Conor Hanick

Pianist Conor Hanick is regarded as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old, whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master” (New York Times). Hanick’s playing, “a revelation of clarity and bite,” recalled to the Times’ Anthony Tommasini a “young Peter Serkin,” and his performance of John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes was, according to Times’ critic David Allan, “the best instrumental concert I have seen all year,” praise echoed by the Boston Globe, which named the performance “Best Solo Recital” of 2019.

Hanick has recently performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and been presented by the Gilmore Festival, New York Philharmonic, Elbphilharmonie, De Singel, Centre Pompidou, Caramoor, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Park Avenue Armory, and the Ojai Festival, where in 2022 with AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company) he served as the festival’s artistic director. A fierce advocate for the music of today, and “the soloist of choice for such thorny works” (New York Times), Hanick has premiered more than 200 pieces and collaborated with composers both emerging and iconic; among them, Hanick has worked with Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, Steve Reich, Tania León, and Charles Wuorinen, in addition to the leading composers of his generation, including Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, inti figgis-vizueta, Chris Cerrone, Anthony Cheung, and Samuel Carl Adams, whose piano concerto No Such Spring he premiered in 2023 with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony.

During the 2025–26 season, Hanick presents solo and chamber recitals in the US and Europe, including recitals presented by Other Minds, Da Camera, the Kaufman Center, Ojai Festival, and the Barbican Centre. Hanick appears with Orchestra Iowa in Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto and the BBC Philharmonic for the UK premiere of John Adams’ No Such Spring, and tours From Ordinary Things, his trio project with cellist Seth Parker Woods and soprano Julia Bullock. Additional collaborations with Sandbox Percussion, cellist Jay Campbell, and Ensemble New SRQ feature the premiere of Marcos Balter’s Three Enigmas for cello, piano, and electronics and a 50th anniversary performance of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians.

Since 2014, Hanick has been a faculty artist at the Music Academy of the West and in 2018, he became the director of its solo piano program. He has given lectures and master classes in Asia, Europe, and throughout the US, including at Northwestern University, the New England Conservatory, UCLA, University of Washington, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and University of Iowa. He is a member of the keyboard and chamber music faculty of the Juilliard School, Mannes College, and the CUNY Graduate Center. A Yamaha Artist, Hanick is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Juilliard School. He lives in the Hudson Valley.