PAUL CIENNIWA: Biography

Paul Cienniwa has recently performed at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue,the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Harvard, MIT and in Chicago with violinist Rachel Barton Pine. His direction of Handel's Alcina for the Boston Opera Collaborative prompted the Boston EDGE to write that "his playing was expert" and the Boston Musical Intelligencer to report that "[his] music pacing was expert". For his recording of the Bach Viola da Gamba Sonatas with cellist Audrey Cienniwa, KBAQ radio (Phoenix, AZ) called his ability to accompany "spot-on...perfect".

Following his undergraduate studies 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. He has been awarded BAEF and Fulbright grants, and his musicological articles have appeared in American and European journals, including Early Music and Ad Parnassum. In addition to leading Newport Baroque, he is director of Sine Nomine choral ensemble and Music Director at First Church in Boston, where he can be heard weekly on WERS (88.9 FM) Boston. For information on upcoming performances, visit www.paulcienniwa.blogspot.com

B.M., DePaul University; M.M., M.M.A., D.M.A., Yale University