Inon Barnatan

“One of the most admired pianists of his generation” (The New York Times), Inon Barnatan has received universal acclaim for his “uncommon sensitivity” (The New Yorker), “impeccable musicality and phrasing” (Le Figaro), and his stature as “a true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative” (The Evening Standard). A multifaceted musician, Barnatan is equally celebrated as soloist, curator and collaborator.

As a soloist, Barnatan is a regular performer with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors. He was the inaugural artist in association of the New York Philharmonic from 2014-17 and has played with the BBC Symphony for the BBC Proms, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland and Boston and most major orchestras in the U.S., as well as the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra Symphony, and the London, Helsinki, Hong Kong and Royal Stockholm philharmonics.

Barnatan’s 2024-25 season highlights include performances with major orchestras worldwide. He opens the season with a gala performance at the San Diego Symphony and performs with the New Jersey Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Boston Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Israel Symphony and Atlanta Symphony. Additionally, he continues his collaboration with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, with performances at Stanford Live and Celebrity Series of Boston, and will perform alongside James Ehnes at Wigmore Hall. Barnatan and Weilerstein continue their collaboration with the recording of a highly anticipated album of Brahms’ Cello Sonatas, released by Pentatone in November 2024.

Equally at home as a curator and chamber musician, Barnatan is music director of La Jolla Music Society Summerfest in California, one of leading music festivals in the country. He regularly collaborates with world-class partners such as Renée Fleming and Alisa Weilerstein, and plays at major chamber music festivals including, Seattle, Santa Fe and Spoleto USA. Barnatan was a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) from 2006 to 2009 and continues to perform with CMS in New York and on tour.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon Barnatan started playing the piano at the age of 3, when his parents discovered his perfect pitch, and made his orchestral debut at 11. His musical education connects him to some of the 20th century’s most illustrious pianists and teachers: he studied first with Professor Victor Derevianko, a student of the Russian master Heinrich Neuhaus, before moving to London in 1997 to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Christopher Elton and Maria Curcio, a student of the legendary Artur Schnabel. The late Leon Fleisher was also an influential teacher and mentor.