Professor Duncan J. Cumming has performed concertos, recitals, and chamber music concerts in cities across the United States as well as in Europe. The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Merkin Hall and Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City, and the Wallenstein Palace in Prague, Czech Republic are among the concert halls in which he has appeared. Concerts outside of the New York Capital Region this season include a concert tour of the Boston area in March as well as the United Kingdom, France, and Switzerland in May. A recent review describes his playing as “technically flawless… thoughtful, deliberate and balanced, without a wasted gesture or any histrionics, rather like Rachmaninoff.” His new book, The Fountain of Youth: The Artistry of Frank Glazer, came out in 2009.
The year 2011 marks the release of three compact discs. The first is a solo piano CD on the Centaur label (CRC 3125) including music of Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, and Satie. Chamber music of Bill Matthews with the Capital Trio will be released on Albany Records with several premiere recordings; finally, a recording with Christopher Hogwood of the music of Carl Maria von Weber. This is the first recording of Weber’s music on Weber’s own 1812 Brodmann.
Born in Maine, Cumming graduated Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors from Bates College in 1993, where he studied with Frank Glazer. In 1994, he received a full scholarship from the European Mozart Foundation and participated in intense chamber music study and performance at the European Mozart Academy in Prague, where he performed often with the Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena. Upon his return to America, he studied with Patricia Zander at the New England Conservatory, where he received his Master of Music degree in 1996. In May of 2003, he graduated with the Doctor of Music degree from Boston University.
From 2002-2008, Cumming was on the faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute as a teacher, chamber music coach, and performer. He was assistant director of the Young Artists Piano Program for the first six years, and in his final summer he took over as the director when an illness forced the director to leave just days into the program. Before accepting the position at the University at Albany, he was a member of the faculty at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He has lectured, given master classes, and served on juries for competitions, in addition to his performing and teaching. Known for his innovative and carefully constructed programs, Cumming often presents informal commentary to the audience on the music he plays. He has commissioned, premiered, and recorded new works for solo piano, violin and piano, and piano trio. He performs frequently with his wife Hilary, violinist and adjunct professor of violin at the University at Albany. With the cellist Şölen Dikener, they make up the Capital Piano Trio, the new ensemble in residence at the University at Albany. Duncan and Hilary have two daughters, Lucy Rose and Mairi Skye, and a son, William Bear.