hi, I'm Clare Longendyke!

In the hustle and bustle of artistic life, I sometimes forget that there are new faces and fans around these parts. Whether we met out in the real world at a concert or other arts event, or you're just exploring my work online, I'm glad you're here.

Click the image to be directed to the "Clare Longendyke Essentials" Playlist on Spotify to hear some of my recorded work!

My childhood was filled with all kinds of music, from American jazz and folk to Bob Dylan and The Beatles. After a few months of lessons on a battery-operated miniature keyboard that barely fit my tiny, seven-year-old hands, my grandparents sent me their old Kimball upright from Florida: my first piano. It sat in the front entry of our Minnesota home, often subjected to treacherously cold gusts of wind when the door would open during our notoriously vicious winters. That December, those same grandparents sent me a selection of cassette tapes featuring classical hits, to inspire and steer my musical choices, I can only assume. When I got to the Arthur Rubinstein recording of Chopin’s most beloved piano works, I was captivated. I announced to my parents that my favorite composer was “Chop-in.” 

I fell in love with music when my first grade teacher taught our class through song on a beaten up spinet piano in room 141 at Kenwood Elementary. From there, I fell in love with playing Disney music, arrangements of The Nutcracker, and watered-down classical standards. I didn’t play an original classical composition until I was a teenager, but when I did, I fell in love again. Bach triggered my obsessive need to overcome insurmountable challenges; Beethoven made me yearn to practice; but my favorite? Chopin, of course. Back then, I was ravenous for classical piano music. And I still am.

I believe that classical music is for everyone, no matter how you pronounce the names of its idolized composers or if you’ve ever attended a live orchestra concert. My artistic mission is to open the classical music stage to a broader range of representation, to shine light into the dark corners of classical music’s past where the work of women and composers of color is too often shelved, and to pave the way towards a more inclusive future by commissioning and performing new works of music by the composers I wish to see written about in text books for years to come. 

Today, I make music for the people who don’t think they like classical music, for those who have never met a living composer or heard a new piece written in the last 5 years, and for classical music aficionados, eager to expand their knowledge of the art form through creative programming and fresh perspectives. I make music for everyone, because I believe that classical music is for everyone.

Thanks for joining me on my artistic journey - I'm so glad to share my favorite classical music with you!