From Bill's Desk

Jeremy Denk, piano

It’s not often that a classical musician wins a MacArthur Genius Grant, but pianist Jeremy Denk did in 2013, which turned out to be a pretty good year for him. He also picked up the Avery Fisher Prize—Lincoln Center’s esteemed award for music. What sets him apart from the host of other accomplished artists? For one thing, he is as skilled a writer as he is a pianist, and I urge you to check out his aptly-named personal blog, “Think Denk,” which conveys his deep emotional engagement and intellectual insight. What also sets him apart from so many of his keyboard colleagues are his thought-provoking programs that head off the beaten track, much like the one he will be playing at McCarter on May 1. Sure, there are a couple of standards that one never tires of hearing , like Schumann’s Fantasy in C and Beethoven’s Sonata No. 30 Op.109, but there are also other works that you rarely encounter, like Prokofiev’s Visions Fugitives and Liszt’s arrangement of Beethoven’s An Die Ferne Geliebte.