Pianist Jonathan Biss made his initial mark in the late 1990s through solo appearances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and several other leading national ensembles. Though his programming has centered on core classical repertoire, he has also explored contemporary scores by John Corigliano, Leon Kirchner, and additional composers.
Born September 18, 1980, in Bloomington, Indiana, Biss descends from a prominent family of string players: his grandmother was cellist Raya Garbousova, the musician who inspired Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto; his mother is violinist Miriam Fried; and his father is violinist and violist Paul Biss. He began piano lessons at age six with Karen Taylor, then at age eleven entered studies at Indiana University with Evelyne Brancart. Three years later he won concerto competitions presented by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, after which he performed Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto in G minor with both groups.
In 1997 Biss ended his work with Brancart and moved to Philadelphia to study with Leon Fleisher at the Curtis Institute of Music. That same year he appeared at Wolf Trap with Isaac Stern, who presented him with the Shouse Debut Artist Award. The following year brought solo engagements with additional major American orchestras, among them the Seattle Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Rochester Philharmonic.
An Avery Fisher career grant followed in 1999. Career momentum accelerated in 2000 with New York appearances that included a debut as soloist under Kurt Masur with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall and a recital debut at the Tisch Center of the 92nd Street Y; both events received strong critical praise. Those successes led to further New York engagements, including additional concerts with the New York Philharmonic. In subsequent seasons Biss performed with most leading U.S. orchestras, among them those based in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, while abroad he appeared with the Staatskapelle Berlin under Daniel Barenboim and the Essen Philharmonic.
Chamber-music collaborations have included Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, and Kim Kashkashian. Biss has commissioned and premiered works by David Ludwig, Lewis Spratlan, and Bernard Rands; in 2015 he launched the commissioning project “Beethoven/5” with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, which resulted in five new concertos by different composers, each inspired by Beethoven.
His first recording, devoted to music of Beethoven and Schumann, appeared on EMI in 2004. Beginning in 2011 he undertook a complete survey of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, releasing the nine volumes over the next eight years; the finished set was issued by Orchid Classics in 2020. The same sonatas form the subject of his 2011 book Beethoven’s Shadow.
