Geoffrey Burleson

GEOFFREY BURLESON, PIANIST, has performed to wide acclaim throughout Europe and North America, and is equally active as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician and jazz performer. The New York Times has hailed his solo performances as “vibrant” and “compelling”, and has praised his “command, projection of rhapsodic qualities without loss of rhythmic vigor, and appropriate sense of spontaneity and fetching colors”. And the Boston Globe refers to Mr. Burleson as a “remarkable pianist” and “a first-class instrumental presence” whose performances are “outright thrilling.” His numerous acclaimed solo appearances include prominent venues in Paris (at the Église St-Merri), New York (Carnegie Recital Hall), Rome (American Academy), Athens (Mitropoulos Hall), Mexico City (National Museum of Art), Chicago (Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series), Boston, Washington, Switzerland, England, the Netherlands, Spain, and elsewhere.

Mr. Burleson made his New York City solo recital debut at Merkin Concert Hall in 2000, sponsored by the League of Composers/ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music.) He has appeared as concerto soloist with the Boston Musica Viva, Arlington Philharmonic, New England Philharmonic, and the Holland Symfonia in the Netherlands, performing repertoire ranging from Mozart, Weber and Saint-Saëns to Gershwin and Klaas de Vries. In New York, he has also appeared as soloist with the New York Art Ensemble, as part of the Tribeca New Music Festival, and at the Knitting Factory as part of David Sanford’s Pittsburgh Collective, a progressive jazz ensemble. Mr. Burleson's work in jazz has also taken him as far as Baku, Azerbaijan, where he performed as both soloist, and with vocalist CoCo York, under the auspices of American Voices.

Mr. Burleson currently performs as principal pianist with the Boston Musica Viva and the Tribeca New Music Festival, as well as IMPetus, a dynamic trio featuring vocalist Maria Tegzes, and guitarist Dave "Knife" Fabris. He is also a member of the NOVUS NY, the contemporary ensemble-in-residence at Trinity Wall Street, and Princeton University's Richardson Chamber Players. Formerly, Mr. Burleson performed in Greece and the United States as principal pianist with ALEA III, the contemporary ensemble-in-residence at Boston University, for five seasons. He has also appeared in duo performances with many prominent musicians, including Boston Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Malcolm Lowe, former BSO principal flute Jacques Zoon, violinist Bayla Keyes, Mary Rowell, and Rolf Schulte; and cellists Matt Haimovitz and Rhonda Rider. He has collaborated with numerous world-renowned composers, and has given solo and duo premieres of works by Gunther Schuller, Vivian Fine, William Kraft, David Rakowski, Lior Navok, Hayes Biggs, Barbara White, Jeffrey Stadelman, Jason Eckardt, Evan Johnson, and others. As a jazz pianist, Mr. Burleson has performed extensively at home and abroad, both as soloist and in many ensembles. The Boston Globe has lauded his jazz performances, praising his "solos filled with complex harmonic and rhythmic figures", as well as his "compact and dramatic" arrangements of works by such diverse artists as Eric Dolphy and Patti Smith.

Currently, Mr. Burleson is recording the complete piano works of Camille Saint-Saëns, being released on 5 CD volumes on the new Naxos Grand Piano label. Saint-Saëns: Complete Piano Works 1: Complete Piano Études, the inaugural release on the new label, and Saint-Saëns: Complete Piano Works 2, were both released in 2012, and have met with high international acclaim. Other recent releases include Roy Harris-Complete Piano Music (Naxos), and Vincent Persichetti: Complete Piano Sonatas (New World Records), a 2-CD set on which all twelve of Persichetti’s piano sonatas are united on one release for the first time. The Persichetti recording was accorded high acclaim from the BBC Music Magazine (“BBC Music Choice”; 5/5 stars), a laudatory feature review in Gramophone, and was listed among the best recordings released in 2008 by Fanfare and the American Record Guide. Another recent release is Odd Couple (Oxingale Records), a duo CD of American works with cellist Matt Haimovitz, featuring the Barber and Carter Sonatas, as well as newer works by David Sanford and Augusta Read Thomas.

Mr. Burleson was winner of the Silver Medal in the International Piano Recording Competition, and won Special Commendations in the Vienna Modern Masters International Performers Competition. He was also the recipient of a DAAD grant from the German government to support a residency at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, New England Conservatory, and Stony Brook University (D.M.A.), his principal teachers include Gilbert Kalish, Leonard Shure, Veronica Jochum, Lillian Freundlich, Tinka Knopf, and Audrey Bart Brown.

Mr. Burleson teaches piano at Princeton University, and is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Piano Studies at Hunter College of The City University of New York. He is also on the piano faculty of The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Mr. Burleson's piano is tuned and regulated by Paul Eccardt of Paul's Pianos.