Michael Brown has been described as “one of the most refined of all pianist-composers” (International Piano) and “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers” (The New York Times). His unique artistry is reflected in his creative approach to programming, which often interweaves the classics with contemporary works and his own compositions.
Winner of a 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Mr. Brown is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing regularly at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. His engagements have taken him across four continents, with regular appearances with orchestras such as the National Philharmonic, Seattle, Grand Rapids, North Carolina, Maryland, and Albany Symphonies, and recitals at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the Louvre. He was also selected by pianist Sir András Schiff to perform on an international solo recital tour, making debuts in Zurich’s Tonhalle and New York’s 92nd Street Y. Mr. Brown has appeared at the Tanglewood, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Gilmore, Ravinia, and Bard music festivals, and performs regularly with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis.
As the Composer and Artist-in-Residence at the New Haven Symphony for the 2017-19 seasons, Mr. Brown will make multiple soloist appearances with the orchestra, as well as compose a newly commissioned symphony in 2019. Other commissions have come from the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Bargemusic, Concert Artists Guild, Shriver Hall, and Norton Building Concerts; for Osmo Vänskä and Erin Keefe, pianists Adam Golka, Roman Rabinovich, and Orion Weiss, and for a consortium of gardens including Wave Hill, Longwood, and Desert Botanical.
A prolific recording artist, Mr. Brown’s most recent releases include performances as a soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Brandenburg State Symphony, and a solo album of works by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Bernstein, and Brown.
Mr. Brown was First Prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition and a recipient of the Juilliard Petschek Award, and is a Steinway Artist. He earned dual Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald and composers Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. His mentors also include pianists Richard Goode and Sir András Schiff. A native New Yorker, he lives there with his two 19th-century Steinway D’s, Octavia and Daria.