Adam Marks

Praised as an “excellent pianist” with “titanic force” (New York Times), Adam Marks is an active soloist, collaborator, curator, and educator based in NYC. He has appeared as soloist with the Mission Chamber Orchestra, Manchester Symphony Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, and at notable venues including Salle Cortot, Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, Logan Center for the Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Millennium Park, Ravinia, and Davies Symphony Hall. He was a laureate of the Orleans Competition for contemporary music in Orleans, France, and his premiere of Holly Harrison’s “Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup” with Eighth Blackbird won the Australian Art Music Awards Performance of the Year in 2018. Other recent international performances include recitals in Brazil, Singapore, France, and Croatia.

In the 2019-2020 season, Marks returns to Mission Chamber Orchestra to perform Clara Schumann’s piano concerto, and will present Charles Ives’ first sonata on the Jacaranda series in Santa Monica. He will also be in residence for two weeks at the Western Australia Academy for Performing Arts teaching and developing a new commission for his duo with bass clarinetist Philip Everall by Rebecca Erin Smith. Two exciting recordings will be released this season: Arcana: The Complete Solo Piano Works of Alex Shapiro (Innova Records) and Ring Out: Chamber Music of Jessica Meyer (Bright Shiny Things). He can also be heard on the soundtrack for Cunningham 3D, a new documentary about the work of legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham.

As part of Albatross (his duo with vocalist Jennifer Beattie), Adam serves as the founding co-director of Artists at Albatross Reach, an arts residency/incubator in Gualala, California. There, he has helped to craft a unique collaborative process to champion the development of new multidisciplinary works and experimentation, as well as a rich environment for curious community members and local artists to explore and participate in the art-making. Recent pieces to emerge from AaAR include Thelonius Monk Award winner Jon Irabagon’s “After Talk” for mezzo-soprano, mezzo-soprano saxophone, and piano, premiered at National Sawdust in June 2018, and the Black Queen Project, a co-creation of Albatross and composer Juraj Kojs based on the life of 15th Century Queen Barbora of Celje, premiered in Miami in September 2018. Marks’ other programming ventures include serving as the first non-local curator for the San Francisco Center for New Music, presenting innovative soloists and ensembles from across the country.