Warren Jones

Pianist Warren Jones frequently performs with many of today's best-known artists, including Marilyn Horne, Denyce Graves, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Ruth Ann Swenson, Barbara Bonney, Carol Vaness, Samuel Ramey, James Morris, Håkan Hagegård, Olaf Baer and Bo Skovhus. In the past he has partnered such great singers as Kathleen Battle, Judith Blegen, Tatiana Troyanos and Martti Talvela. His collaborations and chamber music performances have earned consistently high praise from many publications: theWashington Post has remarked that he is "an indispensable partner", while the San Francisco Examiner declared him to be "the single finest accompanist now working".

Mr. Jones has been featured in an interview with Eugenia Zuckerman on "CBS Sunday Morning" in which his work as a performer and teacher was explored, and he has appeared on television across the United States with Luciano Pavarotti. He has often been a guest artist at Carnegie Hall and in Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series, as well as the festivals of Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Caramoor. His international travels have taken him to recitals at the Salzburg Festival, Milan's Teatro alla Scala, the Maggio Musicale Festival in Florence, the Teatro Fenice in Venice, Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Opéra Bastille, Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Cultural Centre in Hong Kong and theatres throughout Scandinavia and Korea. Mr. Jones has been invited three times to the White House by American presidents to perform at concerts honoring the Presidents of Russia, Italy and Canada-and twice he has appeared at the U.S. Supreme Court as a specially invited performer for the Justices and their guests. He was featured in the United Nations memorial concert and tribute to Miss Audrey Hepburn, an event which was telecast worldwide following Miss Hepburn's death.

Recently three new compact discs with Mr. Jones have caught the public's ear: on BMG/RCA Red Seal, he is featured with Håkan Hagegård in songs of Brahms, Sibelius and Stenhammar; on the Samsung Classics label, with Korean soprano Youngok Shin in A Dream, her first recital disc with piano; and for NPR Classics, a recital of spirituals with Denyce Graves, entitled Angels Watching Over Me. In 1997 several recordings were released featuring Mr. Jones: i carry your heart, with Ruth Ann Swenson on EMI, Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye, with Samuel Ramey on SONY Classics, and Fauré Songs with Barbara Bonney and Håkan Hagegård on RCA Red Seal. Other RCA Victor compact discs also feature Mr. Jones: Strange Hurt, in which he collaborates with young Metropolitan Opera soprano Harolyn Blackwell in contemporary American music of Ricky Ian Gordon; and Divas in Song, a live recording of Marilyn Horne's 60th birthday concert from Carnegie Hall. A critically-acclaimed survey of the songs of Edward Grieg with Mr. Hagegård has also been issued by BMG/RCA Victor. Mr. Jones' recording of Copland and Ives songs with Mr. Ramey for Decca/Argo was nominated for a Grammy Award; and he can be seen on the best-selling Deutsche Grammophon video/laser disc of his memorable Metropolitan Museum of Art concert with Kathleen Battle.

Mr. Jones is a member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where highly gifted young artists work with him in a unique graduate degree program in collaborative piano. Each summer he teaches and performs at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. For ten years he was Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and for three seasons served in the same capacity at San Francisco Opera.

Mr. Jones is also a prominent musical jurist, having been a judge for the Walter Naumberg Foundation Awards, the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, Artists' Association International Fine Arts Competition and the American Council for the Arts. In the Spring of 1997 he joined the jury of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, at Mr. Cliburn's special invitation.

Born in Washington, D.C., Mr. Jones grew up in North Carolina and graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts-where he was recently honored with the Conservatory's Outstanding Alumni Award

Mr. Jones currently resides in New York City, where he enjoys reading historical novels, running, cooking and engaging in lively political discussions.

"Making music together is one of life's greatest collaborations. Sharing the miracle and wonder of music with friends and colleagues is an incredibly special activity - and teaching, coaching, and helping others develop their skills in this pursuit has long been a passion of mine. It is one of the many reasons that I find my work on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City to be tremendously rewarding and fulfilling; additionally, it is a perfect match for my own performing in my personal development as a pianist and musician.

When visiting other schools for master classes, I generally like to work with performers/students who are selected and prepared to work together as a team on whatever song, opera or chamber literature they are assigned. Since making music together is the key here, all of the partners receive equal attention in their roles. They are encouraged to get to know one another's parts in the collaboration and to act and react with each other as equals. Why do the words that are being sung necessarily influence the keyboard approach of the pianist? What role does the bowing of the violinist have in the phrasing of the singer? How does the pianist's concept of pedalling and legato come into play with the articulation of the singer's words? These are but some of the thousands of questions - and the search for the answers can be tantalizing indeed..."