianist in the studio of Michael Ruiz at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. After completing his bachelor’s degree at DePaul University with harpsichordist Roger Goodman and organist Jerome Butera, he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University, where he was a student of Richard Rephann. He has also studied harpsichord with Peter Watchorn, John Whitelaw, and David Schrader.

Paul Cienniwa is represented by Concert Artists Cooperative. For more information, visit www.paulcienniwa.com and www.concertartistcooperative.com.