Alan Feinberg

Alan Feinberg stands out as a pianist of remarkable range, equally at ease performing the works of Brahms and those of Cage. He has introduced more than two hundred new pieces to audiences, among them Mel Powell's Duplicates, which earned the Pulitzer Prize, as well as compositions from John Adams, Milton Babbitt, John Harbison, Steve Reich, and Charles Wuorinen. The year 1985 marked his debut presentation of Milton Babbitt's Piano Concerto, a composition specifically created for him. His 1991 performance of Shulamit Ran's concert piece alongside the Cleveland Orchestra drew widespread critical praise. Feinberg has also promoted a piano concerto drawn from Charles Ives's Emerson Overture fragments, which Ives scholar David G. Porter pieced together. He first presented this piece in Cleveland during 1998 with Christoph von Dohnányi conducting, and the two later took it to stages in Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid. Among the less conventional selections in his programs are concertos from Amy Beach, John Cage, Leo Ornstein, Oscar Levant, and Andrew Imbrie, along with George Gershwin's Rhapsody No. 2 and Messiaen's Oiseaux exotiques. Feinberg has appeared in venues across the United States and Canada. His distinctive recital program called Discover America received support from institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Eisenhower Hall Theater at West Point, New York City's Town Hall, the University of Rhode Island, and the State University of New York at Stonybrook. Regular engagements also take him to Europe, where he collaborates often with the London Philharmonia and the BBC Scottish Symphony while appearing at festivals such as BBC Musica Nova, along with those held in Edinburgh, Bath, Cambridge, Geneva, Berlin, Brescia, Bergamo, and Budapest.

A broad collection of recordings highlights Feinberg's dedication to uncovering overlooked piano music. His most extensive effort consists of a Decca/Argo series also titled Discover America, which interweaves classical and popular pieces from well-known and obscure American composers to illustrate the breadth of the nation's musical past. Featured creators encompass Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Henry Cowell, Conlon Nancarrow, Jelly Roll Morton, James B. Johnson, Percy Grainger, Fats Waller, Artis Wodehouse, Scott Joplin, Charles Ives, Charles Wuorinen, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Duke Ellington, and additional figures. Separate releases include Babbitt's Piano Concerto on New World Records, Morton Feldman's Piano and Orchestra on Decca/Argo, Beach's Piano Concerto on Decca/Argo, Ligeti's Horn Trio on Bridge Records, selections by Steve Reich and John Adams on EMI/Angel and Nonesuch, and Paul Bowles' Piano Concerto on Catalyst. By 2013, these efforts had earned five Grammy nominations. Feinberg has instructed students at both the Eastman School of Music and Juilliard, the institution from which he graduated.