Jeremy Denk (born May 16, 1970 in Durham, North Carolina) is an American classical pianist.
Early life
Denk did not come from a musical family. After several years in New Jersey, his family settled in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he grew up. He attended Oberlin College and did graduate work at Indiana University where he studied with György Sebők.[1]
In 2014, Denk served as music director of the Ojai Music Festival, for which, besides performing and curating, he wrote the libretto for a comic opera, The Classical Style, with music by Steven Stucky.[9] The opera was later presented by Carnegie Hall and the Aspen Festival. Denk is known for his original and insightful writing on music, which Alex Ross praises for its "arresting sensitivity and wit."[This quote needs a citation] His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, The Guardian, and on the front page of The New York Times Book Review.[10][11] One of his New Yorker contributions, "Every Good Boy Does Fine" (cf. EGBDF), forms the basis of a book published by Random House in the US, and Macmillan in the UK.[12] Recounting his experiences of touring, performing, and practicing, his blog, Think Denk, was recently selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress web archives.[5][13]
In 2012, Denk made his Nonesuch debut with a pairing of masterpieces old and new: Beethoven's final Piano Sonata No. 32, Op. 111, and Ligeti's Études.[14] The album was named one of the best of 2012 by The New Yorker, NPR, and The Washington Post, and Denk's account of the Beethoven sonata was selected by BBC Radio 3's Building a Library as the best available version recorded on modern piano. Denk has a long-standing attachment to the music of American visionary Charles Ives, and his recording of Ives's two piano sonatas featured in many "best of the year" lists.
In 2019, Denk released an album entitled c.1300–c.2000, of piano versions of pieces by composers from circa the years 1300 to 2000. The album was released on Nonesuch Records.[16] He discussed the work on BBC Radio 4's Front Row in March 2019.[17]
