I grew up in Beirut, Lebanon, the son of an American embassy official, and began piano lessons at seven, first with an Armenian teacher and then with Russian pianist Mikhail Cheskinov. I wasn’t a very good student and preferred playing outside with the neighbor kids. But with the onset of adolescence–and after four years in boarding schools (England & Buffalo NY), I was hooked on classical music and had become painfully introverted, wearing thick glasses and preferring practicing the piano to anything else–except composing. It was then that I discovered Fux’s little book, The Study of Counterpoint, in a Beirut bookshop and devoured it, going through every exercise on my own. That was the foundation of my future skill in counterpoint, and I later found out that many of the great composers–Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms–worked through that same manual.

I started composing at fourteen, and after the family returned to the U.S. (to the beautiful town of Eugene), I majored in Music and German at the University of Oregon, working under Homer Keller (music composition), Hal Owen (theory, counterpoint), and Rumanian pianist Alexandru Hrisanides (piano). Subsequently, I studied with the late Polish pianist Adam Kapuscinski (student of A. Michalowski, himself a pupil of Liszt).

After graduation I became involved with electronic music and coordinated the Eugene Electronic Music Collective (EEMC), giving concerts on synthesizers and piano in Oregon. To my knowledge, my ‘Voyager’ Concerto for piano and synthesizers is still the first and only concerto ever written for that combination of instruments. About that time my cover article “Electronic Orchestration” appeared in Electronic Musician magazine. It is now used in college music courses throughout the country.

I toured the Northwest playing my own music for piano and/or synthesizers, and also programmed J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations on synthesizers—another first, duly noted in Keyboard Magazine. I founded the Alliance Recognizing Talent in Eugene (A.R.T.E.), a consortium of 40+ musicians/artists in Eugene and was quite active on the regional music scene for awhile.

My original music has been recorded in North America and in Europe, performed on NPR, and spans several styles,
from classical to electronic—even including a folk song (My Beautiful Country).

For most of my adult life I’ve had a day job outside of music, working in the mental health field in private and state hospitals, caring for the severely mentally ill. I believe this work has added depth and character to my compositions and performing.

Even though my original music uses the tonal language of the classical-romantic eras, I’ve experimented with novel approaches such as what I call “episodic music”—where a musical work is broken into ‘episodes’ that can be performed in any order the performer desires. This way, the piece remains ever fresh and the performer becomes partly the ‘composer.’

I want my music to sing. I would like it to be immediately intelligible to anyone, regardless of his or her musical background. I’d like people to see themselves through my music, and thus to acknowledge and affirm themselves on a deep and meaningful level.

What some others are saying…

“Salm is a talented musical chameleon who can create in just about any style… He favors an easily identifiable melody, which he works over in refreshing ways… It was obvious to the appreciative audience that he is a creative force who can do many things very well. His fiery Toccata for piano was winning. A mad whirl of virtuoso passages serves as bookends for some serious soul-searching. Salm performed it with distinction.”—Fred Crafts, Critic At Large, KUGN Radio (Eugene, OR)
 
“I was transported by the magnitude and beauty of the ‘Voyager’ Concerto. You have truly married the head and the heart, your Beethoven and your Chopin. Congratulations. I feel that your music will attract a large audience. It is definitely understandable and a sensual delight to experience. The blend of synthesizer and piano is pure genius.”—Portland concertgoer
 
“Dear René, Thank you so much for sending the copy of your Preludes and Inventions. I’ve played them over several times and find them quite appealing, as well as very accessible.”—Dr. Doris E. Allen DMA, Professor of Piano Pedagogy (emeritus), University of Oregon
 
“Dear René! Wow! Thanks so much for giving us copies of your music. They look beautiful and the pieces are great. You are a truly wonderful composer. I will be sure to share your pieces with other pianists as well as the teachers in our UO Piano Pedagogy Program.”—Dr. Claire Wachter DMA, Professor of Piano and Pedagogy, School of Music and Dance, University of Oregon
 
“I received the score for your piano Fantasy. First of all, congratulations for composing such a beautiful piece…”—Dr. Eduardo Moreira DMA, pianist and pedagogue
 
Dear René, I just listened to your compositions on the Laureate site. These are beautiful pieces!—Dr. Lindsay Falvey, Fellow, Claire College, Univ. of Cambridge (UK); and Univ. of Melbourne (Australia)