Trevor Stephenson

Trevor Stephenson is a harpsichordist, fortepianist and pianist based in Madison, Wisconsin, and the founder and artistic director of Madison Bach Musicians. He completed a doctorate in historical performance of eighteenth-century music at Cornell University in 1990, studying fortepiano there with Malcolm Bilson, and he performs and lectures throughout the United States. He has released sixteen recordings on the Light and Shadow label. With his colleague Norman Sheppard he has built and refurbished a series of historical keyboard instruments ranging from Italian Renaissance harpsichords to Victorian pianos, and he works in period tuning systems such as modified meantone and well temperament. Madison Bach Musicians gave its first concert on October 16, 2004 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Madison, with a program of Bach cantatas and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. Under Stephenson the group grew from that single event into a full annual season played on period instruments, taking on large works including the Mass in B minor alongside programs of Bach cantatas, Latin American Baroque repertoire, Mozart's Requiem and an annual holiday concert. Stephenson also presents solo concert-lecture programs that combine performance with commentary; between March and September 2020 he completed a six-part video series covering composers from J. S. Bach through Grieg. In June 2024 Madison Bach Musicians acquired a newly built Baroque chamber organ from the Klop workshop in the Netherlands, donated by Ronald and Frieda Bourne in memory of their son David S. Bourne. The instrument has a four-and-a-half-octave compass, three ranks of wooden pipes and tracker action, and can be set to four pitch levels, A=392, 415, 440 and 465. Stephenson uses it in recital and lecture programs of Frescobaldi, Gabrieli, Bach, Handel and Scarlatti, including appearances in the Music Appreciation Series at the Stoughton Opera House.

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