Xak Bjerken

Pianist Xak Bjerken has appeared as soloist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and has performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Glinka Hall in St. Petersburg, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, and the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He was for many years a member of the Los Angeles Piano Quartet, and has held chamber music residencies at Tanglewood, the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and the Spoleto Festival, and has taught and performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, Icicle Creek, and the Kfar Blum festival in Israel. Bjerken performs regularly with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestras, and for over 20 years he has directed Ensemble X, the new-music group founded by Steven Stucky. Bjerken has worked closely with composers Győrgy Kurtag, Sofia Gubaidulina, and George Benjamin, and recently recorded two albums of original compositions with the Bluegrass ensemble EZRA. He is professor of music at Cornell University where he co-directs the international chamber music festival Mayfest with his wife, pianist Miri Yampolsky. Bjerken studied with Aube Tzerko at the UCLA and received his master’s and doctoral degrees from the Peabody Conservatory as a student of and teaching assistant to Leon Fleisher.