Chad Spears

Chad Spears, a native of Boise, ID, has performed across the US, with additional appearances in Canada and Mexico. A  winner of numerous young artist competitions, he made his orchestral debut at the age of eighteen playing Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor with the Treasure Valley Youth Symphony. Since then he has been featured with the Washington-Idaho Symphony and the Coeur d'Alene Symphony as the soloist for Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with the Spokane Symphony for Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major and with the University of Idaho Orchestra performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Chad earned his Doctor of Music Degree in Piano Performance at Florida State University under the tutelage of Dr. Read Gainsford.
 

A highly sought-after collaborative pianist, Chad served as a collaborative pianist for the Summer 2024 New Voice Festival in Boise, ID. He had the opportunity to work with renowned voice teacher Andrea DelGiudice (New York City) and NYC-based composer Jake Landau, whose opera & Aeterna was performed. Previously, he served as the collaborative pianist for the Summer 2021 and Summer 2022 Narnia Festival International Vocal Arts Program in Narni, Italy, directed by Andrea DelGiudice. In Summer 2015, Chad was invited to perform at the Encuentro Internacional de Flauta y Piccolo at the Escuela Superior de Música y Danza in Monterrey, Mexico, where he played in several recitals with the festival’s students and faculty members. He has also been a guest artist in Toronto, Canada a number of times, performing with flutist Alheli Pimienta and collaborating with composer Adam Sherkin. Chad's chamber music repertoire is extensive and covers a range of styles from the Bach flute and keyboard sonatas to César Franck's Sonata for Violin and Piano and Olivier Messiaen's Quatour pour la fin du Temps. He is a proponent of new music, having performed works by the Japanese-American composer Hiroya Miura, Ukrainian composer Oleg Bezborodko and Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, among others.

 

A passionate teacher, Chad is dedicated to inspiring the next generation of musicians. He has maintained active piano studios in Moscow, ID, and Tallahassee, FL and currently teaches privately in Boise, ID. Chad serves as an adjunct instructor for Boise State University’s Department of Music, teaching ear training and class piano. He also is the accompanist for the Opera Theatre course and serves as a freelance collaborative pianist for the department. Chad is the pianist for the Boise-based group Tree City Chamber Players and collaborates with local area school choirs, TRICA, Alley Repertory Theater, Gemma Arts, Opera Idaho, and the Boise Philharmonic.