Jonathan Biss - piano
Piano
Pianist Jonathan Biss is recognized globally for his “impeccable taste and a formidable
technique” (The New Yorker). Praised by The Boston Globe as "an eloquent and insightful
music writer," Biss published his fourth book, Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven, in 2020. The
book was the first Audible Original by a classical musician and one of Audible’s top
audiobooks of the year.
Biss has appeared as a soloist with some of the world's foremost orchestras, including the
Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the Boston Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw,
the London Symphony and more. He has served as the Co-Artistic Director of the Marlboro
Music School and Festival alongside pianist Mitsuko Uchida since 2018. He served on the
faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music for ten years, and has been a guest professor at
schools such as the Guildhall SOMAD and the New England Conservatory of Music. Biss is
also the author of Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven, in which he examines music and his own
life's journey through the lens of Beethoven's last piano sonatas.
Coinciding with the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020, Biss recorded the
composer’s complete piano sonatas, and offered insights to all 32 landmark works via his
free, online Coursera lecture series Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. In March 2020,
Biss gave a virtual recital presented by 92NY, wherein he performed Beethoven’s last three
piano sonatas for an online audience of more than 280,000 people. In 2024, Biss
participated in Princeton University Concert's Healing Through Music Series, appearing
alongside author Adam Haslett for a panel discussion on anxiety, depression, and creativity.
Biss is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Leonard Bernstein Award, the Andrew
Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust
Award, and a Gilmore Young Artist Award. His albums for EMI won the Diapason d’Or de
l’Année and Edison awards. He was an artist-in-residence on American Public Media’s
Performance Today and was the first American chosen to participate in the BBC’s New
Generation Artist program.
Biss is a third-generation professional musician; his grandmother is Raya Garbousova, one of
the first famous female cellists (for whom Samuel Barber composed his Cello Concerto), and
his parents are violinist Miriam Fried and violist/violinist Paul Biss. Growing up surrounded by
music, Biss began his piano studies at age six, with his first musical collaborations alongside
his mother and father. He studied with Evelyne Brancart at Indiana University and Leon
Fleisher at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Prochains événements
Temple de Crissier
dim, 04 Jan 17:00
Programme Franz Schubert Trio no.1 op. 99 Trio no.2 op.100 Artistes Midori - violon Antoine Lederlin - violoncelle Jonathan Biss…