Sylvia Berry, a Philadelphia native based in the Boston area, is one of North America's leading exponents of historical keyboard instruments. She has specialized in the performance practice of Viennese music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries for over twenty-five years. In that time she has played a wide variety of repertoire on countless types of fortepianos, harpsichords, and organs, including some noteworthy antiques. Her recording of Haydn's "London Sonatas" on an 1806 Broadwood & Son grand (#3448, restored by Dale Munschy) drew critical acclaim. Early Music America declared her “a complete master of rhetoric, whether in driving passagework or in cantabile adagios,” while a review in Fanfare stated, “To say that Berry plays these works with vim, vigor, verve, and vitality, is actually a bit of an understatement."

Photo by Zamani Feelings

Her concertizing has also garnered notice. Her concerto appearances with acclaimed period instrument orchestra Bach Collegium San Diego led reviewers from the San Diego Union-Tribune to proclaim: “Berry was everywhere at once, showing how this instrument, with such an ensemble, can be more powerful than a modern piano,” and to laud her as “a subtle powerhouse who coaxes great force out of what might seem like a smaller instrument.” Of her chamber playing with the period ensemble Les Délices, Cleveland Classical enthused: “Her splendid playing took her up and down the keyboard in lightning-fast scales and passagework, and her thrilling full-voiced chords allowed the fortepiano to assert itself as a real solo instrument.” Her work on a production of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito with Opera Boston led Lloyd Schwartz of the Boston Phoenix to write: "Special applause for continuo fortepianist Sylvia Berry, [who played] as if she were one of the actors.”

As a sought after soloist and as a chamber musician she’s appeared with groups such as Bach Collegium San Diego, Les Délices, Ars Antiqua, Oklahoma Baroque, and the Chamber Orchestra of Boston, and appeared on series such as Museum Concerts of Rhode Island, Cambridge Society for Early Music, Pittsburgh Renaissance and Baroque, and Emmanuel Music’s Lenten Series in Boston. She especially enjoys the intimacy of performing in 18th and 19th century venues such as Fenton House (Benton Fletcher Collection, London), Hill-Physick House (Philadelphia), Morris-Jumel Mansion (New York City), Gore Place (Waltham, MA), and Shirley-Eustis House (Boston). An interest in music for two keyboard instruments has led her to perform with colleagues Michael Sponseller, Ursula Dütschler (with whom she toured The Netherlands and Belgium), Leon Schelhase, and Rebecca Pechefsky. A love of Art Song found her partnering with soprano Clara Rottsolk in programs of early Lieder, as well as music by Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert. Her ensemble, The Berry Collective, featured chamber music, concertos, and symphonies in contemporary chamber arrangements.

Berry is known not only for her exciting performances, but for the engaging commentary she provides about the music and instruments she plays. As a scholar she has written and lectured on the performance practices and keyboard instruments of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as well as the sociological phenomena surrounding music of this period, presenting lectures and lecture recitals at The Center for Beethoven Research at Boston University’s School of Music and Fine Arts; the Cornell Center for Historical Keyboard Studies; Oberlin Conservatory; Clark University; the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston); and the Princeton University Art Museum, among others. Berry has also held masterclasses at The Curtis Institute of Music, Temple University, The Academy of Fortepiano Performance (Hunter, NY), Longy School of Music of Bard College, Case Western Reserve University, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, and Oklahoma University. Berry coaches chamber music at Harvard University’s Mather House.

Berry attended the New England Conservatory and holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands. Her mentors have included keyboardists Peter Takács, David Breitman, Lisa Goode Crawford, David Boe, Bart van Oort, Malcolm Bilson, and Stanley Hoogland.