Piano
Pianist Shai Wosner has attracted international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity, and creative insight. His performances of a broad range of repertoire—from Beethoven and Schubert to Ligeti and the music of today—reflect a degree of virtuosity and intellectual curiosity that has made him a favorite among audiences and critics, who note his “keen musical mind and deep musical soul” (NPR’s All Things Considered).
In North America, Mr. Wosner has appeared with the major orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, San Francisco, and Toronto, among others. He has also performed with the ECCO, Orpheus, Los Angeles, and St. Paul chamber orchestras. Overseas, he has been heard with ensembles ranging from the BBC orchestras to the Vienna Philharmonic to the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim. Also a committed chamber musician, Mr. Wosner has collaborated with Martha Argerich, Martin Fröst, Lynn Harrell, Dietrich Henschel, Steven Isserlis, Ralph Kirshbaum, Jennifer Koh, Cho-Liang Lin, Christian Tetzlaff, and Pinchas Zukerman, among others.
Mr. Wosner records for Onyx Classics, and his recordings have been widely praised for their inventive pairings of classical and modern masters. Described as a “Schubertian of unfaltering authority and character” by Gramophone, he has recorded two all-Schubert albums for the label, and his catalog also includes Impromptu, featuring an eclectic mix of improvisationally inspired works by composers from Beethoven and Schubert to Gershwin and Ives; concertos and capriccios by Haydn and Ligeti with the Danish National Symphony conducted by Nicholas Collon; solo works by Brahms and Schoenberg; and works by Schubert paired with newly commissioned music by Missy Mazzoli. As a chamber musician, Mr. Wosner has recorded Beethoven’s complete sonatas and variations for cello and piano with Ralph Kirshbaum and—for Cedille Records—works by Bartók, Janáček, and Kurtág with his duo partner of many years, violinist Jennifer Koh.
Born in Israel, Mr. Wosner enjoyed a broad musical education from a very early age, studying piano with Opher Brayer and Emanuel Krasovsky, as well as composition, theory, and improvisation with André Hajdu. He later studied at The Juilliard School with Emanuel Ax. He is a recipient of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, which he used to commission Michael Hersch’s concerto Along the Ravines for performance with the Seattle Symphony and Deutsche Radio Philharmonie. He is also a former BBC New Generation Artist and alumnus of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two). He resides in New York with his wife and two children.
For more information on Mr. Wosner, please visit his Facebook fan page, follow him on Twitter (@ShaiWosnerPiano), and go to shaiwosner.com.
