Shai Wosner has gained international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity and creative insight. With a repertoire ranging from Mozart and Beethoven to Ligeti and composers of his own generation, he has been hailed by the Financial Times as "an artist to follow keenly". In the 2009-2010 season Shai Wosner appeared twice with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performing at the Ravinia Festival following his subscription debut. He also returned to the BBC Scottish Symphony in both subscription concerts and an appearance at the Proms, and conducted the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard in a concert broadcast on American Public Radio. His live broadcasts also included a performance with the BBC Philharmonic at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. Other recent highlights include his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra; his return to the Atlanta and Houston symphonies and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia; and solo recitals at London's Wigmore Hall, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the 92nd Street Y in New York and the Oregon Bach Festival. His 2010-2011 season includes subscription concerts with the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the release of a solo recording of works by Brahms and Schoenberg on the Onyx label. Wosner is the recipient of both an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and a former BBC New Generation Artist. He has worked with conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Slatkin, Donald Runnicles, Alan Gilbert, Zubin Mehta and Hans Graf, and collaborated with such esteemed artists as Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Cho-Liang Lin and Christian Tetzlaff. Shai Wosner lives in New York City.
Photograph taken by Marco Borggreve
BBT Project: Brahms Schoenberg CD on Onyx Classics
"His fingers are at the service of a keen musical mind and deep musical soul. He's downright thrilling in recital. So if you have the chance to see him, take it. You'll witness a young artist at the beginning of his career, who — decades down the line — will be spoken of as one of the greats."
National Public Radio, USA 30 December 2010
"...this is pianism of the very highest order, involving and full-blooded, with such burnished passion from Wosner…an extraordinary demonstration of the delicacy and subtlety of Wosner’s artistry. In short, a fascinating disc: this is a pianist to watch."
Nicholas Salwey, International Piano Magazine October 2010
"The links between these giants come through compellingly on the new recording of works by Brahms and Schoenberg by the excellent Israeli-born pianist Shai Wosner. He plays the Schoenberg suite with crispness and clarity. The Gavotte and the Musette dance and swing with appropriate Baroque energy…Yet Mr Wosner also captures the modernist daring and wildness of the music. When the music turns restless, he plays with infectious spontaneity, adjusting tempos at will. He also gives a joyous, technically assured account of Brahms's exhilarating Handel Variations... This is an inventively conceived and impressive recording."
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times 10 October 2010
"This is a genuinely imaginative pairing of two composers who have more in common than their popular images might suggest... The sequence works well, and Wosner's understated playing suits it perfectly."
Andrew Clements The Guardian 27 August 2010
I guess one way to describe receiving the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award is being a kid in a candy store...! It is such a terrific opportunity to realize some long-awaiting ideas, while sidestepping obstacles that young artists normally encounter. The support this award gives is truly unique and laudable because it combines the practical with the creative, through the collaboration with the Trust and its panel. And for that I am deeply grateful.