Gail Olszewski has been heard in solo and chamber recitals on piano, fortepiano, harpsichord, organ, harmonium, celesta and synthesizer in the United States, Canada, Europe, Central America and Australia. She lives in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area where she has a varied free-lance career as a collaborative keyboardist, concertizing with members of the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra among others.

She has played harpsichord and organ continuo for such groups as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Phipps Oratorio Society, Minnesota Sinfonia and Minnetonka Chorale, and has appeared as a synthesizer player with the Plymouth Music Series, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Buffalo Gal Productions. Gail is often sought out as a vocal coach and has performed in concert with many singers in the US and Canada. She has served as music director, rehearsal and show pianist for Ordway Productions, Nautilus Music Theater, Illusion Theater, Minnesota Opera, Northstar Opera, Opera Twin Cities and Duluth Festival Opera.

Performance highlights include soloist in the piano concerto of Clara Schumann with the Minneapolis Philharmonic, harpsichord soloist in concertos of JS Bach and featured soloist on piano and celesta in Georgy Ligeti’s “Chamber Concerto” with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, solo modern piano and fortepiano recitals in Canberra, Australia and four recitals on historic pianos from the Frederick Collection here in Ashburnham. Other performances include solo and collaborative fortepiano recitals for meetings of the Historical Keyboard Society of North America and harpsichord soloist on J.S. Bach’s 5th Brandenburg Concerto with Music St. Croix.

Gail is a founding member of The WolfGang, dedicated to authentic instrument performance of music of the Classic period. She is also a member of Duo Tastiera with harpsichordist and composer Asako Hirabayashi, and the chamber group, Music St. Croix, based in Stillwater, Minnesota. She has recorded with Borealis Brass, The WolfGang and Duo Tastiera, and can be seen in a number of videos on YouTube and Baby Blue Arts.

Gail has presented master classes and lecture/recitals on chamber music, ornamentation, Classical performance practices, women musicians and their music, the history of keyboard instruments, late Romantic Finnish piano music and music of the Classic period to many schools, symposia and professional organizations and has had review articles published in the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music.

Gail holds the degrees Doctor of Musical Arts in Accompanying and Coaching from the University of Minnesota, Master of Music in Piano Performance from Boston University and Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Music History/Harpsichord Performance from the University of New Hampshire. Gail has a private studio where she teaches piano and harpsichord and coaches singers and instrumentalists. She is on the music faculty of the University of Wisconsin/River Falls and a member of the keyboard faculty of the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

You'll find a performance schedule, several recordings and videos, and a number of interesting links on Gail's web site, gailopiano.com .

We welcome Gail back for her fifth appearance in the Historical Piano Concerts series.