About

Before co-founding Apollo Biomedical Solutions Shaun Tirrell enjoyed, and continues to enjoy, a career as a concert pianist, inspirational/keynote speaker and co-owner of PianoCraft, one of the country’s pre-eminent businesses for piano restoration and sales.

Shaun Tirrell earned his Bachelor of Music degree at Oberlin Conservatory, studying under Joseph Schwartz and receiving the John Elvin Prize. Further studies under Julian Martin at Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University lead to a Masters of Music degree and acceptance into the prestigious Artist’s Diploma program. He has enjoyed a long career as a concert pianist, performing as soloist in such venues as the Kennedy Center and National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Jordan Hall (Boston, Massachusetts), The Great Hall (St. Petersburg, Russia), National Concert Hall (Dublin, Ireland), Alte Aula and Stadhalle (Heidelberg, Germany). Of particular note, Mr. Tirrell presented a full solo recital for the Supreme Court Justices at the Aspen Institute’s Wye River Conference Center. For his solo debut at the Kennedy Center the Washington Post noted his Chopin for “having an impressive control of phrasing and dynamics and the kind of expressive freedom that lie in the heart of Chopin’s style.” “His Brahms was rock-solid demanding a virtuoso technique and the five contrasted movements were as rich and varied as life itself.” For his solo debut in Bayreuth Germany the Bayreuth Newspaper called him a “Hurricane at the Piano”. “The pianist placed the standards very high, and played like a music machine coded in virtuosity.”

As a concerto soloist he has appeared with orchestras worldwide including the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, the Irish National Symphony Orchestra (Dublin Ireland), the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra (Russia), the Heidelberg Collegium Musicum (Germany), the Savannah Philharmonic, Concert Artists of Baltimore, and many more. The Irish Times writing on his performance of Franz Liszt’s Totentanz said “Shaun Tirrell gave a convincing demonstration of the work’s dramatic power. The American Pianist thundered through the Liszt with great style and stunning virtuosity.” The Heidelberg Newspaper commented “His playing rendered with sureness and conviction…the lyric passages full of expression and beautifully vocal…the propelling drive that characterized his playing was supported by a superior technique.”

Shaun Tirrell has spent the past decade studying the metaphysical implications of music and its relationship to creativity and innovation. He has delved into the mental constructs of Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Ludwig van Beethoven, Jonas Salk, John F. Kennedy, Leonard Bernstein, and many others leading him to the core premise that latent creativity resides in the unconscious minds of virtually everyone. He has performed his talk/recital for executives from companies such as Cognizant, Time Warner, Booze Allen Hamilton, Diversified Search, and Goldman Sachs. He has also been a frequent guest speaker for Path North, an organization founded by Doug Holladay and Steve Case, whose purpose is to help broaden the definition of “success” for leaders in top organizations. Sel Kardan, President of the Colburn School in Los Angeles called Shaun “a powerful and dynamic performer and speaker…unique artist who can communicate the most complex of ideas and emotions…His presentation is a new paradigm for performer-listener experience.” The late Dr. Milton Corn, National Library of Medicine said “I found Shaun’s talk on the metaphysical implications of music profound and engrossing.”

Shaun Tirrell brings his gifts of creative thinking, imagination and inspiration to the brilliant, diverse team at Apollo Biomedical Solutions.