Inon Barnatan

The flourishing career of pianist Inon Barnatan takes him to some of the most important music centers and festivals worldwide. Still in his twenties, Inon is gaining widespread recognition for his poetic and passionate music making, communicative performances and thoughtful and engaging programming. Inon recently performed his recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York, his American concerto debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Concertgebouw, Music@Menlo, Delft and Salzburg Festivals. In the summer of 2008, he made his debut at the Lanaudiere Festival and the Aspen Festival where he played a recital of Liszt and Messian. He has also appeared in Salla Verdi in Milan, the Royal Festival, Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Arts Theatre in Shanghai and Salle Gaveau in Paris. Inon also played his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Porto Symphony, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of New Europe, Haifa Symphony, Israel Chamber and Jerusalem Chamber Orchestras, with such conductors as Lawrence Foster, Philippe Entremont, Nir Kabaretti, James Gaffigan and Kynan Johns. In the summer of 2008, Inon’s debut with the San Francisco Symphony was a great triumph. His debut with the Houston Symphony orchestra, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, K.482 with maestro James Gaffigan, was described as “electric” by the Houston Chronicle, adding that “Barnatan [was] born to play Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22 with the elegance and intimacy that makes Mozart's music sparkle so much”. Recital highlights include appearances at the Louvre Auditorium in Paris, the Wigmore Hall in London, the prestigious “Rising Stars” series at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago and the Gilmore Festival in Michigan. Following his Gilmore Festival debut, the Kalamazoo Gazette wrote “Barnatan performed a dazzling program that had me stretching for the highest tier of accolades… his musical intelligence led to wholly individual musical identities for the five composers whose works he played”. An enthusiastic chamber music player, Inon was an artist of the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as part of Chamber Music Society Two. He performs and tours regularly with the Society, and appears in their first Itunes digital download, released by Deutsche Grammophon. Other chamber music performances include the complete Beethoven piano and violin sonatas at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with violinist Liza Ferschtman, the Bergen International Festival in Norway, the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the Verbier Festival and the Lyon Musicades. Inon has collaborated with such musicians as the Jerusalem String Quartet, Cho-Liang Lin, Miriam Fried, Gary Hoffman, Ralph Kirshbaum, Jonathan Biss, Martin Fröst and Paul Neubauer. Inon was awarded the prestigious Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Prize in Rockport, awarded every two years to an exceptional chamber music pianist. Inon’s debut CD of Schubert piano works for Bridge Records was released in June 2006 to great critical praise. London’s Evening Standard wrote “the young, Israeli born pianist Inon Barnatan is a true poet of the keyboard: refined searching, unfailingly communicative…this is musicianship of the highest calibre”. The Gramophone Magazine recommended the recording in its November 2006 award issue, calling Mr. Barnatan “a born Schubertian” and praising the CD’s “sensitivity, poise and focus”. Barnatan has appeared on many radio and television stations throughout the USA, Europe, Asia and Israel. His second CD of works for piano and violin by Beethoven and Schubert with violinst Liza Ferschtman has also won many accolades, and described by All Music Guide as “a magical Listening experience”. Inon has curated a project of Schubert’s solo piano and chamber music works last year, already performed at and presented by the Concertgebouw. Inon’s project will be performed at the Library of Congress and the Festival de México in Fall 2009. Artists who have been and will be included in the Schubert Project include Jonathan Biss, Kiril Gerstein, Shai Wosner, Alisa Weilerstein, the Jupiter, Belcea and Borromeo String Quartets, Liza Ferschtman, and baritone Christopher Maltman. Barnatan is also passionate about contemporary music, and performs and commissions music by living composers regularly. In the past season he has performed works by Katja Saariaho, George Crumb, Judith Weir, Avner Dorman, Venessa Lann, James Francis Brown, Thomas Ades, George Benjamin and others. Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon started playing the piano at the age of four. He made his orchestral debut at eleven, and continued his studies with Professor Victor Derevianko. In 1997 he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Maria Curcio (a student of the legendary Arthur Schnabel) and Christopher Elton. Inon has also coached extensively with Leon Fleisher, and played for eminent musicians such as Richard Goode, Radu Lupu, Daniel Barenboim, Murray Perahia, Claude Frank and Christoph Eschenbach. In 2006 Inon moved to New York City, where he resides today...