Emanuel Ax

One of the most esteemed keyboard artists spanning the 20th and 21st centuries, Emanuel Ax has appeared throughout the United States and Europe. Chamber works by Béla Bartók, Schoenberg, and Mozart figure prominently in his programs, and he maintains regular partnerships for concerts and recitals with Yo-Yo Ma and Yong Uck Kim. Already celebrated by age 25, his stature among classical pianists has continued to grow.

Born in Lvov, Poland, on June 8, 1949, Ax began piano studies at six in Warsaw. His family relocated to North America in 1961, and he later trained at the Juilliard School of Music in New York under Mieczyslaw Munz. His first professional recital took place in 1973. International recognition arrived the following year when he captured the inaugural Arthur Rubenstein International Competition in Israel, launching a career of sustained prominence. After extensive performances worldwide, including a London appearance in 1977, he returned to New York to receive the Avery Fisher Prize for Music in 1979. He has appeared frequently with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, and Philadelphia Orchestra, and he participates in festivals such as Ravinia, Aspen, and Tanglewood. In 1994 he performed Mozart’s D minor concerto at the London Proms.

Ax entered an exclusive recording agreement with the Sony Classical label in 1987. Among his projects for the company are the Liszt Concertos, a Schoenberg Concerto, and numerous works by Beethoven and Brahms, notably the Brahms Second Concerto with the Boston Symphony under Bernard Haitink. The second and third installments of his Haydn piano sonata cycle each earned a Grammy Award. During the 1996–1997 European tour, he presented Hans Werner Henze’s Tristan under Kurt Masur in honor of the composer’s 70th birthday. His international profile has been reinforced by engagements with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the European Union Youth Orchestra, and the Berlin Festival Orchestra, as well as collaborations with conductors including Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, and Leonard Slatkin.

Beyond his seasonal schedule of concerts and recitals, Ax continues to record with fellow musicians. He has partnered regularly with cellist Yo-Yo Ma since the 1970s, earning five Grammy Awards together; one of these recognized an album of clarinet trios performed with Ma and Richard Stoltzman. Alongside Isaac Stern, Jaime Laredo, and Yo-Yo Ma, he toured the United States with works by Brahms, Fauré, Beethoven, and Mozart. In 2020 the duo resumed their association with a series of Carnegie Hall recitals and delivered impromptu performances for essential workers amid that year’s coronavirus lockdowns. When live events resumed, Ax, Ma, and violinist Leonidas Kavakos offered audiences at Tanglewood a trio arrangement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. The ensemble subsequently launched the Beethoven for Three recording series in 2022, which found immediate favor with listeners. Ax maintains a teaching position at the Juilliard School.