Julius Drake

piano

The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc.

His passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for Wigmore Hall, London; The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; 92nd Street Y, New York; and the Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin. He curates an annual series of song recitals – Julius Drake and Friends – in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London. Julius holds a Professorship at Graz University in Austria for Music and the Performing Arts, where he has a class for song pianists. He is also a Professor of Collaborative Piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He is regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide.  

His many recordings include a widely acclaimed series with Gerald Finley for Hyperion Records (from which Songs by Samuel Barber, Schumann: Dichterliebe & other Heine Settings and Britten: Songs & Proverbs of William Blake won the 2007, 2009 and 2011 Gramophone Awards); recordings with Ian Bostridge and Alice Coote for EMI; with Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Matthew Polenzani for Wigmore Live; and with Anna Prohaska for Alpha. Julius’ recording of Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared, with tenor Nicky Spence and mezzo-soprano Václava Housková for Hyperion Records, won both the Gramophone and the BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2020. 

Recent concerts include three recitals in the series ‘Lied und Lyric’ in the Boulez Saal Berlin; recitals in Seuol and Daejeon with Ian Bostridge; in Barcelona and Wigmore Hall, London with Catriona Morrison; at the Schubertiadá Vilabertran with Julia Kleiter; at Middle Temple Hall, London, L’Athanée, Paris and the Schubertiade Festival, Austria with Christoph Prégardien; in Amsterdam and Cologne with Konstantin Krimmel; at the Konzerthaus, Vienna and Amici della Musica, Florence with Anna Prohaska; at the Janacek Festival in Brno with Nicky Spence; in Philadelphia, Santa Fe and Atlanta with Fleur Barron; and at Wigmore Hall, Schloss Elmau and the Prinzregententheater, Munich with Günther Groissböck.