Jonathan Biss, the twenty-six year old American pianist, has already established a flourishing international career through his orchestral and recital performances in North America and Europe and latterly through his recordings for EMI Classics.
His recording of Schumann's Fantasie, Arabesque and Kreisleriana, which was released last season, was widely and very warmly acclaimed, and his second recording for EMI of Beethoven sonatas, released in autumn 2007 has also been widely praised. Classic FM magazine wrote "Biss has the rare ability to make you sit up and take notice as if you were hearing a well-known piece for the very first time … Biss tantalisingly combines Classical concision with a Romanticised poetic sensitivity that gets right to the heart of Beethoven's creative vision".
Biss has worked with many distinguished conductors such as Alsop, Barenboim, Conlon, Davies, Dutoit, Levine, Maazel, Marriner, Morlot, Nézet-Séguin, Robertson, Slatkin, Tilson-Thomas, Zukerman and Zinman. He appears regularly with the major orchestras of the USA including the Boston SO, Cincinnati SO, Chicago SO, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, National SO, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh SO and San Francisco SO.
In Europe, he has performed with the BBC SO, BBC PO, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Helsinki PO, Israel PO, Mahler CO, Munich Philharmonic, Netherlands PO, Rotterdam PO, Stockholm PO, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, and twice with the Staatskapelle Berlin. In the current season, he appears with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Bamberg Symfoniker, Swedish CO, Danish National SO, and with the Camerata Salzburg and Sir Roger Norrington, both in the orchestra's Abonnement series and in Vienna and Graz.
Recital and chamber music continue to play a vital part in Biss's artistic life. He plays in many of the great series in the USA including, most recently, New York, Philadelphia, Berkeley, Chicago, and increasingly in major cities and festivals across Europe including the Salzburg and Lucerne Festivals, Salzburg Mozartwoche, Schleswig-Holstein, Beethovenfest, Bonn, La Roque D'Antheron and the Verbier Festival. He opened the Master Piano Series in the Concertgebouw last season, a return visit to the Concertgebouw, and he gave a highly successful recital in the International Piano Series in London where he will return for a duo recital with Richard Goode. This season, he also gives recitals in the Schwetzingen Festival and at London's Wigmore Hall, and in the summer of 2008 gives a series of recitals as a trio with Midori and Johannes Moser.
Biss represents the third generation in a family of professional musicians that includes his grandmother Raya Garbousova (for whom Samuel Barber composed his Cello Concerto), as well as his parents, violinist Miriam Fried and violist/violinist Paul Biss.
He has been recognised with numerous awards, including the 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award, Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, and the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni Trust. He was the first and only American chosen to participate in the BBC's New Generation Artist programme, and in 2005 he received the Leonard Bernstein Award presented to him at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany. Most recently, Biss's recording of Schumann sonatas, his first on contract for EMI, was awarded the Diapason d'Or de l'Année, in the 'Jeune Talent' category.
Jonathan Biss records exclusively for EMI Classics.
Jonathan Biss is represented by Jessica Ford at Intermusica, jford@intermusica.co.uk
March 2008 / 537 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.