Marilyn Nonken, piano and guest lecturer
Marilyn Nonken is one of the most celebrated champions of the modern repertoire of her generation, known for performances that explore transcendent virtuosity and extremes of musical expression. Upon her 1993 New York debut, she was heralded as “a determined protector of important music” (New York Times). Recognized a “one of the greatest interpreters of new music” (American Record Guide), she has been named “Best of the Year” by some of the nation’s leading critics.
Marilyn Nonken’s performances have been presented at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Miller Theatre, the Guggenheim Museum, (Le) Poisson Rouge, IRCAM, the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (Paris), the ABC (Melbourne), Instituto-Norteamericano (Santiago), the Music Gallery (Toronto), the Phillips Collection, and the Menil Collection, as well as conservatories and universities around the world. Festival appearances include Résonances and the Festival d’Automne (both, Paris) and When Morty Met John, Making Music, and Works and Process (all, New York), American Sublime (Philadelphia), The Festival of New American Music (Sacramento), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Aspects des Musiques d’Aujourd’hui (Caen), Messiaen 2008 (Birmingham, UK), New Music Days (Ostrava), Musikhøst (Odense), Music on the Edge (Pittsburgh), Piano Festival Northwest (Portland), and the William Kapell International Piano Festival and Competition. Highlights of recent seasons have included performances of Hugues Dufourt’s Erlkönig, Morton Feldman’s Triadic Memories, Tristan Murail’s complete piano music, and Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen with Sarah Rothenberg. Composers who have written for her include Milton Babbitt, Drew Baker, Pascal Dusapin, Jason Eckardt, Michael Finnissy, Joshua Fineberg, Liza Lim, and Tristan Murail.
She has recorded for New World Records, Mode, Lovely Music, Albany, Metier, Divine Art, Innova, CRI, BMOP Sound, New Focus, Cairos, Tzadik, and Bridge. Her solo discs include American Spiritual, a CD of works written for her, Morton Feldman: Triadic Memories, Tristan Murail: The Complete Piano Music, Stress Position: The Complete Piano Music of Drew Baker, and Voix Voilées, music of Joshua Fineberg and Hugues Dufourt. She appears as concerto soloist in David Rakowski’s Piano Concerto (Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project), Roger Reynolds’s The Angel of Death (Magnus Martensson and the Slee Sinfonietta), and Jason Eckardt’s Trespass (Timothy Weiss and the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble).
A student of David Burge at the Eastman School, Marilyn Nonken received a Ph.D. degree in musicology from Columbia University. Her writings on music have been published in Tempo, Perspectives of New Music, Contemporary Music Review, Agni, Current Musicology, Ecological Psychology, and the Journal of the Institute for Studies in American Music. She has contributed chapters to Perspectives on French Piano Music and Messiaen Perspectives 2: Techniques, Influence, and Reception (both, Ashgate) and is currently writing a monograph on spectral piano music for Cambridge University Press. Director of Piano Studies at New York University’s Steinhardt School, Marilyn Nonken is a Steinway Artist.
Ms. Nonken will perform works by Jolivet and Messiaen for the festival’s first concert on Thursday, March 5, give a lecture-recital on spectralism and the piano for the weekly Composers’ Forum on Friday, March 6, and will perform Jonathan Harvey’s Tombeau de Messiaen on Friday, March 6.
Marilyn Nonken’s performances have been presented at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Miller Theatre, the Guggenheim Museum, (Le) Poisson Rouge, IRCAM, the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (Paris), the ABC (Melbourne), Instituto-Norteamericano (Santiago), the Music Gallery (Toronto), the Phillips Collection, and the Menil Collection, as well as conservatories and universities around the world. Festival appearances include Résonances and the Festival d’Automne (both, Paris) and When Morty Met John, Making Music, and Works and Process (all, New York), American Sublime (Philadelphia), The Festival of New American Music (Sacramento), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Aspects des Musiques d’Aujourd’hui (Caen), Messiaen 2008 (Birmingham, UK), New Music Days (Ostrava), Musikhøst (Odense), Music on the Edge (Pittsburgh), Piano Festival Northwest (Portland), and the William Kapell International Piano Festival and Competition. Highlights of recent seasons have included performances of Hugues Dufourt’s Erlkönig, Morton Feldman’s Triadic Memories, Tristan Murail’s complete piano music, and Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen with Sarah Rothenberg. Composers who have written for her include Milton Babbitt, Drew Baker, Pascal Dusapin, Jason Eckardt, Michael Finnissy, Joshua Fineberg, Liza Lim, and Tristan Murail.
She has recorded for New World Records, Mode, Lovely Music, Albany, Metier, Divine Art, Innova, CRI, BMOP Sound, New Focus, Cairos, Tzadik, and Bridge. Her solo discs include American Spiritual, a CD of works written for her, Morton Feldman: Triadic Memories, Tristan Murail: The Complete Piano Music, Stress Position: The Complete Piano Music of Drew Baker, and Voix Voilées, music of Joshua Fineberg and Hugues Dufourt. She appears as concerto soloist in David Rakowski’s Piano Concerto (Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project), Roger Reynolds’s The Angel of Death (Magnus Martensson and the Slee Sinfonietta), and Jason Eckardt’s Trespass (Timothy Weiss and the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble).
A student of David Burge at the Eastman School, Marilyn Nonken received a Ph.D. degree in musicology from Columbia University. Her writings on music have been published in Tempo, Perspectives of New Music, Contemporary Music Review, Agni, Current Musicology, Ecological Psychology, and the Journal of the Institute for Studies in American Music. She has contributed chapters to Perspectives on French Piano Music and Messiaen Perspectives 2: Techniques, Influence, and Reception (both, Ashgate) and is currently writing a monograph on spectral piano music for Cambridge University Press. Director of Piano Studies at New York University’s Steinhardt School, Marilyn Nonken is a Steinway Artist.
Ms. Nonken will perform works by Jolivet and Messiaen for the festival’s first concert on Thursday, March 5, give a lecture-recital on spectralism and the piano for the weekly Composers’ Forum on Friday, March 6, and will perform Jonathan Harvey’s Tombeau de Messiaen on Friday, March 6.
