BIOGRAPHY
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SHORT VERSION
Blair McMillen
has established himself as one of the most versatile and sought-after
young pianists today. The New York Times has
called his playing "lustrous," "riveting," and
"brilliant.....prodigiously accomplished and exciting."
Known for imaginative and daring programming, he plays a repertoire that
spans from late-medieval keyboard manuscripts to today's up-and-coming
younger generation of composers.
Recent
appearances include Miller Theatre's 15th-anniversary "Piano Revolution"
recital series, the Moscow Conservatory, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Concerten Tot en Met (Amsterdam), Harvard University, CalArts, Caramoor, Casals
Hall (Tokyo), and Carnegie's Zankel Hall. Recent solo
programs have included performances of selections from the Codex
Faenza (penned in the early 1400's), a New York recital of music
inspired by the art of improvisation, and the U.S. premieres of solo
pieces by Frederic Rzewski and Giacinto Scelsi. During the 2005-06
season, Mr. McMillen made
his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist under the baton of David Robertson.
Dedicated to new and groundbreaking projects, Blair McMillen is
committed to performing the music of today. A founding member of
the performer/composer collective
counter)induction, and
pianist for the Naumburg Award-winning
Da Capo Chamber Players; he
also plays regularly with the downtown NYC-based
Avian Music and the
American Modern Ensemble.
He was a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble for
three summers, and gave the premieres of numerous works with this
ensemble.
Mr. McMillen has
worked closely with many composers; including Lee Hyla, John Harbison,
George Crumb, Annie Gosfield, Eric Moe, Joan Tower, George Perle, Thomas
Ades, and Ned Rorem, among many others. A self-taught jazz
pianist, he is regularly involved in improvisation projects ranging from
the straight-ahead to the avant-garde.
As soloist and collaborator, Mr. McMillen has performed at the
Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, with the American Symphony Orchestra, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, soprano Lucy Shelton, clarinetist David Krakauer, the New York Woodwind Quintet, and with members of
the Brentano, Colorado, and Flux String Quartets. He has also appeared with the Locrian Chamber Players,
Concordia Chamber Players, Quintet of the Americas, American Ballet Theatre
(piano concerto and solo appearances), the Jose Limon Dance Company, and the New Juilliard Ensemble.
A native of Charlotte NC, Mr. McMillen holds degrees from
Oberlin College, Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School. While
at Juilliard, he won the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition and
received the Sony ES Career Grant for Musical Excellence, a career-advancement
award. He was the only unanimously-chosen winner
in the forty-year history of the National Young Artists
Competition, and he was a winner of the Time-Warner Award at the
Aspen
Music Festival.
Mr. McMillen's teachers have included
Jerome Lowenthal, Byron Janis, Joseph Kalichstein, and Robert McDonald.
A solo CD "Soundings;"
featuring the works of Liszt, Scriabin, Debussy, Copland, and Bolcom; was
released to rave reviews in 2004. Blair McMillen has several recordings of
solo material being released in 2007-08: The Complete Keyboard Music of
Esa-Pekka Salonen on Bridge Records, Concert Music of Fred Hersch on
Naxos, and a multi-composer recording of solo piano music (b. 1938...)
for Centaur. Mr. McMillen resides in New York City and serves on
the piano faculty at Bard College.
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