Jeremy Denk, piano

Jeremy Denk

Jeremy Denk is one of Americaโ€™s foremost pianists, proclaimed by theย New York Timesย โ€˜a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performsโ€™. Denk is also aย New York Timesย bestselling author, winner of both the MacArthur โ€œGeniusโ€ Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In the 2022-23 season, Denk will continue his multi-season exploration of Book 1 of Bachโ€™sย Well Tempered Clavier, and will also perform with orchestras and in recitals across UK, Europe, and the United States, including a return to Carnegie Hall play-directing Bach concerti with Orchestra St. Lukeโ€™s, and multi-concert residency at the Lammermuir Festival in Scotland. ย  An avid chamber musician, Denk will also embark on a US tour with the renowned Takรกcs Quartet.

Hisย New York Timesย Bestselling memoirย Every Good Boy Does Fineย was published to universal acclaim by Random House in 2022, with features on CBS Sunday Morning, NPRโ€™s Fresh Air, New York Times Review of Books, and more, with The Guardian heralding it as โ€œan elegant, frank and well-structured memoir that entirely resists cliche. A rare featโ€ฆ it makes the reader care about Denk beyond his talent for playing the piano.โ€

Denkโ€™s latest album of Mozart piano concertos was released in 2021 on Nonesuch Records. The album, deemed โ€œurgent and essentialโ€ by BBC Radio 3, was featured as Album of the Weekโ€™ on Classic FM, and โ€˜Record of the Weekโ€™ on BBC Radioโ€™sย Record Review.

Denk has performed multiple times at Carnegie Hall and in recent years has worked with such orchestras as Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra. Further afield, he has performed multiple times at the BBC Proms and Klavierfestival Ruhr, and appeared in such halls as the Kรถln Philharmonie, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Boulez Saal in Berlin. He has also performed extensively across the UK, including recently with the London Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and play-directing the Britten Sinfonia. Last seasonโ€™s highlights include his performance of the Well-Tempered Klavier Book 1 at the Barbican in London, and performances of John Adamsโ€™ โ€œMust the Devil Have All The Great Tunes?โ€ with the Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, and Seattle Symphony, as well as a return to the San Francisco Symphony to perform Messiaen under Esa Pekka Salonen.

Denk is also known for his original and insightful writing on music, which Alex Ross praises for its โ€œarresting sensitivity and wit.โ€ He wrote the libretto for a comic opera presented by Carnegie Hall, Cal Performances, and the Aspen Festival, and his writing has appeared in theย New Yorker,ย theย New Republic, The Guardian, and on the front page of theย New York Times Book Review. His bookย Every Good Boy Does Fineย was published in 2022 by Random House in the US and Pan Macmillan in the UK.

Denkโ€™s recording of the Goldberg Variations for Nonesuch Records reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Charts. His recording of Beethovenโ€™s Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 paired with Ligetiโ€™s ร‰tudes was named one of the best discs of the year by theย New Yorker, NPR, and theย Washington Post, and his account of the Beethoven sonata was selected by BBC Radio 3โ€™sย Building a Libraryย as the best available version recorded on modern piano. Denk has a long-standing attachment to the music of American visionary Charles Ives, and his recording of Ivesโ€™s two piano sonatas also featured in many โ€œbest of the yearโ€ lists. His recordingย c.1300-c.2000ย was released in 2018 with music ranging from Guillaume de Machaut, Gilles Binchois and Carlo Gesualdo, to Stockhausen, Ligeti and Glass. His latest album of Mozart piano concertos, performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, was released in 2021 on Nonesuch Records.

Jeremy Denk is a graduate of Oberlin College, Indiana University, and the Juilliard School. He lives in New York City.