Jonathan Biss (born September 18, 1980) is an American pianist, teacher, and writer based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He is the co-artistic director (with Mitsuko Uchida) of the

Marlboro Music Festival The Marlboro Music School and Festival is a retreat for advanced classical training and musicianship held for seven weeks each summer in Marlboro, Vermont, in the United States. Public performances are held each weekend while the school is in ses ...

Early life and education

Biss was born into a family of musicians in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in Monroe County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. The population was 79,168 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-most populous city in Indiana and ...

. His paternal step-grandmother was one of the first well-known female cellists, the Russian cellist Raya Garbousova, for whom

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor (music), conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-20th century. Principally influenced ...

wrote his cello concerto. His parents, Miriam Fried and Paul Biss, are both violinists. His older brother Daniel is a politician serving as the mayor of

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

. Biss started learning the piano at age six, studying with Karen Taylor and Evelyne Brancart at

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

Jacobs School of Music The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music. It has more than 1,500 students, approximately half of whom ar ...

, where both his parents taught violin. At 17, Biss entered the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

to study with Leon Fleisher. Interviewed by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in 2011 in the run-up to Biss's

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

debut recital, Fleisher said of Biss:

His ability and interest go for things of transcendence and sublimeness. That made a great impression on me. He took a very healthy road that started with chamber music, both with his mother and then more extensively at places like Ravinia and Marlboro, and he got to be known by the elders in the profession as somebody to look out for.

Career

Biss made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the You ...

. In early 2001, he performed with the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...

under the baton of

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (; 18 July 192719 December 2015) was a German Conducting, conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewand ...

. His European career was launched in 2002 when he became the first American to be selected as a BBC New Generation Artist, winning a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award the following year. He made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall in January 2011. He has appeared with the foremost U.S. orchestras, including the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics; the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphonies; and the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras. Biss is a frequent guest soloist in Europe, where he has appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. An enthusiastic performer of chamber music, Biss has appeared with renowned artists such as Uchida, Fleisher, Richard Goode, Midori, and

Kim Kashkashian Kim Kashkashian (born August 31, 1952) is an American violist. She has spent her career in the U.S. and Europe and collaborated with many major contemporary composers. In 2013 she won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. She i ...

In 2010, Biss was appointed to the piano faculty as Neubauer Family Chair at his alma mater, the

. As part of his teaching career, Biss became the first classical musician to partner with

Coursera Coursera Inc. () is an American global massive open online course provider. It was founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Coursera works with universities and other organizations to offe ...

. Together they created ''Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas'', a free video course on several of Beethoven's most famous sonatas. The course has reached more than 150,000 students in more than 185 countries. He will continue to add lectures until he covers all the sonatas. Throughout his career, Biss has been particularly noted for his immersive focus on single composers. In 2011, on Beethoven's birthday, he released the eBook ''Beethoven's Shadow'', a 19,000-word meditation on the art of performing Beethoven's piano sonatas. Biss was the first classical musician to be commissioned to write a Kindle

eBook An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

. In January 2012, the record label Onyx released the first of Biss's recordings of Beethoven's piano sonatas. It was the first of nine discs to be released over as many years. Biss dedicated his 2012–13 season to

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

, declaring himself "a fanatic for every note Schumann wrote." The project was titled "Schumann: Under the Influence" and explored Schumann's influences and his legacy. Biss performed a series of concerts internationally with pieces by Schumann's predecessors such as

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

, Beethoven, and

Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version of Shakespeare's ...

, and composers who have been influenced by his music such as

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

and contemporary composers György Kurtág and Timo Andres. As part of the project, Biss wrote the Kindle Single eBook ''A Pianist Under the Influence''. The work explains Biss's lifelong, intense, multi-layered relationship with Schumann's music and was excerpted in ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

''. Biss also released an album of Schumann and Dvořák with Elias String Quartet. Biss is also an advocate for new music. He has commissioned pieces including ''Lunaire Variations'' by David Ludwig, ''Interlude II'' by

Leon Kirchner Leon Kirchner (January 24, 1919 – September 17, 2009) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he won a Pulitzer Pr ...

, ''Wonderer'' by Lewis Spratlan, and ''Three Pieces for Piano'' and a concerto by Bernard Rands, which he premiered with the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

. He has also premiered a piano quintet by

William Bolcom William Elden Bolcom (born May 26, 1938) is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. He ...

. In 2016 Biss launched ''Beethoven/5'', for which the

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is an American chamber orchestra based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Its principal concert venue is the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. In collaboration with five artistic partners, the orchestra's musi ...

is commissioning five composers to write new piano concertos, each inspired by one of Beethoven's five piano concertos. Biss premiered "The Blind Banister" by Timo Andres, which was named a finalist for the

Pulitzer Prize for Music The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted i ...

, "City Stanzas" by

Sally Beamish Sarah Frances Beamish (born 26 August 1956) is a British composer and violist. Her works include chamber, vocal, choral and orchestral music. She has also worked in the field of music, theatre, film and television, as well as composing for ch ...

