Paul Sheftel

Biography

Paul is a leader in keyboard studies and has performed, lectured, and conducted workshops in nearly every state. His published materials and software are widely used throughout the USA, as well as in Europe and Asia. A pioneer in the creation of instructional materials using MIDI technology, he has also composed electronic orchestrations to support Carl Fischer's "Music Pathways" piano method by Olson, Bianchi, and Blickenstaff, as well as the Bastien Piano Method.

Paul was born in Italy and grew up in Los Angeles, where he studied piano with Frances Robyn and Alfred Pryce Quinn and theory and composition with Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco. He spent two of his teen years in Paris, France studying piano with Lazare Levy and theory and composition with AlexandreTansman. After earning bachelor's and master's degrees from Juilliard (studying with Edward Steuermann), he went to Italy on a Fulbright grant where he worked with Guido Agosti.

While in Italy, he formed the two-piano team of Rollino and Sheftel; the duo performed extensively in Europe and the United States, both in recital and with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, The Amsterdam Concetgebouw, Royal Philharmonic and The Chicago Symphony among many others. He has appeared both as part of his two-piano team and in solo recitals in many of New York's leading concert halls including Town Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and Hunter College. He has served on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and Hunter College, has been piano editor for Carl Fischer and is currently on the faculty of The Julliard School where he teaches Piano Pedagogy. He maintains a private teaching studio in New York City.