American pianist *Adam Neiman* is recognized as an artist of rare depth, sensitivity and virtuosity.
Born in 1978, Neiman has captured the attention of audiences and critics alike since his concerto debut at 11 in Los Angeles’ Royce Hall. Clavier Magazine wrote: “Adam Neiman gave a performance that rivaled those of many artists on the concert stage today…his playing left listeners shaking their heads in disbelief.” At 14 he debuted in Germany at the Ivo Pogorelich Festival, and at 15 he won second prize at the Casagrande International Piano Competition in Italy, the youngest winner in the competition’s history.
In 1995 Neiman also became the youngest ever winner of the Gilmore Young Artist Award. The following year he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and went on to make his Washington D.C. and New York recital debuts at the Kennedy Center and the 92nd Street Y. The Washington Post remarked, “A collection of Chopin’s Waltzes and Nocturnes danced and stormed, and Prokofieff’s Second Sonata enthralled with a dazzling display of inner voices rather than a mere display of muscle. This was playing of wisdom and light befitting an artist in the autumn of his career.”
Young Concert Artists additionally bestowed upon Neiman the Michaels Award and presented him in a critically acclaimed solo recital at Alice Tully Hall. Two-time winner of Juilliard’s Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, Neiman was honored with the Rubinstein Award upon his graduation in 1999, the same year in which he received the Avery Fisher Career Grant.
With a repertoire that spans over fifty concertos, Neiman has performed as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Belgrade, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Umbria, and Utah, as well as with the New York Chamber Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C. He has collaborated with such conductors as Jiri Belohlavek, Carlos Kalmer, Uros Lajovic, Yoël Levi, Andrew Litton, Peter Oundjian, Leonard Slatkin, and Emmanuel Villaume. Known for his diverse recital programs, Neiman has toured throughout North America, playing in the major halls of La Jolla, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Seattle, Vancouver, Washington D.C., and at Caramoor and Ravinia. He has also given recitals in France, Germany, Italy, and Japan where he made an eight-city tour culminating in his debut at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.
Neiman has begun to build a widely varied discography, commencing in 2005 with his first major recording: a two-disc set entitled “Adam Neiman Live in Recital” featuring works by Bach, Chopin, Schumann, Fauré, and Rachmaninoff, released by VAI Audio. His second recording for VAI, a DVD/CD entitled “Adam Neiman: Chopin Recital”, was released in November of 2006. Future releases include the aforementioned disc of Mozart’s early keyboard concertos K. 238, 246, and 271 for VAI with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the world premiere CD recording of Jennifer Higdon’s Piano Trio for Naxos. Neiman’s playing has also been included on two multi-pianist compilations for VAI: the 2-CD set entitled “Masters of the Keyboard: The Next Generation, Vol. 2” featuring his live performance of Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Sonata, and a DVD of the same title featuring Neiman’s performance of his own original composition called “Concert Etude”, as well as Chopin’s Barcarolle and Etude Op. 25#11.
Radio broadcasts featuring Neiman regularly span North American airwaves, and his live performance of the Brahms Rhapsodies, Op. 79 at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival on NPR’s “Performance Today” was nominated for a Grammy Award. He has also appeared on NPR for a special “Milestones of the Millennium” edition exploring Beethoven’s 32 Sonatas, as well as a weeklong series of live broadcasts as Artist-in-Residence. Chosen as a featured artist by the Academy Award nominated director Josh Aronson, Adam Neiman appeared in the PBS documentary film “Playing for Real”, which aired worldwide. In addition, Neiman was featured among his fellow Gilmore Young Artist Award winners in Peter Rosen’s documentary on the Gilmore entitled “In the Key of G”.
An avid chamber musician, Neiman became a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center II in 2004. He frequently participates in the major chamber music festivals of Belgrade, Caramoor, Korea, Macedonia, Moritzburg, Seattle, Tokyo, Vail, Vancouver, as well as New York’s Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players series. He has also performed on the FleetBoston Celebrity Series and the San Francisco Symphony Chamber Music Series. Neiman is a member of two trios: the Corinthian Trio with Stefan Milenkovich and Ani Aznavoorian, and the Trio Virtuosi with flutist Eugenia Zukerman and violinist Gary Levinson.
In addition to his career as a concert pianist, Adam Neiman devotes time to composition. He has written works for solo piano, voice, chamber ensemble, and symphony orchestra. He frequently performs his works in recital, and his Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano was premiered at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival.