, ''Il sogno di Stradella'' by

Salvatore Sciarrino Salvatore Sciarrino (born 4 April 1947) is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music. Described as "the best-known and most performed Italian composer" of the present day, his works include ''Quaderno di strada'' (2003) and ''La porta d ...

, "Watermark" by Caroline Shaw, and '' Gneixendorfer Musik - eine Winterreise'' by Brett Dean. Biss has begun examining, both in concert and academically, the concept of a composer's "late style", focusing on musicians who went in surprising directions at the ends of their lives. He has put together several programs of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

, Britten,

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

, Gesualdo, Kurtág,

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

, and

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

's later works, which he performed with the Brentano Quartet and Mark Padmore in the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, and across the United States. He also gave masterclasses at

in connection with the idea of late style and published ''Coda'', a Kindle single on the topic, in 2017. In 2018, Marlboro Music announced that Biss would assume the role of co-artistic director (with Mitsuko Uchida) of the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. Biss has a long connection with Marlboro, where he spent 12 summers as both a junior and senior participant. Starting in September 2019, in the lead-up to the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth in December 2020, Biss performed a whole season focused around Beethoven's Piano Sonatas, with more than 50 recitals worldwide. This included the complete sonatas at the Wigmore Hall and Berkeley, multi-concert-series in Washington, Philadelphia and Seattle, and recitals in Rome, Budapest, New York and Sydney. In 2020 Biss performed a

Tiny Desk Concert ''Tiny Desk Concerts'' is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of former '' All Songs Considered'' host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. The first ''Tiny Desk Concert'' came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music ed ...

for

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, the United States' National Public Radio. The same year, he released ''Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven'', as part of

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

's Words+Music series. ''Unquiet'' was listed as one of the platform's Top Ten Audiobooks the week it was released. Beginning in September 2021, Biss joined the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

as a guest lecturer.

Personal life

Biss is married to Christopher Biss-Brown, curator of the Children's Literature Research Collection at the

Free Library of Philadelphia The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...

. Biss has openly discussed his struggles with anxiety and the effects performance has on his mental health.

Awards

* 1997: Wolf Trap's Shouse Debut Artist award * 1999: Avery Fisher Career Grant * 2002: Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award * 2002: Gilmore Young Artist Award * 2003: Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award * 2002–2004: member of

BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme (also known as the NGA scheme) was launched in 1999 by Adam Gatehouse as part of the BBC's commitment to young musical talent. Each autumn six or seven young artists at the beginning of careers on the ...

* 2005: Leonard Bernstein Award

Recordings

*''Beethoven/5 Vol. 1: Beethoven ‘Emperor’ Concerto , Brett Dean ‘A Winter’s Journey’'', Jonathan Biss, 2024 *''Complete Piano Sonatas'', Jonathan Biss, 2020 *''Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 9 - Nos. 7, 18, 32,'' Jonathan Biss, 2019 *''Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 8 - Nos. 8 (Pathétique), 10, 22, 31,'' Jonathan Biss, 2019 *''Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 7 - Nos. 2, 20, 17 (The Tempest), 30,'' Jonathan Biss, 2018 *''Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 6 – Nos. 9, 13 & 29 (Hammerklavier),'' Jonathan Biss, 2017 * ''Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 5 – Nos. 3, 25, 27 and 28,'' Jonathan Biss, 2016 * ''Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 4 – Nos. 1, 6, 19 and 23 (Appassionata),'' Jonathan Biss, 2015 * ''Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 3 – Nos. 15 (Pastoral), 16 & 21 (Waldstein)'', Jonathan Biss, Onyx Classics, 2014 * ''Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Vol. 2 – Nos. 4, 14 (Moonlight) & 24, (A Thérèse)'', Jonathan Biss, Onyx Classics, 2013 * ''Schumann: Piano Quintet; Dvorak: Piano Quintet No.2'', Jonathan Biss and Elias Quartet, Onyx Classics, 2012 * ''Beethoven Sonatas Vol. 1 – Nos. 5, 11, 12 (Funeral March) & 26 (Les Adieux)'', Jonathan Biss, Onyx Classics, 2012 * ''Schubert: Piano Sonata in A Major D959; Piano Sonata in C Major 'Reliquie' D840; and two Kurtág Piano Miniatures'', Jonathan Biss, Live From Wigmore Hall, WHLive0030, 2009 * ''Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 22'', Jonathan Biss and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, EMI Classics, 2008 * ''Beethoven: Piano Sonatas'', Jonathan Biss, EMI Classics, 2007 * ''Schumann Recital – Fantasie, Kreisleriana & Arabeske'', Jonathan Biss, EMI Classics, 2007 * ''Beethoven, Schumann: Piano Works'', Jonathan Biss, EMI Classics, 2004

Bibliography

* * * *

References

External links

Jonathan Biss Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biss, Jonathan 1980 births Living people American people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish American classical musicians Curtis Institute of Music alumni Jacobs School of Music alumni Jewish classical pianists BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists 21st-century American classical pianists 21st-century American Jews