Norman Shetler
Norman Shetler is a pianist, puppeteer and puppet constructor, and piano professor with Austrian nationality and American origin.Life and career
Norman Shetler was born in Pennsylvania. He planned to attend Juilliard, but before he could attend he was drafted into the army. During WWII, he served mostly as a typist.
While a student in Vienna, the Soviet Union paid for him to participate in the first Tchaikovsky Competition. There he met Van Cliburn. He also dreamed of studying with the Soviet virtuoso Sviatoslav Richter.
In 1955 he moved to Vienna, Austria, where he studied piano and graduated in 1959. He specialized in accompanying singers, having worked with such renowned singers as Anneliese Rothenberger, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Brigitte Fassbaender, Hermann Prey, Margaret Price and Thomas Quasthoff, and also with such instrumentalists as violinist Nathan Milstein and cellist Heinrich Schiff. He is also internationally acclaimed as a soloist.
Between 1983 and 1991 he taught Piano and Lied Accompaniment at the Würzburg School of Music and Drama. He is a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna since 1992. He has more than 70 recordings.
He is in constant demand for masterclasses in America, Asia and Europe, and particularly at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg.
For more than 35 years he has also dedicated himself to the art of puppetry, both as a puppet maker and puppeteer. He presented his show "Musical Puppet Cabaret" in three continents, in numerous festivals and television shows.Discography
