Jeremy Denk

Jeremy Denk is one of America’s foremost pianists, proclaimed by the New York Times as “a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs.” Also, a New York Times bestselling author, Denk is the recipient of both the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

During the 2024–25 season, Denk continues his collaboration with longtime musical partners Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis, with performances at the Tsindali Festival and Wigmore Hall, following his multi-concert artist residency at the Wigmore in 2023–24. He also returns to the Lammermuir Festival in multiple performances, including the complete Ives violin sonatas with Maria Wloszczowska and a solo recital featuring works by female composers from the past to the present day. He performs this same solo program on tour across the US, as well as continuing his exploration of Bach in ongoing performances of the complete Partitas. Denk is also known for his interpretations of the music of American visionary Charles Ives, and in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, Nonesuch Records will release a collection of the pianist’s Ives recordings later this year. 

Denk has performed frequently at Carnegie Hall, and in recent years has worked with such orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony. Meanwhile, he has performed multiple times at the BBC Proms and the Klavierfestival Ruhr, and appeared in such halls as the Köln Philharmonie, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Boulez Saal in Berlin. He has also performed extensively across the UK, including recently with the London Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Denk is also known for his original and insightful writing on music, which Alex Ross has praised for its “arresting sensitivity and wit.” His New York Times bestselling memoir, Every Good Boy Does Fine, was published to universal acclaim by Random House in 2022, receiving coverage on CBS Sunday Morning and NPR’s Fresh Air, as well as in the New York Times and the Guardian. Denk also wrote the libretto for a comic opera presented here at Cal Performances as well as at Carnegie Hall and the Aspen Festival, and his writing has appeared in the New Yorker, New Republic, Guardian, and Süddeutsche Zeitung and on the front page of the New York Times Book Review.