Jeremy Denk

Based in New York City, pianist Jeremy Denk has built a reputation that spans chamber collaborations just as prominently as his solo recitals and orchestral appearances. He has partnered repeatedly with violinists Joshua Bell and Soovin Kim, violist Roberto Diaz, the Shanghai, Vermeer, and Jupiter string quartets, and the ensemble Windscape. His programming reaches from J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorák, Richard Strauss, and Bartók through a wide array of modern and contemporary voices that include Leon Kirchner, John Corigliano, and Tobias Picker. Among the substantial new pieces he has introduced is Ned Rorem’s The Unquestioned Answer, unveiled in 2003. In 2024, Denk joined Bell and cellist Steven Isserlis for a Sony Classical recording of Mendelssohn piano trios.

Born in Durham, North Carolina, on May 16, 1970, Denk pursued studies first at the Oberlin Conservatory, then earned graduate degrees at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under György Sebök and at Juilliard with Herbert Stessin. His major New York debut took place at Alice Tully Hall in 1997, the same year he appeared on an Indiana University–label disc featuring David Dzubay’s Trio for violin, cello, and piano. The following year he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions.

Early in his career he introduced further significant scores, among them Jake Heggie’s Cut in Time with the Eos Orchestra in 2001 and Leon Kirchner’s Duo No. 2 with Ida Levin in 2002. His initial solo album, released by Chandos in 2003, presented Tobias Picker’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (“Keys to the City”) with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Sanderling. Denk first shared a stage with Joshua Bell at the 2004 Spoleto Festival; the duo has since given more than seventy concerts worldwide and earned praise for their 2007 Sony recording of the Corigliano Violin Sonata. As soloist, Denk has performed with the orchestras of Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and numerous ensembles overseas. Recitals and chamber programs have taken him across the United States and Europe, frequently alongside Bell. In 2012 the pair issued French Impressions on Sony Classical. Between 2012 and 2020 Denk recorded for Nonesuch, releasing among other projects the album c. 1300 - c. 2000 in 2018. The 2024 Mendelssohn trios album marked another return to Sony Classical with Bell and Isserlis. Denk maintains a faculty position at the Bard College Conservatory of Music.