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The Taiwanese-American pianist, Jenny Lin was born in Taiwan and raised in Austria. She studied with Noel Flores at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, with Julian Martin at the Peabody Conservatory (Artist Diploma) in Baltimore, and with Dominique Weber in Geneva. She has also worked with Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, and Blanca Uribe in New York, and with Dmitri Bashkirov and Andreas Staier at the Fondazione Internazionale per il pianoforte in Como, Italy.
She holds a bachelor's degree in German Literature from The Johns Hopkins University.
Jenny Lin is one of the most respected young pianists today, admired for her adventurous programming and charismatic stage presence. Her ability to combine classical and contemporary literature has brought her to the attention of international critics and audiences. She has been acclaimed for her "remarkable technical command" and "a gift for melodic flow" by The New York Times. The Washington Post praises "Lin's confident fingers... spectacular technique..." and Gramophone Magazine has hailed her as "an exceptionally sensitive pianist". Martha Argerich wrote: "Miss Jenny Lin is a very gifted young musician and a brilliant pianist."
Jenny Lin's recent orchestral engagements have included L.v. Beethoven's Choral Fantasy at Carnegie Hall with the Collegiate Chorale and the American Symphony, Valentin Silvestrov's Metamusik with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Garden of Spain with the La Orquesta Sinfónica de Gijón; Ernest Bloch's Concerto Grosso No. 1 with the SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart; world premiere of Stefano Gervasoni's Piano Concerto with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan. She has also appeared with the Flemish Radio Orchestra, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Orquesta de Valencia, and performed with conductors such as Lothar Zagrosek, James Bagwell, Jiri Starek, Urs Schneider, Alexander Mickelthwate, Peter Bay, Jac van Steen, Ovidiu Balan, Wen-Pin Chien, Kek-Tjiang Lim, John Kennedy, and Oliver Diaz.
Her concerts have taken her to Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, MoMA, Whitney Museum, Morgan Library, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Merce Cunningham's Experiments in the Studio, Winter Garden of the World Financial Center in New York; Kennedy Center, Corcoran Gallery, National Gallery of Art, and Phillips Collection in Washington DC; University of Chicago Presents and Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; Strathmore in Maryland; Spivey Hall in Atlanta; Salle Cortot in Paris; Victoria Hall in Geneva; and Festivals worldwide at Chopin Festival in Austria, Flanders and Ars Musica Festivals in Belgium, Divonne Festival in France, Millennium Festival in Spain, Festival Archipel in Switzerland, Winnipeg New Music and SoundaXis Festival in Canada, BAM's Next Wave, MATA, and Spoleto Festivals in the USA. Upcoming performances include Portland International Piano Festival, Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center, San Francisco Performances, Festivals in Potsdam and Husum in Germany, Nottingham in the UK, and Shanghai New Music Festival.
As one of the most sought-after players of the music of our time, Jenny Lin has numerous premieres and dedications to her credit. She has worked alongside composers such as Jonathan Bepler, Boudewijn Cox, Daniel Felsenfeld, Cornelius Dufallo, Luca Francesconi, Jason Freeman, John King, Jeffrey Mumford, Randy Nordschow, Jim Pugliese, Frederic Rzewski, Elliott Sharp, Valentin Silvestrov, Salvatore Sciarrino, Johannes Maria Staud and James Tenney, several of whom have written pieces for her. Among her multifaceted activities, she has collaborated with Jazz pianist Chris Wiesendanger, avant-garde guitarist Marc Ribot, trombonist George Lewis, and Wilco members Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche.
Jenny Lin's extensive discography includes critically acclaimed recordings on Hänssler Classic, Koch/E1 Music, BIS Records, and Sunrise Records. Classicstoday praised her latest album of the 24 Preludes and Fugues Op. 87 by Dmitri Shostakovich “…hands down the finest version of this massive work” and was voted Best of 2009 by the Washington Post, the New York Times called her "Preludes to a Revolution" (a collection of Russian Piano Preludes from 1905 to 1922) "…a darn good listen”, All-Music Guide raved: "The 11th Finger” (virtuosic contemporary solo piano pieces by Ligeti, Tenney, Vivier) is a thrill ride for musical adventurers" and "Lin's playing is nothing less than superhuman", and Gramophone reported on her album of piano works by Valentin Silvestrov a "beautifully arranged programme...Lin is an ideal exponent of music whose superfine dynamic and textural contrasts create their own expressive intensity". Other notable releases have included InsomniMania (Bolcom, Cage, Musto, Rzewski) and music for Piano and Orchestra by Ernest Bloch with the SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Ma Shui-Long's Piano Concerto, complete piano music of Ruth Crawford Seeger, “Chinoiserie” (compositions by Western composers inspired by China), and works by Chinese composers Guan Xia and Ma Yo-Dao. Her debut album of Franz Liszt's Sonata in B minor and Robert Schumann's Fantasie in C Major received "Best Performer" at the Golden Melody Award, the Asian Grammy. Upcoming releases include Federico Mompou's Musica Callada and Xavier Montsalvatge's Concerto Breve. Jenny is the central figure in Cooking for Jenny by Elemental Films, a musical documentary portraying her journey to the north of Spain and meeting with composer Javier López de Guereña for the preparation of the world premier of his piano concerto ZAHARA.
Jenny Lin currently resides in New York City where she also serves on the faculty of the 92nd Street Y. |
