Jeremy Denk

New York City-based pianist Jeremy Denk is as well known for his chamber music-making as he is for his appearances as a soloist and recitalist. Indeed, he has famously collaborated with violinists Joshua Bell and Soovin Kim and violist Roberto Diaz and has performed with the Shanghai, Vermeer, and Jupiter string quartets and Windscape. Denk's repertory is exceedingly broad, taking in works by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorák, Richard Strauss, Bartók, and many modern and contemporary composers, like Leon Kirchner, John Corigliano, and Tobias Picker. Denk has premiered several major contemporary works, including Ned Rorem's The Unquestioned Answer (2003). In 2024, Denk and Bell joined cellist Steven Isserlis for an album of Mendelssohn piano trios. Denk was born in Durham, North Carolina, on May 16, 1970. He studied music at Oberlin Conservatory and received post-graduate degrees at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with György Sebök, and at Juilliard, where his teachers included Herbert Stessin. In 1997, Denk gave his major debut at Alice Tully Hall in New York City and also appeared on his first recording, a CD on the Indiana University label of new works that included David Dzubay's Trio for violin, cello, and piano. Denk went on to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1998. Denk quickly drew notice and soon began premiering important new works, like Jake Heggie's Cut in Time, in 2001, with the Eos Orchestra, and Leon Kirchner's Duo No. 2, in 2002, with Ida Levin. Denk's first recording as a soloist was the acclaimed 2003 Chandos disc of Tobias Picker's Piano Concerto No. 2 ("Keys to the City"), with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and Thomas Sanderling conducting. Denk first appeared with Joshua Bell at the 2004 Spoleto Festival. The two have since collaborated in more than 70 performances across the globe and received critical acclaim for their 2007 Sony recording of the Corigliano Violin Sonata. As a soloist, Denk has appeared with the major orchestras of Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta, and with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as well as ensembles abroad. As a recitalist and chamber player, he has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe, especially in his critically acclaimed collaborations with Bell. In 2012, he and Bell released the album French Impressions on Sony Classical. From 2012 through 2020, Denk recorded for the Nonesuch label, issuing such novel releases as c. 1300 - c. 2000 in 2018. Denk and Bell returned to Sony Classical with cellist Steven Isserlis for an album of Mendelssohn piano trios in 2024. Denk serves on the faculty of Bard College Conservatory of Music. ~ TiVo Staff, Rovi