Inon Barnatan

Called “one of the most admired pianists of his generation” by The New York Times, Inon Barnatan has received universal acclaim for his “uncommon sensitivity” (The New Yorker), “impeccable musicality and phrasing” (Le Figaro), and his stature as “a true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative” (The Evening Standard). A multifaceted musician, Barnatan is equally celebrated as a soloist, curator, and collaborator.

As a soloist, Barnatan regularly performs with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors. He was the inaugural artist-in-association of the New York Philharmonic from 2014-17 and has played with the BBC Symphony for the BBC Proms, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, and Boston, and most major U.S. orchestras, as well as the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and the London, Helsinki, Hong Kong, and Royal Stockholm philharmonics. He performed a complete Beethoven concerto cycle in Marseille; Copland’s Piano Concerto with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas both in San Francisco and at Carnegie Hall; and completed multiple U.S. tours with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, playing and conducting from the keyboard. With the Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä, Barnatan played Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 on New Year’s Eve, followed by a Midwest tour culminating in Chicago and a return to the BBC Proms in summer 2018.

Equally at home as a curator and chamber musician, Barnatan is music director of the La Jolla Music Society SummerFest in California, one of the leading music festivals in the country. He regularly collaborates with world-class partners such as soprano Renée Fleming and cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and plays at major chamber music festivals including those in Seattle, Santa Fe, and Spoleto USA. Barnatan was a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program from 2006 to 2009 and continues to perform with CMS in New York and on tour. His passion for contemporary music has led to commissions and performances of many living composers, including premieres of new works by Thomas Adès, Sebastian Currier, Avner Dorman, Alan Fletcher, Joseph Hallman, Alasdair Nicolson, Andrew Norman, and Matthias Pintscher, among others.

Barnatan's 2023-24 season highlights included concerto performances in the U.S. with the Colorado Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and internationally with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and London Philharmonic Orchestra. He gave solo recitals at Spivey Hall, the Phillips Collection, Leeds International Piano Series, Wigmore Hall, the Norwegian Opera and Ballet, and the 92nd Street Y. Barnatan also collaborated throughout the season with Renée Fleming at the University of Michigan's University Music Society, Celebrity Series of Boston, McCallum Theatre, and La Jolla Music Society, as well as with Alisa Weilerstein at Modlin Center for the Arts, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Wigmore Hall, and Barcelona Obertura. Barnatan held a residency at the University of Michigan's University Musical Society, which included performances with Renée Fleming, the Jerusalem Quartet, masterclasses, coaching, and more.

In November 2023, Barnatan released his album “Rachmaninoff Reflections,” featuring some of the composer’s most cherished piano works, including Moments musicaux, Prelude in G-Sharp Minor, and Barnatan’s own arrangement of Vocalise. The centerpiece of this project is Barnatan’s new piano arrangement of Symphonic Dances. His acclaimed discography includes a two-volume set of Beethoven’s complete piano concertos, recorded with Alan Gilbert and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields on Pentatone. 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.” In 2021, he released his “Time-Traveler Suite” album on Pentatone, merging Baroque movements by Bach, Handel, Rameau, and Couperin with movements by Ravel, Ligeti, Barber, and Thomas Adès, culminating in Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Handel. He also released a live recording of Messiaen’s 90-minute masterpiece Des canyons aux étoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars), in which he played the challenging solo piano part at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. In 2015, he released “Rachmaninov & Chopin: Cello Sonatas” on Decca Classics with Alisa Weilerstein, earning rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. His solo recording of Schubert’s late piano sonatas on Avie earned praise from Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine, and his recording of the A-major Sonata (D. 959) was chosen by BBC Radio 3 as one of the all-time best recordings of the piece. His 2012 album, “Darknesse Visible,” debuted in the Top 25 on the Billboard Traditional Classical chart, was named BBC Music’s instrumentalist CD of the month, and earned a spot on The New York Times’ Best of 2012 list. He made his solo recording debut with a Schubert album, released by Bridge Records in 2006, prompting Gramophone to hail him as “a born Schubertian.”

Barnatan’s 2022-23 season included concerto performances in the U.S. with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Sioux City Symphony Orchestra, and Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, and internationally with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, and Philharmonie Zuidnederland. He gave solo recitals in London, Kansas City, Aspen, and Santa Fe, and played chamber music at festivals throughout the U.S. Barnatan also toured North America with Les Violons du Roy, performing concertos by C.P.E. Bach and Shostakovich.

Previous career highlights include return performances with the Chicago Symphony and London Philharmonic orchestras, debuts with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and a recreation of Beethoven’s legendary 1808 concert with Louis Langrée and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Barnatan has given solo recitals at Celebrity Series of Boston, Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, and London’s Southbank Centre, and made his debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. Chamber music highlights include tours with Renée Fleming, Alisa Weilerstein, the Calidore Quartet, violinist Sergey Khachatryan, and percussionist Colin Currie. As artistic director of the La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, Barnatan has collaborated with Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, visionary director and visual artist Doug Fitch, the Mark Morris Dance Group, Garrick Ohlsson, Augustin Hadelich, Caroline Shaw, Carter Brey, and Anthony Roth Costanzo, among others.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon Barnatan started playing piano at the age of 3, when his parents discovered his perfect pitch, and made his orchestral debut at 11. His musical education connects him to some of the 20th century’s most illustrious pianists and teachers: he studied first with Victor Derevianko, a student of Russian master Heinrich Neuhaus, before moving to London in 1997 to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Christopher Elton and Maria Curcio, a student of the legendary Artur Schnabel. The late Leon Fleisher was also an influential teacher and mentor. For more information, visit www.inonbarnatan.com.