John Blacklow

Biography

Acclaimed by the New York Times for his “powerful and eloquent” performances, by the Washington Post for his “expert performance…sensitivity, virtuosity and imagination”, and as “a brilliant performer—a gifted musical presence with a high sense of pianistic fantasy” (Salzburger Nachrichten), pianist John Blacklow has been presented on many of the world's most renowned concert stages. In Europe, he has performed in such venues as the Musikverein in Vienna, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Salle Gaveau and Cité de la Musique in Paris, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and Wigmore Hall in London, the Philharmonie in Cologne, Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden. In the U.S., invited performances have included Carnegie Hall’s “Distinctive Debuts” series and Alice Tully Hall in New York, both the Kennedy Center and the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Wortham Center in Houston, and UCLA Live in Los Angeles. Recent seasons have also included performances in Athens (Greece), Birmingham (UK), Brussels, Lugano, Venice, Zurich, Seoul, Pusan, Daegu, Shanghai, Beijing, and Taipei. Live radio and television appearances have included Fuji Television (Tokyo), NPR “Performance Today”, BBC, KBS-TV in South Korea, Radio France.

Blacklow has performed frequently as a guest principal keyboardist with major orchestras on the West Coast, including Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, under conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Pierre Boulez, Rafael Payare, Edo de Waart, Leonard Slatkin, Jeffrey Kahane, John Williams, Marin Alsop, and Robert Spano, and has been invited to perform on the L.A. Philharmonic's Green Umbrella New Music Series and Chamber Music Society. Other recent collaborations have included the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music Series and Princeton Sound Kitchen.

A Steinway Artist, Blacklow graduated from The Juilliard School and Harvard University, studying with John Browning, Bella Davidovich, and Tatiana Yampolsky. He currently serves as Professor of Piano at the University of Notre Dame and has recorded for Universal Music, Ltd., Bridge, Albany (including the complete Schumann sonatas with violinist Jennifer Frautschi), Acis, and DG-iTunes. He has been invited to teach masterclasses and workshops at many prominent music schools, including Tanglewood, New England Conservatory, Indiana University (Jacobs School), Stanford, University of Connecticut, Levine School in Washington D.C., and internationally at the National University in Taipei and PKU in China.