Inon Barnatan

piano

Inon Barnatan—whom The New York Times has called “one of the most admired pianists of his generation”—has received universal acclaim for his “uncommon sensitivity” (The New Yorker), “impeccable musicality and phrasing” (Le Figaro), and being “a true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative” (The Evening Standard).

As a soloist, Barnatan is a regular performer with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors, and he was the inaugural Artist-in-Association for the New York Philharmonic. Equally at home as a curator and chamber musician, Barnatan is music director of La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, one of the leading music festivals in the country, and he regularly collaborates with world-class partners such as soprano Renée Fleming and cellist Alisa Weilerstein. His passion for contemporary music has resulted in commissions from and performances of works by many living composers, including premieres of new works by Thomas Adès, Andrew Norman, and Matthias Pintscher, among others.

Barnatan’s 2022–23 season highlights include concerto performances in the US with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston, Atlanta, and San Diego symphony orchestras, among others, and internationally with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool, Royal Stockholm, and South Netherlands philharmonic orchestras. Barnatan will give solo recitals in London, Kansas City, Aspen, and Santa Fe and play chamber music at festivals throughout the US. He’ll also tour North America with Les Violons du Roy, performing concertos by C. P. E. Bach and Shostakovich.

A recent addition to Barnatan’s acclaimed discography is a two-volume set of Beethoven’s complete piano concertos recorded with Alan Gilbert and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for the Pentatone label. In its review, BBC Music Magazine wrote, “The central strength of this first installment of Inon Barnatan’s piano concertos cycle is that, time and again, it puts you in touch with that feeling of ongoing wonderment.”

Inon Barnatan was born in Tel Aviv in 1979. He started playing the piano at the age of three, when his parents discovered his perfect pitch, and he made his orchestral debut at eleven. He studied with some of the 20th century’s most illustrious pianists and teachers, including Professor Victor Derevianko, Christopher Elton, and Maria Curcio, and Leon Fleisher was also an influential teacher and mentor. For more information, visit www.inonbarnatan.com.