About Eldred Marshall
The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA) hailed his "dazzling technique" and his "clean, tidy approach." Music critic Laurence Vittes described him as an "illumination in music," and said of his all-Beethoven recital: "Marshall presented a recital so full of musical thrills and beauties, and so in identification with the composer's own persona, that, for a few hours, it was as if he were communing across the centuries to conjure up a rare and magical musical spectrum." The Telegraf Online Constanta (Romania) reported that Marshall "captivated the audience" in Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 20, which he conducted from the piano.
Eldred Marshall began studying the piano at age six and played in public by age seven. His prodigious and inquisitive mind allowed him to master large swaths of the piano repertoire quickly as well as consistently win top prizes at the competitions he entered as a child. By 16, he debuted with orchestra, playing Brahms's Piano Concerto no. 2 in B-flat Major with the Victor Valley Symphony Orchestra. Before entering into Yale University, where he graduated with honors with a B.A. in Political Science, he had already performed all over the United States.
The critically-acclaimed pianist has performed internationally: Spain, Italy, the Republic of San Marino, Belgium, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, the Ukraine, the People's Republic of China, and Canada. He has performed the entire cycle of 32 Piano Sonatas of Beethoven in public, from memory, as a concentrated series, twice: once in Portland in 2007 and in San Francisco in 2008. He followed that project with a full West Coast (US) tour of Bach's Goldberg Variations in 2008 and 2009. In the 2015-2016 Season, he toured extensively through Texas with two all-Bach piano recital programs, one of which included the Goldberg Variations. In 2018, he toured the United States and China, performing Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, from memory. Upcoming engagements in the 2021-2022 season include a tour of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, and debut appearances with the Symphony orchestras of Las Colinas, Arlington, and Garland (TX) in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491.
As an orchestral conductor, Marshall has led several international ensembles: The Ukrainian State Academic Orchestra (Kiev, Ukraine), the Kharkov Youth Symphony (Kharkov, Ukraine), the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra (Pleven, Bulgaria), the Vidin Philharmonic Orchestra (Vidin, Bulgaria), the Filharmonica Oltenia di Craiova (Craiova, Romania), and the Constanta "Black Sea" Philharmonic Orchestra (Constanta, Romania).
Marshall earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance degree from the University of North Texas (UNT) in 2018. Additionally, he earned three Master of Music degrees from Southern Methodist University (SMU): piano (2011), organ (2012) and orchestral conducting (2013). Institutions at which he has taught include Texas A&M Commerce, UNT, SMU, and North Texas Central College. His doctoral dissertation topic was on the art of conducting piano concerti from the piano - performance practice, discipline and whether or not it is "real conducting."
Presently, Marshall serves as the Artist-in-Residence/Associate Director of Music at the First United Methodist Church of Garland, where he is the founder and curator of the West Avenue B Community Concert Series. Additionally, he is the Artistic Director/Conductor of the Mansfield Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Music Director/Conductor of the Music Ministry Conservatory Choir.
