Byron Hitchcock, an artist born and bred in Wyoming, is being praised all over America for his "uncanny ability to grasp a musical thought and then convey that to others." He received his BM from the Cleveland Institute of Music under David Updegraff's tutelage and will earn his MM in this May from New England Conservatory under Lucy Chapman. He was among eight semi-finalists this fall in the California International Young Artists Competition, and has previously won numerous concerto competitions in the Rocky Mountain area.
Hitchcock's genuine enthusiasm and energetic fervor have been reaching acclaim in a variety of chamber and orchestral performances around the United States. His genre of choice is chamber music, and here has worked with many distinguished persons such as Peter Salaff, Roger Tapping, Ronald Copes, and the Cavani and Miami Quartets. The last few summers have been spent at the Kneisel Hall, the Kent/Blossom Festival, and a festival he has developed in Wyoming with the Parnassus Quartet, a group that has toured the Rocky Mountain region for the past decade. This past fall, the Orwell Piano Quintet, of which he is a member, was selected for the Outreach Fellowship at NEC and will be presenting events throughout Boston this spring.
Orchestrally, Hitchcock has also been quite active, appearing as concertmaster with the Atlantic Symphony, New England Conservatory Chamber and Philharmonia Orchestras, and the New Artists Philharmonic in Colorado. Conductors have included Theodore Kuchar, Hugh Wolff, Allan Scott, and James Gaffigan.