Ulrika Davidsson

Ulrika Davidsson is Assistant Professor of Historical Keyboards at the Eastman School of Music. She is a versatile musician, and maintains a performance career on the piano, fortepiano, clavichord, as well as the harpsichord. Her solo CD ‘Haydn Sonatas. Galanterien to Sturm und Drang’ was released on Loft Recordings in 2009.

A native of Göteborg, Sweden, Dr. Davidsson holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Göteborg where Elisif Lundén-Bergfelt was her teacher; and the Organist and Cantor Diploma from The Royal Academy of Music. She continued her piano studies with Willem Brons at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. She studied musicology for one year at the University of Göteborg before relocating to the United States in 2001, where she has graduated from the Eastman School of Music with a MM degree in harpsichord performance under the tutelage of William Porter, and the DMA degree in piano performance, studying with Barry Snyder.

From 1990 to 1999 she served on the faculty of the School of Music, University of Göteborg. 1983-1985 and 1987-2000 she held the position of Organist and Director of music in Björkö Church.  A generous grant from the University of Göteborg gave her the opportunity to explore her interest in historical keyboards. For three years, she made study trips to various instrument collections and conferences in Europe, in addition to studying fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson and clavichord with Harald Vogel.

Ms Davidsson has given concerts in the U.S., in Japan, and throughout Europe, and has presented recitals and lectures at many international academies and conferences, such as Göteborg International Organ Academy, Smarano International Organ Academy, International Music Festival, Iceland, EROI festival, Eastman School of Music, and at various conferences organized by The Westfield Center for Keyboard Studies. She has performed for the Boston Clavichord Society, the Göteborg Clavichord Society, and has been invited to perform and lecture at various universities, such as Eastern Michigan University; Hochschule für Künste Bremen; Ferris University, Yokohama; Luleå University; and Århus School of Music.

Dr. Davidsson has been featured as piano soloist with the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, Mölndals Musiksällskap, the Göteborg Youth Symphony Orchestra, Camerata-ensemblen, in her native Sweden, where she has also appeared on national television and radio.  She has toured with many chamber music ensembles, and continues to be in demand as a collaborative pianist and historical keyboards player.

Beside her work at the Eastman School of Music, Ms Davidsson is the Music Director of Rochester City Ballet, as well as the Draper Center for Dance Education, the official school of the Rochester City Ballet. For the company, she has created an arrangement of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf for wind quintet, violin and piano.

She also teaches clavichord and fortepiano at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen, in Germany.