Alessio Bax

Pianist Alessio Bax maintains an active schedule of solo recitals and duo appearances alongside his spouse Lucille Chung. Although he makes his home in the United States following part of his training there, his engagements span the globe. Beyond the keyboard he is widely recognized for his skills in the kitchen and his refined palate. His extensive discography appears on Signum Classics, which issued Forgotten Dances in 2024.

Born in Bari on Italy’s Adriatic coast on November 30, 1977, Bax displayed prodigious talent early, finishing the full curriculum at the Bari Conservatory in only five years and becoming its youngest graduate at age fifteen. After beginning his professional career and capturing major awards—the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in 1997 and the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 2000—he sought further instruction and relocated to the United States to study at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. His mentor there was Joaquín Achúcarro, whose foundation Bax and Chung later served as co-artistic directors; he also joined the faculty of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts. He has kept strong connections with his native country, acting as artistic director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival. Early recordings include releases on the Dynamic label and an appearance on Naxos’s Dupré: Works for Organ, Vol. 6 in 1999. In 2004 he moved to Warner Classics for the solo album Baroque Reflections.

Bax continues to reside in the United States, sharing a home in New York with Chung while sustaining an international itinerary. He has performed with ensembles such as the London Philharmonic, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Symphony under conductors of the first rank, among them Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Marin Alsop. Equally active in chamber music, he has partnered with violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Steven Isserlis, and violist Nobuko Imai, among many others. His solo recitals have taken him throughout North America and Europe as well as to several East Asian capitals. He frequently appears with Chung, noting that their preparation of a piece can proceed without words. The pair issued Poulenc: Works for Piano Solo and Duo on Signum Classics in 2016; that same year Bax released Lullabies for Mila, a collection dedicated to his daughter. Additional Signum titles include Italian Inspirations (2020). In 2024 he and Chung returned to the label with Debussy and Ravel for Two. His culinary pursuits are well known, featuring elaborate dinner parties that the New York Times has covered in detail. He joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music in 2019.