Huntingdon borough
Huntingdon's Steamroller Composer
Did you know? The keyboard player on those Mannheim Steamroller records was born in Huntingdon.
Jackson Berkey was born here on May 24, 1942. He took a master's in piano performance at Juilliard, studying in the studio of Josef Raieff, and had sessions with Vincent Persichetti and William Schuman. He made his Town Hall debut in New York in 1969. In 2009 Steinway named him a Steinway Artist.
His own catalog describes him as featured keyboardist with Mannheim Steamroller. It also lists over four hundred published titles of his own writing: choral and vocal works, chamber and instrumental pieces, band and orchestral writing, concerti, and works for chorus and orchestra.
So the man at those keyboards has several hundred pieces of his own out in the world under his own name.
Sources
Checked 2026-08-01 · County history, independently fact checked
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